Eastern Illinois football head coach Chris Wilkerson has announced the addition of two new coaches to the Panthers football staff along with the adjustment of two coaching positions on staff.
 
Joining the staff will be Casey Walker and Tre'jon Lewis while current assistant coach Mason Keeler will add special teams coordinator to go with his tight ends coaching role.  Panthers defensive coordinator Andrew Strobel will add coaching the safeties position in addition to his coordinator role.
 
Walker joins the Panthers staff as the defensive line coach and run game coordinator after two seasons coaching the defensive line at Florida A&M.  He coached three All-Conference selections on the defensive line during his two seasons with the program.  A former player at the University of Oklahoma, Walker played three seasons in the NFL and was on NFL rosters for four years prior to beginning his coaching career at Garden City CC in the spring of 2018.  He then worked at Oklahoma Baptist for the 2018 season.  In 2019 Walker moved on to work for three seasons at Texas A&M Commerce as the defensive line coach / run game coordinator coaching five All-Conference selections including Celestin Haba who went on to play to the Canadian Football League.  He briefly worked at Incarnate Word for the spring of 2022 before joining the staff at Louisiana Tech for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.  He coached All-Conference selection Keivie Rose who went on to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
 
Lewis returns to his alma mater as the Panthers assistant defensive line coach as EIU will put more emphasis that position group.  He played for EIU from 2022-24 before beginning his coaching career in the Spring of 2025 as the defensive line coach at Anna Maria College.  Lewis worked as a graduate assistant helping coach the defensive line this past fall (2025) at North Carolina Central.  In that role he helped coach two All-Conference selections on the defensive line with the defensive unit ranking first in the FCS in team sacks per game and fifth in team tackles for loss per game. 
 
EIU will open spring practice in late March with the 2026 Spring Game set for Saturday, April 25 at O'Brien Field.