It was unlike any season Matt Middleton had been through as a football coach.

The Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes finished 2025 with a 7-4 record, 3-2 in the Kansas Conference's Gene Bissell Division, during his first season as head coach. Getting there, though, was difficult, to say the least.

"This is the toughest year I've had in 25 years with season-ending injuries," Middleton said. "It really started in week two, when we felt like the wheels started wobbling with the loss of Luke (Armstrong, All-America running back), and then it just kind of snowballed. We had nine starters out at one time, seven out for the year with knee injuries."

The marquee victory came in the penultimate game when KWU upset 18th-ranked McPherson 20-17 at JRI Hospitality Stadium.

"The kids found a way to compete," he said. "We had some guys step up, but it was a tough year."

Middleton signed 91 athletes after arriving last December and had a roster of 153. An impressive 65 percent of the freshmen returned in the fall.

"That's a huge number," he said. "You've got to do that every year, and it's a tough go. That says a lot about our staff."

Middleton credits the developmental program with aiding retention.

"If you're going to have a roster as large as we do, they have to be all involved," he said. "They have to have a voice, they have to have an opportunity to compete, they have to be loved on. If we really want to build a program for success down the road, we need to be able to develop within our program."

On-field discipline was another hallmark. KWU tied for fourth in the NAIA as the least-penalized team – just 4.5 per game.

 In the classroom, the Coyotes were outstanding. Their cumulative GPA improved from 2.57 last fall to 3.18 in the spring.

"That's probably one of the things I'm most excited about and was a really big deal," Middleton said. "That was just because of our study hall and the things we did. I was proud of them."

Looking ahead, Middleton said that improving the team's depth and talent is imperative. With 27 seniors on the roster, recruiting efforts will focus initially on transfers.

"Going forward, we need to be able to have better and more depth for injury situations," he said. "We're losing some guys who are going to be hard to replace; we lost a lot of production. I really would like to build from within, but for us to be able to compete now, we've got to get some immediate help, there's no question about that."

Middleton said the goal is to compete with the KCAC's upper echelon.

"You look at Friends, Evangel, Southwestern, McPherson. It's taken awhile, but they have depth two- and three-deep," he said. "We've got to chase them down. We know what we've got to do, it's just a matter of can we get it done and how do you do that? At the end of the day, it's about players. We've got a good group, but we've got to get some more."

Middleton is thrilled with the coaching staff's work and dedication.

"I don't say this lightly: I've been blessed," he said. "To get seven wins under the circumstance, they did an unbelievable job and I'm super proud of them. If somebody would have told me that back in week three or four, based off where we were, I'd have thought they were crazy."