LORETTO, Pa. – Saint Francis head football coach Chris Villarrial has announced the hire of Elven Walker IV as the program's secondary coach.

"We are proud to introduce Elven Walker as our new Secondary coach," said Villarrial. "Elven has developed All-American players at linebacker and returner on special teams. Elven brings with him the championship mindset that we look for in our student-athletes in the classroom and on the field. I look forward to watching Elven bring another level of success to our secondary."

Walker arrives in Loretto after spending the last two seasons at Coe College, where he worked as linebackers coach, special teams coordinator, and in other off-the-field roles that included the program's social media coordinator. Walker coached ARC Defensive Player of the Year and AFCA All-American Logan Rickard at the linebacker position and special teams All-American in A.J. Christensen. Coe led Division III in blocked punts returned for touchdowns in 2019.

Prior to his time at Coe, Walker worked as the defensive backs coach and punt return coordinator at Carroll University for the 2018 season. The punt return unit posted its best numbers in the program's history and Walker helped lead safety Billy Krawczyk to All-CCIW honors. Walker began his college coaching career at his alma mater, Eastern Illinois, as a defensive quality control coach and earned high school coaching experience at Lincoln-Way Central HS in Illinois.

Walker, a native of Wheaton, Illinois, was a two-sport student-athlete at Eastern Illinois in football and track, graduating in 2017 with a degree in Kinesiology/Sport Management. On the gridiron, he appeared in 38 career games with 52 total tackles, including 37 in his senior year. The Panthers qualified for the FCS playoffs twice in his tenure. On the track, Walker was a hurdler who scored in multiple OVC Championship meets, helping the Panthers to indoor championships in 2016 and 2017.

Saint Francis will begin its 2021 season on Friday, Sept. 3 at Eastern Michigan. A full schedule will be released later this spring.
 
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To learn more about Saint Francis University, visit francis.edu.