The 2023 season marks John Pearce's second season as the Defensive Line and Special Teams Coordinator for the Virginia State University Football team after joining the Trojan family in 2022.
In his first season guiding the defensive line and special teams units, the Trojans finished top five in the conference with 21 sacks and Pearce coached an All-CIAA defensive lineman (Marquel Pillow-Smiley). On special teams, Virginia State finished first in the conference in punt return yards and fifth in kick return yards.
Prior to arriving at Virginia State, Coach Pearce served eight seasons as the head football coach at Sul Ross State University. He was selected as a member of the NCAA South RAC Committee in 2019-2022 and will also serve on the NCAA Football Rules Committees in 2020-2022. Pearce also is a longstanding member of the AFCA and THSCA Association.
Coach Pearce is a recipient of the 2014-2015 Academic Excellence in Coaching at Sul Ross. He has coached six ASC Academic All-Conference Players, 36 ASC All-Conference players, one All-American, and one All-South Region player.
Coach Pearce and his former student-athletes were active in the Alpine community through community service efforts. The team took part in the Kiwanis Highway Clean Up, where student-athletes would help the city 'Keep Texas Beautiful'. Student-athletes helped set up fundraiser events for the Alpine Public Library and the Family Crisis Center of the Big Bend.
In his third year as head coach, Pearce guided the Lobos to their first winning season in ten years. The Lobos finished the 2016 season with a 6-4 mark, going 4-2 against ASC competition.
Sul Ross finished the 2016 season third in the ASC, which was their highest finish since 2012 when they placed fourth. It is also their second-highest finish after tying Hardin-Simmons for first place in 1996.
Coach Pearce was recognized as the 2016 ASC Coach of the Year by the American Southwest Conference.
Coach Pearce has enjoyed coaching in the state of Texas for the past 18 years. Before taking over the reigns at Sul Ross, he served on the staff at Blinn College. Prior to Blinn, Pearce coached nine years at Prairie View A&M University, including two years as the defensive coordinator. He has also coached at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., Bowie State University, Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV, and Norfolk State University.
A 1991 graduate of the University of Delaware, majoring in health and physical education, Pearce received a master’s degree in secondary education from Bowie State.
Coach Pearce and his wife, Samantha Krumpe, have two sons, Max and Calvin. Max is a graduate of University of Texas and currently resides in Austin, Texas. Calvin is a graduate of University of Minnesota at Morris and is currently a football graduate assistant for Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, in Terre Haute, Indiana.
