Pankil Chander enters his second season as an assistant coach with wrestling program and an assistant to the athletic communications office in 2019-20.
Chander assists in the day-to-day operation of the wrestling program. He is responsible for recruiting talented student-athletes that will continue to raise the program's image on a national level as well as helping Head Coach, Andy Vogel manage the current roster of Gettysburg grapplers.
Chander’s secondary duty includes aiding the athletic communications staff in their marketing and communication efforts for the whole athletic department. This includes assisting with game day coverage, and managing the department's social media channels.
Chander’s first season with the Bullets wrestling contingent aided in multiple firsts for the program. Chander assisted in guiding the program to its first national recognition. The Bullets secured a spot in the first regular season National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Ranking (Ranked #22, 11/14/2018). The ranking was a result of the team locking down two consecutive team tournament championship in back to back weekends at the Messiah and Gettysburg Invitational – A feat not accomplished in over four decades.
Chander assisted the Orange and Blue to six place winners at the Centennial Conference Championships, and a CC Champion in Paul Triandafilou '19. He assisted four grapplers place at the NCAA Southeast Regional, including an NCAA Qualifier in Colin Kowalski ’19.
Chander brings a wealth of coaching and administrative experience to the Orange and Blue. He was a four-year letterwinner and starter at Wilkes and finished with 91 career wins. He served as a team captain during his senior year and was named a Scholar All-American by the National wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA). He was the recipient of the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Sportsmanship Award in 2017.
During his freshman campaign, Chander contributed to the Colonels' consistent top ten national ranking, a sixth place finish at the NWCA DIII National Duals and a East Region Championship in 2014. He finished as a runner-up in the 2013 Wilkes Open and third in the MAC Championships at 141lbs in 2014.
Chander's sophomore campaign included earning his first tournament title at the Monarch Invitational and a fourth place finish at the Wilkes Open at 141lbs. He assisted the Colonels in a 15 win season and upholding a top 15 national tab.
Chander earned a Wilkes Open title at 141lbs during his junior year and was instrumental in the Colonels maintaining a top 20 spot in the national poll. Shifting to 133lbs for his senior campaign, Chander saw his most winningest season with 29 wins, a runner-up finish at the Messiah Petrofes Invitational, Will Abele Invitational and the MAC Championships. The Colonels held a consistent top 25 tab in the national poll during his senior stint.
Off the mat, Chander was a sports writer for Wilkes University's campus newspaper, The Beacon, and he served an internship in the Sports Information Office. He graduated from Wilkes with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in business management and sports management in 2017.
Following graduation, Chander began his master's education at Bloomsburg University and served as a graduate assistant to the Dean of Students and Health & Wellness program. He also acted as a volunteer assistant coach with Bloomsburg's Division I wrestling program. As a volunteer assistant coach for the Huskies, Chander's responsibilities entailed duties in recruiting, marketing and development of the wrestlers on the team.
Chander joined Bloomsburg’s staff as a Volunteer Assistant Coach for the 2017-18 season, only a year after Marcus Gordon took the helm of the Huskies’ storied program. Chander assisted Gordon and Head Assistant, Russ Hughes in earning six dual meet wins – the most wins since the 2013-14 season for the Huskies.
Chander was involved in a program that experienced exponential growth and it’s first win in the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) since the 2013-14 season against George Mason. The Huskies showed promise when they were one point shy of knocking off Big Ten Opponent, Indiana University in a thrilling dual that had each team switching leads at three different points of the dual – The Hoosiers went on to win 19-18.
The Huskies had five place winners at the Army Black Knight Invitational and a champion at 133 pounds in redshirt senior, Andy Schutz. Bloomsburg would go on to have three place winners and a runner-up at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships. The Huskies would round out the regular season with a win over Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) opponent, Bucknell – The first win the Huskies claim over the Bison since 2014. Bloomsburg concluded the year finishing fifth out of seven teams at the 2018 EWL Championships hosted by Edinboro and three Huskies finished in the top four.
Chander assisted in overseeing the Husky Elite Wrestling Wrestling Club (HEWC), a youth and high school club housed in Bloomsburg's wrestling facility. During his time with the HEWC, he ran training sessions for wrestlers across North Central Pennsylvania alongside 1996 Penn State All-American, 2010 PIAA "AA" Wrestling Coach of the year and current Bloomsburg Assistant Coach, Russ Hughes.
Chander has been active in the wrestling community. He volunteered as a social content writer for the 2019 Division I NCAA Championships in Pittsburgh. While volunteering at the championships, Chander assisted the digital team with identifying significant storylines and producing real time coverage.
He has also served on the host event committee for the Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling Association from 2015-17 for the Youth State Championships held inside Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre. While on the event committee, he was instrumental in advocating for women’s wrestling by spearheading the initiative to host U.S. Olympian, Adeline Gray as a dignitary and medal award distributor.
Chander has also served as a camp counselor at multiple wrestling camps including World Wrestling Resource Camps and Cornell Big Red Camps. He has also acted as a volunteer coach with Ascend Wrestling Club in Hicksville, N.Y. during his undergraduate tenure.
Chander has been a scholarship recipient of the NWCA Leadership Academy and was selected to attend the 2018 NCAA Emerging Leaders Seminar.
Chander is a native of Long Island, New York wrestled at Lawrence High School under Coach John Saureland and Dominick Delvacchio, and Ascend Wrestling Club Coach under Craig Vitagliano.
Career Highlights
- Coached one national qualifier
- Three Academic All-Americans
- One Centennial Conference champion.
- Eight conference place winners.
- Guided Bullets to first regular season National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Ranking (Ranked #22, 11/14/2018).
- Lead team to two consecutive team tournament championship in back to back weekends at the Messiah and Gettysburg Invitational – A feat not accomplished in over four decades.
- Coached six regional place winners.
- Assisted in coaching Centennial Conference Chris Clifford Award Winner, Paul Triandafilou’19 – Award earned for most career points in the CC Championship.
- Assisted in coaching two out of the top five wins leader in Bullet Wrestling history (No. 2 Paul Triandafilou, 121 wins and No. 4 Colin Kowalski, 109 wins)
- 7 dual meet wins in first season with the Bullets
- Career Record of 91-50 (Freshman 141lbs, Sophomore 141lbs, Junior 141lbs, Senior 133lbs).
- National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Scholar All-American.
- Four year starter on consistently nationally ranked Wilkes University team.
- Team rank - No. 6 in 2013, No. 11 in 2014, No. 17 in 2015, and No. 24 in 2016.
- 2013 Wilkes Open Runner-Up (141lbs).
- 2014 Wilkes Open 4th (141lbs).
- 2015 Wilkes Open Champion (141lbs).
- Starter on 2014 DIII NWCA National Duals Sixth Place Team.
- Starter on 2014 NCAA DIII East Region Championship Team.
