Maple comes to the club to replace Simon Dalrymple, who has moved into football operations.
Maple has coached the TAC Cup side for the past two years and leaves the under-18 scene after doing an outstanding job in developing the region's talented junior footballers.
He was involved with the Rebels' development squad for eight years before being appointed as head coach in 2007.
"This is a great opportunity and working with an AFL club is something that I've entertained since I started with the Rebels," Maple told westernbulldogs.com.au on Monday.
"This is the type of position that I think I'm best suited to. Coaching at under-18 level, as well as my education background as a physical education teacher at Ballarat High School, will certainly help.
"I've done a lot of developing younger players on and off the ground, with their skills and life, general goal setting and their diet, weights and core programs."
Maple has been at Ballarat High for the past 12 years, handling the role of assistant principal while working in a specialist sports program.
Throughout his coaching career, Maple has held senior positions at the Tatyoon (Mininera & District Football League) and Buninyong (Central Highlands Football League) football clubs.
"I'll miss parts of my role at Ballarat High, and I'll definitely miss the Rebels position because it was a fantastic organisation to work with," he said.
"Bringing young boys through to AFL and VFL level is really satisfying, and hopefully we'll get some Rebels through on draft day again this year."
Maple is the latest in a string of TAC Cup coaches to move up to AFL level, with over 14 making the shift to the big leagues in the past five years.
He will work alongside the club development manager and Williamstown coach Brad Gotch when he arrives at Whitten Oval in early December.
"I can't wait to work with Gotchy, and I know Peter Dean (assistant coach) pretty well from when he was the Murray Bushrangers coach," he said.
"We used to share a bit of information between ourselves, Pete and I, so it will be great to work with them and all the guys at Whitten Oval."
