OpEd: Why Great NJCAA Coaching Matters
OpEd: Why Great NJCAA Coaching Matters
Dr. Christopher J. Parker
President & CEO / National Junior College Athletic Association
Whether they admit it or not, everyone desires to be coached in some way or another. For the NJCAA, our coaches are the mentors that teach resilience, offer motivation, and honor success in everything the association does, especially in answering "why" we do it.
I routinely say that coaching at the NJCAA level is the most challenging, yet the most rewarding coaching opportunity that exists in all of sports. Where else can you get two years to directly impact a student-athlete's life, while also providing them tools that help them continue to move forward academically and athletically. At this level, our coaches take young freshmen and sophomores, and we pour their trust and guidance into them with the expectation of winning. There may not be the luxury of learning from seasoned upperclassman, but nonetheless NJCAA student-athletes continue to shine.
Recruiting NJCAA student-athletes and aiding in their recruitment to a four-year college all within 48 months is arguably the most challenging college recruitment process in existence. While that may be the case, NJCAA coaches succeed without batting an eye. For the last 80 plus years, NJCAA coaches have made sure that young student-athletes are afforded the opportunity to attend two-year college member institutions to compete in the sport they love and obtain a first-class education.
NJCAA coaches tend to these young curious minds and mold them into positive, self-reflective, and confident mentalities that can take on anything. These young men and women, along with the parents and families, entrust in a college and its coaches to do just that and more: To be a great coach on and off the field, as well as aid their development in all aspects of life, even if that requires tearing them down to build them back up stronger.
The NJCAA possesses coaches who have won over 1000 games in a career, such as Joe Scheuermann (Delgado Community College, KS), who is still rolling up the sleeves today, along with Lorene Ramsey (Illinois Central College) who won well over 1000 games, while standing as the only coach to win two national titles in one year (women's basketball and softball). Additionally, the NJCAA boasts many successful coaches who have gone on to elite levels such as Steve Forbes, (Northwest Florida State and Barton County Community College, KS) currently at Wake Forest University (NC), or Brandon Staley (Hutchinson Community College, KS) who is the current head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers (CA). Along with retired pioneer Betty Jo Graber (Weatherford College, TX and Ranger College, TX) who coached the US National Women's Basketball Team to success, and Mick Haley (Kellogg Community College) who coached the US Women's Volleyball Team to greatness.
This list is lengthy, but not all encompassing, and it will continue to grow exponentially as more great coaches take the next step towards their hall of fame careers. But if you truly want to learn a coach's greatness, just ask the student-athletes that played for them. They will give you a firsthand testament of what a great coach embodies. Fran Garmin (Temple Junior College, TX), a National Women's Basketball Hall of Fame coach who played for Graber, credits her as one of the most influential female mentors in her life, far beyond the sport.
But as noted above, it does not just start and stop on the playing field. It is about the life altering engagement with an expectation to be better than you were, that makes NJCAA coaches so great. No matter what your school colors or mascot may be, thank you to all NJCAA coaches for making a difference in our student-athletes' lives and sacrificing so much of your personal time to pour greatness into their futures. I sincerely applaud all of you for donning the most difficult, yet most rewarding, coaching job in all of college sports! Keep being great for all of us, it matters.
For more information on two-year college athletics, visit www.njcaa.org
