ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. – The NC Wesleyan College football program and Head Coach Jeff Filkovski have added 6 new assistants to the 2018 staff for the upcoming season.
The new coaches include Defensive Coordinator Brian Williams, Running Backs Coach Pernell Ingram, Inside Linebackers Coach Jim Pawelec, Outside Linebackers Coach Alan Pancake, Tight ends Coach John McElfresh, and Offensive Line Coach Matt Keith.
They join returning assistant Craig Smith and Quinderra Spellman. Smith is the Special Teams Coordinator, Wide Receivers Coach, and strength coach while Spellman is the Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Line Coach and 2018 NC Wesleyan Hall of Fame Inductee.
NC Wesleyan is coming off a 3-7 season last year where they placed in a tie for 4th in the USA South and were selected preseason #4 in the USA South Conference this season. The Bishops will get their season underway when they host Thomas More College (Ky.) on Sept. 1 at 12:00 Pm at the Rocky Mount Sport Complex.
Williams, who will also serve as Defensive Backs Coach while at NCWC, comes to Wesleyan from the NAIA's University of Pikeville (KY) where he was the Associate Head Coach, Defensive Coordinator, and Recruiting Coordinator since 2013. Before that he was the DC at Texas A&M-Commerce University from 2009-13. He was also the Asst. HC and Linebacker Coach at Alabama St. from 2005-09 and the DC at Kentucky St. University in 2004-05.
Williams got his start in coaching at the Univ. of Pacific in California where he served as the Special Teams Coordinator and LB Coach from 1988-1992. Williams was a DB Coach and Special Teams Coordinator at Morehead St. (KY) in 2003-04 and the Associate HC and DB Coach at Akron Univ. in Ohio in 2001-02 as well. Before those, he was the Linebackers Coach at Ohio State (2000), Univ. of Cincinnati (1996), Fresno St. (1993-96) and Univ. of Pittsburgh (1992) while also serving as the Defensive Ends Coach and Special Teams Coordinator at Pittsburgh from 1996-2000.
He has coached or played in five bowl games, two as a player at Kentucky and three others as a coach while winning 4 Division/Conference Championships as a coach as well.
Williams is a member of the American Football Coaches Assoc. and graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1986 with a B.S. in Accounting.
Before Wesleyan, Ingram was at Albright College (PA) for the 2017 season as the Linebackers Coach. Ingram served as a volunteer assistant at Barton College in 2015 as well.
Ingram was a Volunteer Football Coach at NCWC for the 2016 season where he assisted the DC by coaching Linebackers and was also the Asst. Strength and Conditioning Coach. Ingram played as a Safety and Outside Linebacker from 2004-06 at NCWC.
Ingram was an Honor Board Member and graduated with a 3.0 GPA with a B.A. in Justice Studies from NCWC in 2007. He also has a Master's in Public Administration with a Concentration in National Security in 2014 with a 3.9 GPA from American Public University in WV.
He was also an Admissions Counselor at NCWC from 2015-2017 and a Police Officer and Sergeant from 2008-2015 in Rocky Mount, NC.
Jim Pawelec comes to Wesleyan from the Univ. of Pikeville (Ky.) where he was the Linebackers Coach for the past 3 seasons. Before Pikeville, he was the Defensive Backs Coach at Lyon College (Ark.) in the spring and summer of 2015.
From 2012-2014, Pawelec was the Video Coordinator and Defensive Quality Control Coach at D1 South Dakota St. Univ. He was the Defensive Line Coach for two seasons from 2010-2012 at NAIA Dakota Wesleyan University (S.D.). He also completed a stint in the IFL where he was the Offensive Line Coaching Intern for the Sioux Falls Storm (S.D.) from 2009-10.
Pawelec has coached 12 different all-conference players at three different universities as well.
Pawelec received his B.A. in Sports Management at D2 Augustana College (S.D.) in 2010 and achieved his M.A. in Educational Policy & Administration from Dakota Wesleyan in 2012.
Alan Pancake, a native of Dayton, OH comes to the Bishops from the NAIA's University of Pikeville where he was a Grad Asst. Coach in 2017. While there, he was also the outside linebackers coach and Asst. Strength Coach.
Before Pikeville, Pancake was the assistant Defensive Line Coach and Grad Asst. at Carthage College (WI). He was also the offensive Assistant as an undergrad at the University of Dayton (OH) from 2013-15.
Pancake coached two 2017 second team All-Conference outside linebackers while also coaching a 2016 first team All-Conference Defensive Lineman. He was also a 2015 Pioneer League Champion with Dayton.
Pancake graduated with a B.A. in Health & Sport Sciences from Dayton in 2015 while majoring in Sports Management with a minor in Business Administration. He has also begun two separate Masters Programs: one in Education at Carthage and another in Business Admin. at Pikeville.
During the past two seasons, Matt Keith was the Offensive Line Coach and Strength and Conditioning Coordinator at D-3 College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn.
Keith, an Onsted, Michigan native, was previously at Beloit College (Wis.) where he was the Offensive Line Coach as well as video coordinator for the program during the 2015 season. In his one season with the Buccaneers he coached an all-conference selection.
Keith graduated from Mount Union University (Ohio) in May of 2015 with a degree in Sport Business. He was an offensive lineman for the Raiders for four seasons winning four Ohio Athletic Conference championships, made four NCAA Division III Championship appearances, including winning the 2012 NCAA National title.
John McElfresh comes to the Bishops after coaching the Linebackers and Special Teams as a student asst. at Baldwin Wallace University (OH) in 2017.
McElfresh, a native of Bradenton, FL, also worked as a student asst. for the Baldwin Wallace Rec Center in Berea, OH from 2014-2018 and assisted in the Baldwin Wallace Athletic Communications Dept. from 2013-2015.
As a student-athlete at BWU, McElfresh was a three-time varsity letter winner finishing with 88 tackles in his career. He graduated in December of 2017 with a B.A. in Sport Management with a minor in Business Management.