Updated

Daytona Beach, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Bethune-Cookman University didn't need have to look far to keep continuity in its successful Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football program.

Assistant Terry Sims was elevated to head coach Monday as Bethune-Cookman moves forward after Brian Jenkins' departure to Alabama State last week.

"I'm very confident. I'm a confident person," Sims said at his introductory news conference. "I will be different from Coach Jenkins. I'm a people person and so we will be different in that sense."

Sims was an assistant throughout Jenkins' five-year tenure, serving as the assistant head coach, special teams coordinator and secondary coach this past season, when the Wildcats went 9-3 and earned a share of the conference title - their fourth in the last five seasons.

A 1994 graduate of Knoxville College, Sims began his coaching career at his alma mater. He also has been an assistant coach at Howard, Louisiana-Lafayette, Prairie View A&M, Texas Southern, Austin Peay and Louisville.