MEADVILLE, Pa. -- Fourth-year head coach Braden Layer announced the addition of five new assistant coaches to the Allegheny College football staff ahead of the upcoming 2026 campaign.

Joining the Gators on the sideline this fall are special teams coordinator Curtis Bailey, volunteer assistant wide receivers coach Dwaine Barber '20, cornerbacks coach Logan Lee '19, defensive line coach Kevin McLane, and running backs coach LaMarcus Wise.

Bailey, who will also oversee wide receivers and tight ends, returned to Meadville after a four-year stint as the offensive coordinator at Alfred University. Bailey worked with two successful running backs in his tenure with the Saxons, including a 3,000-yard career rusher in Max Freeman IV. In 2025, sophomore running back Tommy Nyquist ran for more than 1,100 yards, becoming the first Saxon to surpass 1,000 yards in a season since 2019. Bailey helped Alfred qualify for the Asa S. Bushnell Bowl in 2024 with an offense that dropped 64 points in a win over Juniata College and 51 points in a shutout against Hartwick College. Before moving to Alfred, Bailey spent five years as an assistant at Allegheny, including three as the quarterbacks coach. He's also made stops at Gannon University (2014-15) and the University of Rochester (2016). Bailey graduated from Penn State Behrend in 2014 with a bachelor's degree in English.

Barber makes his coaching debut with the Gators as a volunteer assistant wide receivers coach. The former Gator pass catcher appeared in 29 games from 2017-19, hauling in 58 receptions for 989 yards and 11 touchdowns. The best games of his career came against Kenyon: on Oct. 20, 2018, Barber had seven catches for 131 yards, and two touchdowns in a 54-10 victory over the Owls, and on Oct. 19, 2019, he posted seven catches for a career-high 182 yards and three scores in a 49-0 win. The latter performance earned him Offensive Player of the Week honors from the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). A Hialeah, Florida, native, Barber graduated from Allegheny in 2020 with a degree in community and justice studies.

Another familiar face returning to Tool City, Lee reunited with Layer, who was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach during his junior and senior years with the Gators. Lee graduated from Allegheny with several passing records, including most career touchdowns (63) and single-season records for touchdowns (33) and passing yards (3,002). During his prolific junior season, he surpassed more than 300 yards in five games and had multiple touchdowns in eight contests. Lee threw five touchdown passes, one shy of the single-game record, in wins over Hiram College and Kenyon College. In the 2017 finale at Oberlin College, he tied a then-school record with 400 yards through the air. Lee previously spent two years as the assistant offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at La Jolla High School in San Diego, California. Lee graduated from Allegheny in the spring of 2019 with a degree in communication and media studies.

A veteran of the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), McLane made the short trip northeast from Greenville after four seasons as the defensive line coach at Thiel College. In 2024, he was promoted to recruiting coordinator for the Tomcats. Over his first three years at Thiel, McLane helped develop a talented pair of linemen in Luke Faber and Chad Morningstar. Faber and Morningstar both earned All-PAC accolades in 2022, 2023, and 2024, while combining for more than 300 career tackles, 15 sacks, and seven blocked kicks. A 2021 graduate of the University of Mount Union, McLane spent two years as a student assistant defensive line coach with the nationally-ranked Purple Raiders.

Wise brings a wealth of experience as a coach at the Division I and II levels. Most recently, he was an assistant offensive line coach and offensive analyst at Hampton University, an FCS program in the Coastal Athletic Association. From 2022-24, he worked with the tight ends and slot receivers at his alma mater, Virginia State University. In those three seasons, the Trojans finished with a 21-8 overall record with a 17-6 mark against teams in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA). After an eight-win campaign in 2023 with the conference's highest-scoring offense, VSU earned a spot in the CIAA championship game in 2024. Wise began his coaching career at his former high school, Varina High School, in the Richmond suburb of Henrico, Virginia. He trained the offensive line for four years and helped the Blue Devils capture their first-ever Class 4 state championship with a 13-1 season in 2021. Wise graduated from Virginia State in 2016 with a degree in marketing.