(Kansas City, MO) — The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association hosted its football media day today — NW Missouri St. Head Coach John McMenamin and two of his players spoke for about 15 minutes. The Bearcats are coming off a resurrection season in McMenamin’s first season on the sidelines — finishing 9-3 and heading back to playoffs plus 8-1 in the MIAA and tied with Pittsburg St. for the league title. McMenamin was named the Conference Coach of the Year and he says every member of his staff is back this year. He says that will help deal with a lot of unknowns going into the 2026 season
In 2023, NW Missouri St. was 6-4, in 2024 it was 5-4. That is not an expected record with Bearcat football so a change was made at head coach and McMenamin came in and turned things around quickly. He says it will be a challenge to keep things going in the same direction
On offense, the Bearcats return some key skill guys — Sophomore QB Zechariah Owens, Sophomore RB Quincy Torry, Junior RB Te’Shaun Porter and Senior WR Erwin Nash. On defense, Northwest loses a lot including their top five tacklers. McMenamin hopes the 2nd unit is ready to go
Locally, Trent Warner is a Redshirt Freshman DT from Nodaway Valley who will try to fight for playing time when camp opens in two weeks. The first game for Northwest Missouri St. is Saturday, August 29 at Texas A&M Kingsville.
