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Simpson football is historically one of the best programs in the American Rivers Conference, but they have fallen off drastically recently.
Simpson has gone just 1-9 each of the last two seasons, ultimately bringing about the of the Matt Jeter era. So, Reed Hoskins stepped in as the new head coach, coming to Indianola after serving as the offensive coordinator for Illinois Wesleyan University.
Each coach approaches a rebuild differently, but Hoskins is setting the expectation to get the program back to where it was under Jim Williams in the 90s; competing for conference championships.
"Now that's a bold statement when there's really good teams out there but that's the goal we're going to work towards," Hoskins said. "But focusing on those steps towards that and the things that are gonna allow us to play at a championship level every single day is really the priority."
Despite the new staff, 13 starters are returning from last season.
"I wouldn't say a lot of chemistry is changed, I mean ideally it's the same team, we didn't lose a whole lot of guys to the coaching change," said senior wide receiver Reed Worth. "A lot of guys have stuck it out through the 1-9 seasons. So it's been again, a growing brotherhood."
Simpson starts the season at home on Saturday, Sept. 2 against Augustana (Ill.) at 6 p.m.