Iowa Wesleyan opens the football season on the road Saturday with a visit to Trinity International. Kent Anderson is entering his first season as the Tiger’s coach and takes over a program that scored only eight points per game in 2009 and gave up nearly 40 per contest is posting a 2-9 mark.

Anderson says they want to establish a foundation with a good attitude, increased toughness and discipline and good fundamentals.

Anderson says they don’t have a goal for a number of wins they want to achieve and instead just want to get better. He says setting goals isn’t what they want to do, they want to be a “tough gritty” football team, as he says if they are tough and gritty and playing fundamental football, then the chances of winning are good. And he says that will carry over to the classroom.

Anderson set the tone after he was hired when he canceled the spring game citing a lack of progress in the classroom by several players. He says on one hand it was a tough decision, because you need the practice, but he says on the other hand as someone who works in the field of education it was the right decisions. Anderson says the decision was one step backward and two steps forward.

Anderson says they don’t know what to expect from Trinity International. He says hopefully they don’t know much about his team either as both have new coaches. He says they’ll just focus on controlling what they do.

Anderson says adjustments will be crucial in the opener, as the ability to coach and adjust on the fly will make the difference. He says that’s what they’ve stressed in practice, just to be good a few things and not try to do too much.