WICHITA – It's rare, if not unheard of, for a coach in any athletic endeavor at any level to say something positive about the havoc the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked the past 18 months.
Kansas Wesleyan football coach Myers Hendrickson might be the exception, though.
The Coyotes were forced to play last season's games over the entire school year – seven contests in the fall of 2020 followed by a nearly four-month pause then three more games in the spring of 2021.
KWU won eight of the 10 and finished strong, prevailing in the last five. A 49-19 victory over Tabor in the finale was played April 3, one week after the Coyotes' 28-21 road victory over No. 11-ranked and previously unbeaten Bethel.
The three spring games, though, didn't allow Wesleyan to have a typical spring practice session, but for Hendrickson that wasn't all bad.
"The amount of new faces you saw last fall, getting more games in the spring and staying in-season in February, March, April, it definitely was a huge plus for our program as opposed to going through the traditional spring ball when you're limited in practices," he said. "When you're in season and you're able to get a lot more things done. Our program benefitted from that greatly."
KWU opens the 2021 season against Kansas Conference foe Friends at 6 p.m. Saturday in Adair-Austin Stadium and Hendrickson believes the Coyotes will be better prepared than they would have been had they not played in the spring.
Twenty returning starters certainly help as well.
"If you look at where we were last year, we were trying to figure out almost every starting position," he said. "(This year) we were really able to put people in place right away and do some earlier installation, some more intricasies, dive into more things schematically earlier in fall camp than we did before."
Offensively KWU returns 10 starters led by quarterback Isaiah Randalle (JR/Sacramento, Calif.) and wide receiver Stevie Williams (SO/East Los Angeles, Calif.), both NAIA/AFCA Honorable Mention All-Americans last season. The Coyotes led the conference in scoring at 45.1 points per game and total yards at 504 per game.
Randalle was the KCAC's top passer, throwing for 2,893 yards while completing 68 percent of his passes with 23 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Williams led the conference with 903 yards receiving on 60 receptions and scored 10 touchdowns. Four offensive linemen also return.
Defensively 10 starters return from a unit that was vastly improved in the spring. After a slow start the defense finished fourth in points allowed per game (24.9).
"The defense was the difference in several games, especially that Bethel game," Hendrickson said. "Our defense got better as the year went along. We had some guys on the field in the spring who hadn't played in the fall, they got to play games, had some success and we're looking to carry that momentum into the fall.
"I feel like we're playing with really good connection right now where 11 guys are playing together and there's more familiarity."
Hendrickson also likes the versatility he's seen from his team during fall camp.
"If we're going to be a successful ballclub this year we're going to have to play people at different spots because it is a long season," he said. "With the amount of players we have returning we felt like we had to see a lot of guys in different positions to make us as strong as possible."
That experience and flexibility could be invaluable as the Coyotes play three of their first four games on the road, all against KCAC opponents. The home opener is September 11 against Sterling, followed by consecutive road games against Bethel and Bethany.
"You're first game is not only a conference but it's also a road conference game," Hendrickson said. "Really our backs are against the wall, there's no room for error. At this point when you're starting conference season on the road you've got to be on top of your game right from the get-go."
Friends was 2-6 in 2020 but lost to Bethel 34-22 in North Newton in November. The Falcons played one game in the spring, a 20-3 loss to Southwestern in Wichita.
KWU has won the last six games against Friends, including a 70-17 victory last season in Salina.
"They got better as the season went on," Hendrickson said of the Falcons. "They held Southwestern to 20 points in their last game of the spring, played Ottawa to a seven-point game, played Bethel close. They were playing good football and playing with a lot of confidence."
Hendrickson, though, doesn't know what to expect from the Falcons this weekend.
"The biggest thing on paper is they have a new offensive coordinator," he said, "so, they could really do anything on offense. We've had to really plan holistically as a defense for this game because we don't know schematically what they're going to do."