(Story taken from the Millsaps College website)
JACKSON, Miss. - In an announcement made today, former special teams coach Aaron Pelch will return to take over as head coach at Millsaps College this fall. Pelch, who left Millsaps after the 2008 season to take a special teams job with the Oakland Raiders, will become the school's 20th head football coach.
He succeeds Mike DuBose who concluded four years as head
football coach before joining the University of Memphis coaching
staff in December 2009. Pelch will assume his duties effective
immediately.
Pelch was a member of the Millsaps College coaching staff during
the 2006-2008 seasons in which the Majors won three consecutive
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference titles and had a pair of
NCAA Division III national playoff appearances.
During his years at Millsaps, Pelch coached six All-SCAC defensive
line selections, a First Team All-SCAC linebacker, a SCAC
Co-Defensive Player-of-the-Year and a defensive All-America
honoree. The team’s defensive line ranked second in rushing
defense in the conference in 2006 and improved to first in
2007.
Millsaps gained Special Teams Player-of-the-Year nods for three
consecutive years under Pelch’s leadership and had the
SCAC’s best net punt average in 2007 (8th nationally) and
2008 (5th nationally). The Majors were also the top SCAC punt
return team in 2007 and 2008. Pelch also saw his team receive an
All-America selection at special teams.
He has a bachelor’s degree from Weber State University and
has coached at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, N.M.,
and Everett Alvarez High School in Salinas, Calif.
Pelch’s coaching philosophy is this: “I believe to be a
great coach you must be a great teacher. A great football coach is
someone that can guide his group of young men to victory on the
field and by doing so, have a profound positive effect on their
lives.”
Brit Katz, vice president for student life and dean of students,
said he welcomes Pelch’s return to Millsaps football and
campus life. “Aaron built a significant network of support
among scholar-athletes, parents, supporters, and colleagues during
his three years at the college,” he said. “He is
familiar with our regional and national student recruitment goals
and will quickly re-acclimate to our campus culture.”
Tim Wise, Millsaps athletic director, said individuals and groups
who met the finalists for the job considered Pelch the top choice.
“He knows our programs, our scholar-athletes, and our mission
for placing academics as our highest priority,” Wise said.
“We look forward to his immediate start during the important
student-athlete recruiting season.”
Acting President Howard McMillan said Millsaps is committed to the
lessons of discipline and integrity modeled for its
scholar-athletes by its athletic staff. “I believe we have in
Aaron Pelch an outstanding coach and leader who is dedicated to the
successes of this program on and off the field,” he said.
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