First year head coaches are making their presence felt on campus. Whether on the tennis courts, in the swimming pool, on the gridiron or on the wrestling mat, these new coaches are wasting no time in getting down to business.

All of the new coaches talked about the expectations they had coming into this year. Women’s swimming coach Aaron Strain and the swim team finished the year with a 1-3 record overall. Strain talked about his expectations coming into this season, and what he did to try and better the team.

“I wasn’t really sure what to expect coming into the season,” Strain said. “We only had five girls from the previous year. Personally, I just wanted to come in and do the best that I knew how every day; to always be positive and keep up the morale of the team so they were working hard while having a good time.”

Football coach Jim Glogowski helped lead the Storm to a 7-3 record and a win over IIAC conference rival Central College in the season finale. With his first season as head coach behind him, Glogowski talked about what those first weeks were like on the job.

“At first there’s a sense of ‘Wow, there’s so much to do. Where do I get started?'” Glogowski said. “And now I think by no means are we anywhere near where we want to be, but I do think at least we have a plan. I think we know where to go next once this task is done.”

Wrestling Coach Clint Manny and the Simpson wrestling team placed eighth in the Iowa Conference standings. Manny said his experiences this year will better prepare him for next season.

“Well, it was a learning experience obviously for everybody, including myself probably more than anybody,” Manny said. “But as an assistant coach and an athlete here, you don’t realize what all goes into running a program. I spent all year writing stuff down, taking notes and just trying to take what I learned this year and carry it on and just add to that arsenal every year.”

The Simpson women’s tennis team finished fifth in the IIAC standings with an overall record of 10-8-1, and a conference record of 5-4. Coach Lindsay Chase spoke about her experience in her first year as a head coach at Simpson.

“I could not have asked for a better team in coaching my first season at Simpson,” Chase said. “The season was better than I could have imagined. These girls epitomized the concept of team players, always cheering each other on, getting along on and off the court and never giving up. We surprised a lot of teams this season by doing those little things and never letting down.”

Strain said one of the main challenges for the swim team was increasing their numbers from the year before. With only five girls returning from the previous season, Strain said he hoped to have 12 to 15 girls when the season rolled around. When 19 girls came out for the team, he said it helped get them off on the right foot.

All the coaches set goals and expectations for their second season at Simpson. They are interested in seeing their program’s improve and take another step forward.

“I feel like we accomplished a lot this season and it has given us momentum for next year,” Strain said. “And this is just the beginning.”

First year head coaches are making their presence felt on campus. Whether on the tennis courts, in the swimming pool, on the gridiron or on the wrestling mat, these new coaches are wasting no time in getting down to business.

All of the new coaches talked about the expectations they had coming into this year. Women’s swimming coach Aaron Strain talked about his expectations coming into this season, and what he did to try and better the team.

“I wasn’t really sure what to expect coming into the season,” Strain said. “We only had five girls from the previous year. Personally I just wanted to come in and do the best that I knew how every day. To always be positive and keep up the morale of the team so they were working hard while having a good time.”

Football coach Jim Glogowski said he didn’t really have any expectations coming into this season, but said the demands of the job were a little overwhelming at first glance.

“At first there’s a sense of ‘Wow, there’s so much to do. Where do I get started?'” Glogowski said. “And now I think by no means are we anywhere near where we want to be, but I do think at least we have a plan. I think we know where to go next once this task is done.”

Wrestling coach Clint Manny talked about how much he learned this season, and what he did to prepare himself for the future.

“Well, it was a learning experience obviously for everybody including myself probably more than anybody,” Manny said. “But as an assistant coach and an athlete here you don’t realize what all goes into running a program. I spent all year writing stuff down, taking notes and just trying to take what I learned this year and carry it on and just add to that arsenal every year.”

Women’s tennis coach Lindsay Chase talked about how much she enjoyed her first year as head coach, and how it exceeded her expectations.

“I could not have asked for a better team in coaching my first season at Simpson,” Chase said. “The season was better than I could have imagined. These girls epitomized the concept of team players, always cheering each other on, getting along on and off the court and never giving up. We surprised a lot of teams this season by doing those little things and never letting down.”

Glogowski talked about some of the challenges that came with his first season as head coach at Simpson.

“The biggest challenge I think we had was changing the mind set,” Glogowski said. “Not that it was good, bad or indifferent before, but just the mind set we wanted it to be with the new staff.”

Chase said there were some challenges, but none that were really unexpected. Chase credited that to those that she worked with this season.

“Fortunately I don’t feel I faced any challenges this season that were unexpected,” Chase said. “And I credit that to the girls on the team, my assistant coach and the administration. They all were great to work with and provided great support.”

Strain said one of the main challenges for the swim team was increasing their numbers from the year before. With only five girls returning from the previous season, Strain said he hoped to have 12 to 15 girls when the season rolled around. When 19 girls came out for the team, he said it helped get them off on the right foot.

All the coaches talked about what they expect for their second season at Simpson. None of the coaches gave a number of wins to shoot for, but rather stated that they’re interested in seeing their program’s improve and take another step forward. Strain summed it up with just a few words.

“I feel like we accomplished a lot this season and it has given us momentum for next year,” Strain said. “And this is just the beginning.”