Assistant men’s basketball coach and head junior varsity coach, Charles Zanders, is one busy bee.

When he’s not coaching alongside head coach Bruce Wilson, Zanders is acting as an academic liaison.

Zanders is a liaison for numerous sports at Simpson College including basketball, wrestling, volleyball, and tennis.

As a diversity recruiter, he looks for talented players at high school games that may be interested in attending the college.

According to Zanders, the reason for coming to Simpson was for “the opportunity to coach at the college level, and the chance to work with Coach Wilson.”

A Simpson grad himself, Zanders has been through “the Simpson experience” firsthand, not to mention the love he has for the college.

Originally from Des Moines, Zanders attended Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge and then attended Grandview University before coming to Simpson to finish his bachelor’s degree in education. He then went on to receive his master’s degree at Graceland University.

Before coming to coach at Simpson, Zanders was the assistant coach of the boy’s basketball team at Hoover High School and then became the head coach for another six years.

Along with gaining valuable insight and coaching techniques from women’s volleyball coach Lana Smith, football coach Jim Glogowski and women’s basketball coach Brian Niemuth, Zanders is looking forward to the season.

“The team is looking great,” Zanders said. “There is a great incoming group of freshmen and [some] very experienced returnees.” He didn’t hesitate on their goals for the season, which consists of “winning conference, making it to the NCAA tournament, and succeeding at the NCAA tournament.”