Pankil Chander '17

Biography

Chander returns in 2025-26 for his second year as the assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator of men's wrestling. In 2024-25, Chander helped coach Cameron Butka (197) to his second regional championship and All-American honor, finishing as an NCAA Finalist. He also helped coach Caleb Burkhardt (285) to his second NCAA Tournament appearance. Chander, a four-year men's wrestling student-athlete at Wilkes, was the head coach at Pennsylvania College of Technology since June 2022. Under his leadership, the Wildcats achieved their first ever team national ranking from the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) in 2023-24 and became the first program in Penn College history to advance to the NCAA Championships. Chander also coached the team to their first winning dual record and first season with two top five tournament finishes. Before his tenure at Penn College, Chander had a successful stint as a graduate assistant wrestling coach at Springfield College that he started in 2020 while working towards his master's degree. He coached 12 NWCA Scholar All-Americans across two seasons and led a wrestler to a top 12 finish in the 2022 NCAA DIII Championship. In August 2018, Chander was named an assistant wrestling coach at Gettysburg College, coaching three NWCA Scholar All-Americans, a Division III NCAA Qualifier, and four NCAA Southeast regional place winners. During his time as a Colonel, Chander amassed a career record of 91-50 and was the champion of the 2015 Wilkes O