WHEELING — Football coaching can be a rewarding profession. It also can be a nomadic one.

Matt Nardo is quite familiar with the whirlwind existence of a coach, especially on the collegiate level.

At 36, he is still young in terms of a professional career. But the Shadyside native is embarking on his seventh different coaching assignment.

Nardo’s travels have now taken him to Rocky Mount, N.C., and North Carolina Wesleyan College. He has signed on to be Wesleyan’s offensive coordinator, a role with which he is quite familiar and successful.

The Battling Bishops are a NCAA D-III institution and members of the USA South Conference. They went 5-5 last fall.

The 2001 St. John Central product spent four seasons at Emporia State, an NCAA Division II power in Kansas. He was cast as the school’s recruiting coordinator while also coaching the tight ends and inside receivers.

He opted to leave the Hornets shortly after getting married.

“My wife had a position in Kansas City, and when the teaching position opened up at Basehor-Linwood it was the right decision for our family to move to the Kansas City area,” Nardo said. “Going back to the college level wasn’t something I was anticipating doing this soon, but when this situation presented itself in North Carolina, my wife and I decided it was a great opportunity for us.

“There was a comfort level with Wesleyan. The head coach and I have known each other for almost a decade, and I worked for him earlier in my career.” he added. “That familiarity was key in knowing how he works and what his expectations are.”

Nardo helped to guide Basehor-Linwood to a 10-2 mark, falling in the sub-state finals. He coached the team’s offensive line.

In addition to being Wesleyan’s offensive coordinator, Nardo will coach the wide receivers.

“My wife and I are both thrilled about going back to the college level. Larry Shank once told me that coaching is coaching. High school or college, once you step on the practice or game field it’s the same,” Nardo said. “He would say that we all would coach for free, so you need to decide what you want to get paid to do: Teach or recruit. I enjoyed my time at the high school level, and respect the job that high school coaches do, but I enjoy the college game and working football year round.

“I wasn’t sure when I would try to get back in college coaching, but I knew that it wouldn’t take long before I started missing that level,” he added.

At Emporia, Nardo wore many hats. He was passing-game coordinator, recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach. The Hornets made the NCAA D-II playoffs in 2015 and 2016.

Before heading to Emporia, Nardo was a defensive assistant at the University of Pikeville. The Kentucky-based NAIA institution is located about 90 minutes from Charleston (W.Va.).

Nardo, a 2005 graduate of Ohio University, was the wide receivers coach for the Marietta College Pioneers the two years prior to his Pikeville duties.

Prior to Marietta, Nardo spent three seasons as a coach at Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School in Spring Hill, Fla.

Nardo was a graduate assistant coach with Muskingum University from 2005-2008. He began his collegiate coaching career with a three-year stint at Ohio University where he served as a student assistant coach. Nardo earned a bachelor’s degree in Sports Science from Ohio.