Wallace, a two-time collegiate All-American, and sharp, young defensive mind, joined the Golden Lions as a graduate assistant on the defensive side of the ball.
At his high school alma mater, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Dayton, Ohio, Wallace had two stints for a combined three years (2017, 2018, 2020). He is fresh off of a 2020 campaign where he was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Dunbar HS, where the Wolverines featured the first-ranked defense in the Dayton City League. In that season, they allowed just 159 yards per game and under 30 rushing yards per contest. With his aid, five all-conference players came from the ball's defensive side, and the Dunbar HS program reached heights not seen in years. The Wolverines hosted their first playoff game since 1991, were named outright league champions for the first time since 2014, and played to its first playoff berth and win since 2016.
In his first stretch at Dunbar, the Wolverine program produced 20 all-conference players, seven all-state products, and two All-Americans. Two streaks were broken while Wallace was on staff, including its first playoff berth in six years and first playoff win in 11 years.
After the 2018 season, Wallace coached the defensive secondary and assisted with special teams at Cincinnati Christian University (NAIA-OH) before returning to Dunbar high school. While there, the defensive secondary made huge strides, doubles its INT total from the previous year, and shaving off at least half the average passing yards given up per contest.
Wallace played collegiately and earned his first coaching experience at another alma mater, Urbana University. He was responsible for the oversight over the defensive line (2015) and linebackers (2016) in two seasons on staff at Urbana. Wallace had a stellar playing career as a linebacker at Urbana, where he was named to All-America honors in his final two seasons. As a senior, he was named to the D2CCA and D2Football.com All-America Second Team and the Don Hansen and USA College Football Division II All-America First Team. In 2015 Wallace set five program records, including career tackles, career assisted tackles, total tackles in a single season, assisted tackles in a single season, and most tackles in a single game en route to being a finalist for the Cliff Harris Award for best defensive player in Division II. He also is the Mountain East Conference's all-time leading single-season and career tackler in multiple categories, as well as a three-time All-MEC First Team honoree.
