CWU football returned to the field on Friday, April 1 for the start of spring practice. CWU will be playing their first season in the Lone Star Conference, after playing football in the GNAC for the last 20 years.

Head football coach Chris Fisk has been impressed by the team’s work ethic starting off the spring season.  

“[The] guys are super focused,” Fisk said. “They’re not messing around, they’re dialed in. They understand what we can and can’t do when we start to play those better teams in the nation.” 

The spring season may have just started but CWU has been focusing over the off-season on what things they need to improve on. 

“Preparation started in January, these guys have been working their tails off trying to get better,” Fisk said. “Day in and day out.”

After the fall, where they made the playoffs for the first time since 2017, Fisk looks at the 2022 season as a clean slate.  

“When we talk about a playoff appearance last season and all the things that team accomplished, that has nothing to do with what this team does, ” Fisk said. “It’s start over, start from scratch in January and … build the best version of what the 2022 team can be, and we’re on that journey right now. We’re four practices in and having a blast doing it.” 

Following a playoff appearance last season, redshirt sophomore running back Tyler Flanagan and the Wildcats have their sights locked on returning to the playoffs next season. 

“For the upcoming season, being in the Lone Star [Conference], we want to win the Lone Star and get another bid for the national playoffs, and make a run for the national championship,” Flanagan said. 

Flanagan describes this team as having a good brotherhood, which is the culture Fisk is building. 

Fisk echoed Flanagan’s statement on the culture he is building at CWU. 

“When guys get tired or frustrated, you start to see other guys pick them up, and that’s telling me that our culture is strong and a [we have a] brotherhood going on here at Central Washington,” Fisk said. 

CWU takes on the 2021 Division-II defending champions, Ferris State University, on Thursday, September 1 to kick off the season.