Aaron Cheatwood serves as NAU's Defensive Run Game Coordinator and Linebackers Coach heading into the 2025 season, his second season on staff after joined the Lumberjacks in January 2024 as the linebackers coach.

Overseeing the linebackers for the Big Sky's second-ranked defensive unit in 2024, Cheatwood coached three Linebackers to all-conference honors. Tommy Ellis finished as a First Team All-Big Sky selection, while Ammon Allen and Brandon Wong both received honorable mention. NAU's defense ranked 15th nationally in scoring defense (18.8), 18th in total defense (316.5) in addition to being 39th in run defense (139.8).

Cheatwood arrived in Flagstaff from New Mexico State where he served as a defensive analyst. Before New Mexico State, Cheatwood was the defensive coordinator for Garden City Community College in Garden City, Kan. Cheatwood started at Garden City as a defensive line coach in 2019 before being elevated to defensive coordinator prior to the 2021 season.
 
During his first two seasons as defensive line coach, the Broncbusters finished in the top 20 in yards per game allowed. During that same time frame, he tutored two All-Americans in defensive end Ali Gaye, who signed with LSU following the 2019 campaign, and defensive lineman Raymond Cutts, who returned for his second season in Garden City as a Rivals Preseason NJCAA All-American.
 
Cheatwood has strong ties to the state of Arizona with his previous stops at Yuma Catholic and Arizona Western College.
 
During his eight years at Yuma Catholic, Cheatwood carried multiple titles: offensive line coach, defensive line coach, defensive backs coach, quarterbacks coach, defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator, assistant athletic director, and head football coach. The school played in four state championships and won three.
 
Cheatwood began his coaching career as the defensive line coach at Arizona Western College in 2007. Over the next two seasons, he moved over to the offensive side of the ball to coach the offensive line. During his time at Arizona Western, Cheatwood's position group was ranked near the top in the NJCAA with multiple players moving on and producing in the NFL. He also coached the El Toro Bowl with Arizona Western in 2009.
 
After graduating from Parker High School in 2004, Cheatwood played two years at Dana College in Blair, Neb. and also attended Arizona Western. A native of Parker, Ariz., Cheatwood and his wife, Bre, have two sons, Carson and Duke.