College of Canyons head football coach, Ted Iacenda, said he is calmly determined about where the team is and where he expects it to be this season, in spite of last year’s injuries, in an interview with KHTS AM-1220 announcer, Joe Soriano.

“First and foremost, our goal is always to win the conference no doubt; we feel like this is College of the Canyons and we should be conference champions and we won’t accept anything less than that,” Iacenda explained.

After Iacenda led the team to a Conference Championship in 2013, the Cougars were plagued last year by injuries and a raft of new players.

The highlight for those players this year however, is they now have a season of running patterns, working together as a team and working with their coaching staff comfortably under their belt. Iacenda expects that to be a determining factor for this season as head coach.

Reinstilling the mentality of knowing the Cougars could win every game as long as they didn’t lose focus and beat themselves is Iacenda’s goal. He plans to accomplish this with a carefully picked staff consisting of both veterans who know the program and the competition, and new faces to help rejuvenate and sharpen areas deemed key to a winning season this year.

“Experience, toughness, attitude and flair” are traits Iacenda uses to describe his coaching staff this season, “a good blend, a good mix.”

Iacenda sounds confident of his coaching matrix, without sliding into cockiness.

“This is the first year where I felt we were absolutely on the same page,” said Iacenda. “We sit down and talk about what we’re going to install from week to week, in terms of the spring and the summer.  They know exactly what I’m talking about, they remember it from the last two years. The first two years, it was kind of like everyone was getting on the same page, and I really feel like that is the case this year. They know what we are trying to do.”

Iacenda is confident that the Cougars will win some battles and the season opener will be a great test.

“To play our best, we will need to beat the best,” says Iacenda referring to the first game this season against perennial powerhouse Mount San Antonio.