New Christiansburg High School football coach Alex Wilkens has announced six assistant coaches for the upcoming football season. Two of the six are leftovers from former coach Tim Cromer’s staff.
The coaching staff will include: Zach Leonard, Matt Herron, Chris Dumler, Mark Boyd, Ervin Buchannon and Jordan Hall.
In January, Wilkens was hired to replace Cromer who had stepped down at the end of the 2016 season.
Christiansburg is coming off back-to-back losing seasons and hoping to turn the tide.
Wilkens has been an assistant coach at Glenvar High School for the past nine seasons. He served as the defensive, special teams and passing game coordinator, and was an integral part of their offseason strength and conditioning program.
He is a Floyd County High School graduate, completed his bachelor’s degree in biology from Bridgewater College and received a master’s degree in educational leadership from Radford University.
Leonard will serve as the team’s defensive coordinator along with handling the offensive line and outside linebackers. He coached at Glenvar High School with Wilkens and most recently was at Rural Retreat High School where he was a physical education teacher. He is a Patrick Henry and Ferrum College graduate.
Herron will handle quarterbacks and safeties and has coached and taught at Cave Spring High School. He is a Northside and Roanoke College graduate.
Dumler will work with receivers and cornerbacks. He also coached with Wilkens at Glenvar and is a Glenvar and Averett College graduate.
Buchannon, who is a CHS graduate, will help with the both the defensive and offensive line and H-backs in the running game.
Hall and Boyd were both on last year’s staff. Boyd had served as the Blue Demons defensive coordinator after coming from West Stokes High School in North Carolina. He will handle inside linebackers on the new staff, while Hall will oversee defensive backs and receivers.
It is not known as of yet whether the four newbies will also teach at CHS or in the Montgomery County school system.
Wilkens hopes to add two or three more assistants over the next month. He has been busy splitting his time between Glenvar and CHS. He does reside in Christiansburg.
The program received a major boost in March with the opening of an expanded weight room.
