Alan Joseph, who coached 18 All-Americans and two Olympians during a 20+ year career leading the Xavier rifle program, is now in his 11th season as head rifle coach at Morehead State.

He was named OVC Coach of the Year in 2019, 2021 and 2022. During his tenure, 74 student-athletes have earned all-conference awards.

Joseph led the Eagles to the program's first-ever Ohio Valley Conference championship in 2019-20, winning the Smallbore and overall titles. Seven Eagles were named all-conference, and Elizabeth Plecity was the program's first-ever OVC Freshman of the Year. During the 2021-22 season, three athletes achieved the highest averages in program history.

Morehead State achieved its then-highest finish at the OVC Championships in 2018-19, taking second while marking the second consecutive season Morehead State had finished second at the event. The Eagles also earned the highest national ranking in program history during the season, soaring to ninth. The league also took notice of Morehead State's commitment to excellence, awarding the Eagles the OVC Team Sportsmanship Award in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2021-22.

Senior Brandon Bryer and junior Alexa Potts qualified for the 2019 NCAA Championships, and Potts was named an All-American. Potts repeated as an Air Rifle All-American in 2020 and was also named CoSIDA Academic All-District. In 2022-23, three Eagles earned Academic All-District from the rebranded College Sports Communicators.

In Joseph's 10 seasons, more than 50 Eagles have earned spots on the Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll and more than 50 have been bestowed the Scholastic All-American accolade from the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association. Rifle also has one of the best team grade point averages among all teams since Joseph arrived, earning a 3.50 or better for the past six years.

In addition, rifle has boasted four OVC Scholar-Athletes - Alexa Potts, Brandon Bryer, Amber Schifano and Bryce Ward - during Joseph's tenure. Lindy Nettleton was the fifth Eagle to be named Scholar-Athlete, earning it during previous head coach Walt Rybka's tenure. It marks the highest individual honor in the conference as only six are selected each year.

Since 2014 when Joseph started, five student-athletes have earned Academic All-District or All-American honors. The program has had nine overall student-athletes earn academic all-district or all-American accolades.
 
On the range, he has awarded numerous team members a spot in the Soaring Eagles Club, which includes shooting a 580 or better score in Smallbore in an NCAA event, carding a 590 or better in air rifle in competition or setting an individual school record.
 
Team-wise, MSU has improved its scoring average from year to year on both guns and overall. The 2022-23 team set the program record for highest Air Rifle season average.
 
In Air Rifle, Morehead State has improved more than 60 points on average since 2014-15, and the Eagles are now nearly 25 points better in aggregate scoring since just four years ago.

Several MSU rifle athletes have also qualified to take part in the Junior Olympics and the USA Shooting National Championships in conjunction with USA Shooting.
 
Rifle has also made a name for itself in community service efforts. The Eagles won the Penny Wars honor multiple years for raising the most amount of money to help send a veteran to the OVC Basketball Tournament – all with the fewest roster members of any team in the department.
 
Joseph, who led Xavier from its inception as an NCAA program in 1982 until its affiliation was discontinued in 2005, guided the Musketeers to 14 consecutive top-10 finishes. His teams finished among the NCAA's final four every year from 2000-03. He continued to lead Xavier as a club program until it was disbanded in 2008.
 
He led the Musketeers to the NCAA Air Rifle National Championship in 1996 and coached Karyn Juziuk to the NCAA Smallbore Title in 1998. Xavier student-athletes competed at the NCAA Championship 18 consecutive seasons.
 
Joseph coached at least one All-American for 16 straight seasons (1990-2005). Jason Parker competed in four Olympic Games, while Thrine Kane (who was a volunteer assistant for MSU) represented the United States at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia.
 
Joseph founded the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) in 1994 and served as the organization's first president. He served on the NCAA Rifle Committee from 1992-98 and helped Xavier become a founding member of the Great America Rifle Conference in 1997.
 
Joseph earned CRCA National Coach of the Year honors in 2000 and 2003 and National Rifle Association Coach of the Year accolades in 1991 and 2001.  He was inducted into the Xavier Athletic Hall of Fame on Feb. 21, 2015.
 
He competed collegiately at Xavier from 1976-80 and began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at his alma mater from 1980-82.

Joseph earned a bachelor's degree in history in 1980 and received a master's degree in American history from Xavier in 1984.