The transition to the NCAA division three ranks for the Iowa Wesleyan football program takes another step as the Tigers get set for their first season as members of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference. Tom Parkevich is in his second year as head coach and says he is not trying to rebuild as program but instead is building a new one.
“To me its’a long distance race, it’s not a spring,” Parkevich says. He says they made some strides in his first year and he thinks they can continue to improve this year as well.
With the move to a new classification Parkevich says they have concentrated their recruiting efforts on the midwest. He says they drew a circle of a 500 hour radius around Mt. Pleasant and came close to visiting 300 schools. He says you have to sell, sell, sell, the program and promote your school.
Parkevich says this season starts a new chapter for football at the college and he feels honored to be at a school that has such a rich tradition. The Tigers will be eligible to win the conference title immediately but it will be three years before the program is eligible for the division three national playoffs.
Iowa Wesleyan opens the season with a visit to Simpson College on September seventh. They will play their first UMAC game the following week at St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota.