Changes Come to Ferrum Football

With the start of the season fast approaching, Ferrum has recently announced several changes for the 2015 season. Most notably, changes will be on the sidelines. There are three new assistant coaches that you will see this year as Ferrum takes the field.

Brian Zyglocke - (Defensive Coordinator) Brian Zyglocke rejoined the Ferrum football staff in February 2015 after serving eight years as Defensive Coordinator at the Catholic University of America. He served as Recruiting Coordinator and Strength & Conditioning Coach his final seven seasons at Catholic and Assistant Head Coach for Football Operation his final six seasons.

Prior to that, Zyglocke spent two seasons as Assistant Coach at McDaniel College, handling the defensive secondary and special teams. He made his coaching debut at Ferrum in 2001 under then Head Coach Dave Davis. Zyglocke worked with Ferrum's linebackers and wide receivers, and also was employed as a Residence Hall Educator.

Zyglocke played football four years at Ferrum from 1996-99, and earned his Bachelor of Science in History in May 2000 with a minor in Psychology. Zyglocke and his wife Kasey have two sons, Henry and James. 

David Keeney- (Assistant Coach) David Keeny joined the Ferrum football coaching staff in August 2015. Prior to that, he worked at seven different colleges, including serving as Head Football Coach at Kutztown University from 1988-2005. Keeny began his coaching career in 1983 at Kutztown, his alma mater. He coached at the University of Virginia from 1984-85, at Penn State from 1986-87, at University of Arizona in 1988, at Morehead State in 1989, at Thomas More Colege from 1990-92, at Kutztown from 1998-2005 and at Millersville University from 2008-13.

Keeny also served two stints with semi-professional football programs. He served one season as an assistant with the Scranton Stallions in 1990 of the Minor League Football System, and one season at head coach of the Virginia Beach Stingrays in 2013 in the National Spring Football League. Keeny earned is Bachelor's degree in 1982 and his Master's degree  in 1986, both from Kutztown. 

Patrick Hill- (Assistant Coach) Patrick Hill joined the Ferrum athletic staff as Assistant Football Coach in August 2015. Hill came to Ferrum from James Madison University, where served as an assistant coach, working with the Dukes' defensive line. Hill served with a number of college football programs, most recently as an assistant coach with West Virginia State University. His previous coaching stops include Concordia University-Ann Arbor, Adrian College and Concordia University-Chicago. Hill also works each summer with the NFL's Detroit Lions in their Football Education Department.

Hill has served with football camps at Eastern Michigan University, Wayne State College, Corcordia-Chicago, Michele Clarke High School, Waukegan High School an the Terry Copacia All-State Quarterback School. Hill earned a pair of bachelor's degrees in Sociology and Sports Management, and as a master's degree in Sports Leadership, all from Concordia-Chicago. 

These new faces will fill positions left by departing members of the 2014 staff. Zyglocke will replace Phil Elmassian, Keeney will replace Jeff Hanson, who is now at Virginia State University, and Hill will replace Bill Nesselt. Nesselt is believed to be on the staff at University of Maryland, but that cannot be confirmed at this time.

Lastly, the field is changing. As Ferrum continues to work on replacing the natural turf with a high end synthetic turf, delays and setbacks have forced a change to the Panthers home schedule. The first two scheduled home games...Shenandoah on September 12th, and Hampden Sydney on September 19th, will both be played at Franklin County High School in Rocky Mount, VA.It is hoped that the new field will be inplace and usable for Homecoming vs. Greensboro on October 3rd.

*** All Coaches bio info. from ferrumpanthers.com***