Winona football's Josh Rice, DK Decker and Jordan Pullum at a fall sports media day at the CHRISTUS Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Institute on Aug. 1. (Michel Alfaro/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

Winona posted a 1-8 record in 2023 — its fourth consecutive season with two wins or fewer and eight losses after being a playoff team the previous five seasons.

After 10 seasons with Keylon Kincade at the helm, the Wildcats will turn to defensive coordinator Kenneth Cook as their new head football coach.

“We’re going to have a bunch of seniors that have been playing varsity ball for a while,” Cook said. “We’re expecting those guys to step in place and lead. This will also be the largest amount of O-linemen that we’ve had in a while, so we will be able to put together a decent O-line and try to get our skill kids some running room.

“I’m expecting to make it to the postseason this year. I know this is the first year of me being the head guy, but I’ve been here a while. My OC is returning. We’re adding a couple of more guys to help us out. We will be OK.”

Cook was joined by senior quarterback linebacker Josh Rice, senior right tackle/defensive end DK Decker and senior wide receiver Jordan Pullum at a fall sports media day at the CHRISTUS Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Institute on Aug. 1 to talk about the upcoming season.

“We just honestly want to win some games this year and maybe go to the playoffs,” Rice said. “We’re all comfortable because we’ve all known (Coach Cook) since middle school. We’re trying to change the culture around, trying to tune up and fix some things.”

“It’s going to take a lot of teamwork,” Decker said. “We’re finally trusting each other. We’re more in sync. We’ve been watching a lot of film.”

“We want to win some games, like Josh said, but I really want to go to the playoffs. We are trying to break that curse.”

The Wildcats scored 172 points last season, which was their most since 2019, scoring 115, 96 and 148 the previous three seasons. But defensively, they allowed a program-high 496 points defensively.

Winona will compete in District 11-3A Division II with Arp, Buffalo, New Diana, Elkhart, West Rusk and Troup.

The Wildcats will open the season Aug. 31 at Big Sandy.