For almost a decade, the Cy Woods Varsity Football team was run by Head Coach Trenton Faith. Suddenly, a surprising announcement changed everything and put the fate of Wildcat Football in jeopardy.

After coaching for over 30 years, Coach Faith threw in the towel and headed into retirement. Weeks of speculation followed the news, and debate over who should take on the role of head coach spread around Cy Woods. Finally, the team’s fate was revealed and Cody Simper was elected the new Athletic Coordinator and Head Coach.

Simper has been a coach for 18 years and started his coaching career at Texas State University. He became a Head Coach for Ray High School in Corpus Christi, Tx in 2010, where he compiled a record of 80-31 in just 11 seasons.

¨We won a lot of championships and we were very consistent at winning,¨ Simper said. ¨I would never have left Ray if it wasn’t for a place that I thought was special, and I think that Cy Woods is a very special community and school.¨

Simper had little time to get acclimated to Cy Woods and was immediately thrown into coaching, but he has pinpointed his focus on the 2021 football season.

“I was excited when I took the job, but I knew that there was a lot of work ahead,¨ Simper said. ¨So, naturally I just shifted immediately into work mode and focused on what needed to be done because we had a short time to prepare for our season.¨

Simper was not the only new coach hired this season. He was joined by a new strength and conditioning coach, a new offensive coordinator, a new defensive coordinator and a new freshman coach. The newly hired staff had a short amount of time to share ideas and make plans for the future.

¨The summertime was crucial for us because it was the first time as a staff that we were able to come together and work towards getting ready for the season,¨ Simper said.

After coaching for a considerable amount of time, Simper has formed a specific system for running the team. Both offensively and defensively, the new system is a new change for all of the returning staff and players.

¨I think our guys are excited about the changes,¨ Simper said. ¨It’s definitely very different than it has been before, some of these guys have not been able to utilize their skills and now they will be able to do so.”

Simper is focusing on creating a solid foundation for the team and working hard to make sure the program starts off on a good foot, so the team will succeed.

“We want to hold high standards across the board for everything we do. We tell the guys they are never going to stay the same, you’re either getting better or worse,¨ Simper said. ¨Eventually, we not only want our young men to understand what we are doing, but we want to understand why we are doing it and how they can accomplish success.”