| Tom Parkevich was defensive
coordinator for all four of St. Scholastica's
seasons. Photo by Scott Pierson, d3photography.com |
Tom Parkevich has been named the new head coach for the Iowa Wesleyan football program, it was announced by athletic director Mike Hampton.
Iowa Wesleyan announced last fall that it was applying to NCAA Division III. The majority of the school's sports will affiliate with the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference upon the school's acceptance into NCAA provisional status, and football may affiliate with the Upper Midwest Athletic conference as other SLIAC member schools do.
Parkevich comes from St. Scholastica, the 2011 champion of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference. He was the school's defensive coordinator. Parkevich replaces Kent Anderson, who coached the Tigers the past two years and was recently named head coach at Waldorf. He takes over a program that finished 4-7 last year, its most wins in a season since 1997.
This past year he directed the defense for a Saints team that recorded the school's first-ever undefeated season and received its first berth to the NCAA Division III playoffs in the program's four-year history.
"I feel extremely honored to be named the head football coach of Iowa Wesleyan College, and to be the coach to lead the Tiger football program into a new era," Parkevich said. "I can assure our staff is going to work hard to build a program that Iowa Wesleyan and the Mount Pleasant community can be proud of. My family and I are looking forward to becoming a member of the Iowa Wesleyan College and Mount Pleasant communities."
Parkevich's defenses at St. Scholastica ranked among the best statistically in the nation in NCAA Division III the past two years in turnover margin, leading Division III in 2011 and finishing second in 2010.
Parkevich joined St. Scholastica after spending the previous 10 years at Earlham. He served as defensive coordinator over his final eight seasons with the Quakers after spending his first two years as the football program's linebackers coach. Prior to his stint at Earlham, Parkevich was the defensive coordinator for the football program at Blackburn, a program which is now defunct, from 1994-97.
This will be Parkevich's first collegiate head football coaching job. He served as head baseball coach for 13 years during his stints at both Earlham and Blackburn.
A native of Logansport, Ind., Parkevich is a 1991 graduate of Mount Senario, where he was a two-time all-conference honoree at inside linebacker, two-year team captain, two-time defensive MVP and team MVP as a senior.