| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 15, 1993 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 2012–2016 | Missouri |
| Position | Linebacker |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 2019 | Missouri (GA) |
| 2020 | Arkansas (def. analyst) |
| 2021–2022 | Arkansas (LB) |
| 2023–2024 | UNLV (DC/LB) |
| 2025 | Purdue (DC/LB) |
Michael Scherer (born November 15, 1993) is an American football coach and former linebacker. Scherer played college football at Missouri from 2012 to 2016 for head coaches Gary Pinkel and Barry Odom. He served as the defensive coordinator for the UNLV Rebels from 2023 to 2024 and Purdue University in 2025.
Scherer attended Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School. [1] In high school, Scherer was a standout running back as well as a linebacker. [2] Scherer played for the Missouri Tigers for four seasons between 2012–2016. In his career, he played in 38 games notching 266 tackles with 17 being for a loss, a sack, and an interception. [3]
NCAA career statistics | ||||||||||||||
Missouri Tigers | ||||||||||||||
| Season | Tackles | Interceptions | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solo | Ast | Cmb | TfL | Sck | FF | Int | Yds | Avg | TD | PD | ||||
| 2013 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2014 | 35 | 55 | 90 | 3 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 4 | |||
| 2015 | 43 | 42 | 85 | 9 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 3 | |||
| 2016 | 24 | 28 | 52 | 3.5 | 0.5 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 19.0 | 0 | 3 | |||
| Career [4] | 106 | 127 | 233 | 16.5 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 19.0 | 0 | 7 | |||
Scherer got his first career coaching job in 2019 as a graduate assistant for his alma mater the Missouri Tigers. [5] In 2020, Scherer joined the Arkansas Razorbacks as defensive analyst for the Razorbacks. [6] After one season with the Razorbacks, Scherer was promoted in 2021 to serve as the Razorbacks linebackers coach. [7] For the 2022 Liberty Bowl, Scherer was temporarily promoted to serve as the Razorbacks interim defensive coordinator. [8] During his time at Arkansas, Scherer coached players linebackers such as Grant Morgan, Bumper Pool, Hayden Henry and Drew Sanders, where all four of them recorded seasons with 100 tackles under Scherer. Additionally, Sanders was an AP First-Team All-American. [9] In 2023, Scherer was hired by the UNLV Rebels to become the team's defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. [10] Scherer followed Odom to Purdue for the 2025 season. [11] Following the season, it was announced that Scherer would be leaving Purdue to pursue other coaching opportunities. [12]