Pearison to Take Over Charger Basketball
Brian Pearison, an Elkhart native, has been named the new men’s basketball coach at Ancilla College. Pearison has been an assistant basketball coach for the Chargers for the past three years. He takes over for Aaron Butcher who was recently named the head coach at Northern Oklahoma College in Enid, OK. NOC is a NJCAA Division I junior college. Ancilla is a NJCAA Division II program.
“Brian has been an integral part of the great success of our men’s basketball program over the past three years,” said Ancilla President Ken Zirkle. “He has helped recruit, scout and coach this current roster and should make the transition from assistant to head coach quickly and easily. Hiring Brian for the top job was the most logical move to make.”
Pearison is currently serving as athletic director at Ancilla and will remain in that position in addition to his new coaching duties. He had been an assistant basketball coach at both Holy Cross College and at Indiana-South Bend before joining the Ancilla staff in 2014.
“I am very excited to take over the men’s basketball program at Ancilla College. This has been something I have been working for the past 15 years,” Pearison said. “I would like to thanks all the head coaches that gave me an opportunity to coach in their programs over the years. Coaching basketball has been a passion of mine for many years, and I am thankful that Dr. Zirkle gave me this opportunity to take over the Ancilla program. I plan to continue to grow this program. I would like to thank my wife, and two kids, for all their support over the years to help make this possible.”
Ancilla loses just three sophomores off this year’s 29-3 club and Pearison hopes to have the team back in the hunt for a trip to the national tournament next March.
“It is not often a new coach gets to take over a program that is near its pinnacle,” Pearison said. “The last three years gave me a wealth of experience in building a championship team. I want to thank Coach Butcher for giving me that opportunity.”
Ancilla has gone 75-19 in the past three seasons and 42-11 in the always tough MCCAA.