{"id":3692,"date":"2026-09-24T09:00:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T14:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/?p=3692"},"modified":"2026-09-25T10:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T15:52:13","slug":"historic-basketball-season-ends-with-coaching-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2026\/09\/24\/historic-basketball-season-ends-with-coaching-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic Basketball Season Ends With Coaching Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coach Rand Stands on Basketball Court. Photo By: Josiah Ann Nelson<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams came out of the 2025-26 regular season with historic regular-season records, with the men going 31-3, while the women went 35-1. The women’s team won their district. Both of these seasons ended with a cherry on top, with both head coaches winning the KBCA Coach of the Year. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0This was not the first time that women’s head coach Ben Conrad won this award, as the Cavaliers head coach also won it in 2021. Conrad is not foreign to winning awards while at the helm. He won the United States Marine Corps\/WBCA Junior\/Community College of the Year in 2016, Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Women\u2019s Coach of the Year in 2021, 2022, world exposure report women\u2019s D-ll coach of the year in 2021, NJCAA women\u2019s district coach of the year in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2024, Kansas East Jayhawk Conference Women\u2019s Coach of the Year 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During his 17-year career at JCCC, he has a combined record of 508-63 (.890). With his two national championships he has won three runner up titles in 2017, 2021, 2024, while also making the national tournament five separate times in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2022, 2023, 10 conference titles 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Conrad’s teams have produced 23 NJCAA All-Americans, 17 WBCA All-Americans, 10 World Exposure Report All-Americans, 15 National All-Tournament selections, two MVPs, 62 all-region performers, and 58 all-conference picks.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Conrad started his basketball coaching career as a student assistant for the men’s basketball team at Northern Iowa from 1996 to 1999. Des Moines Area Community College would be his next destination, where he would coach from 2002 to 2005. From there, he moved on to the University of Upper Iowa to coach at the division two level from 2005 to 2008. He would ultimately end up at his current position at JCCC. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked about some of the mentorship he has received throughout the years, he said: \u201cToo many to mention, but I did spend 5 years in Ames, Iowa, learning from some elite coaches at Iowa State,\u201d Conrad coaching at these previous universities has help to achieve his philosophy as a coach: \u201cDefend and rebound, value the ball, everything else seems to fall into place\u201d. The season that Conrad was named head coach at JCCC, the Cavaliers went 19-13; since that season, 12 of the 16 seasons they won at least 30 games a year. When asked what has changed since he arrived at JCCC, Conrad said, \u201cWe\u2019ve got some tradition that we can now sell when we’re recruiting. But on the flip side, the rest of the state is doing full rides, so that makes in-state recruiting and KC area recruiting even more challenging.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Keeping that level of success is no easy task. Conrad says his key to his success is \u201cRecruiting the right players and people, strong buy-in to our system and culture.\u201d Conrad also said that \u201cRecruiting the right players and people for sure. Getting the right people on the bus\u201d were keys to his success. While being at the top, many challenges can occur, with the dangers of complacency. \u201cIt 100% can if you let it. We try to fight that every single day, though, and stay locked in on our process\u201d, Conrad said. The fans are a big part of a team’s success; their added support is key to winning games. Conrad sang their praises: \u201cWe had solid support all year.\u00a0Winning the Coach of the Year Award was a good addition to the season, Conrad agreed, \u201cmore of a validation of some really hard work over a long period of time. It\u2019s a very cool award\u201d. When looking towards the future of women’s basketball at JCCC, Conrad said: \u201cStay true to our formula and don\u2019t get comfortable,\u201d The women’s team will start their 2026-27 campaign on Oct. 10 at the Southwest Jamboree tournament. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rand Champell has been the head coach of the men\u2019s basketball team since 2020. Since then, the Cavs have had a record of 164-34 (.827). This is not the first time that Champell has been awarded for his work as a coach. He won NJCAA region 6\/\/ district coach of the Year in 2021, 2023, and 2024; the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame Filbert Five Award in 2022;\u00a0and the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Division II Coach of the Year in 2024, 2025, and 2026. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During his 6 years at JCCC, they have made 5 NJCAA Division II National Tournament appearances in 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026, winning three district titles in those seasons and four conference titles.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Champell\u2019s teams have produced 6 NJCAA All-Americans, 21 All-Region VI selections, 21 All-KJCCC picks, 16 of his players have moved on to 4-year programs, and 5 players have earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honors. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Champell started his coaching journey as an assistant coach at Southwest Baptist University from 1988-93; from there, he would get his first head coaching job at the Labette Community College from 1993-95. After a short stint there, he would move on to Phillips University from 1998-2003. His next stop would be at the University of Central Arkansas from 2003-10. He would only spend 2 years, from 2012-13, at Garden City Community College. His last stop before JCCC was as an assistant at the University of Eastern Illinois from 2013-20. Since then, he has been at the helm at JCCC. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Champell, through his myriads of experiences, has pointed to many mentors throughout his coaching career. \u201cI guess, in a way, I had a good college coach who was Charlie Spoonhour, who was a very sound basketball coach and was a good motivator, built winning teams\u201d. He also mentioned another coach who was a key mentor for him: \u201cI worked for another guy by the name of Jerry Kirksy early in my coaching career that really knew how to build the championship teams and handle people\u201d. When asked about what went into their perfect regular-season campaign, Champell said \u201cI think it was kind of a two-year process. We had a good group, a good season the year before; we had a good group of sophomores coming back with experience, and you know, they stepped right in and set the tone for the new guys.\u201d The culture of the team was a big reason for their season. \u201cIt was a team culture. Yeah, I’ve had a lot of good teams that talented players and been real successful. But to win every game it kind of takes a rare consistency from people.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The KBCA award was something that\u00a0Champell that felt was not only his award but the team’s. \u201cIt felt like it was obviously an award for me, but really an award for our team and the recognition of what everybody had put a lot of work into and accomplished\u201d. Keeping up the success is something that is on everyone’s mind after a historic season last year. \u201cIt’s a new team and I think maybe you even measure success a little bit different, you know, I don’t know if we could expect to win every game, but, you know, it’s the old trying to be as good as you could be and there’s a lot of talent on this team,\u201d Champell gave credit to the fans for helping to contribute to their success \u201cIt’s always good to have support and I think particularly last year, even we had several local guys. So, we had kind of a consistent fan base that followed us pretty well, and I think as the season built and the streak got bigger and bigger.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

A constant coaching philosophy has been a key to Champell’s success. \u201cI always say this: I’ve actually been a head coach at Division 1, Division 2, NAIA, Junior College, and really my philosophy doesn’t change all that much, you know. Wherever you’re at, I think it’s just having a good, consistent work ethic every day. And there are some fundamental things within basketball, as simple as being a good rebounding team, don’t turn the ball over much, take good shots, and be unselfish. When asked about the dangers of complacency when you have an elite program, he said, \u201cI’m probably coming toward the end of my career, and my foot is on the on the on the gas pedal. You know, I’m not really interested; one thing I say is, you know, I could be doing a lot of other things. This is what I want to do, so I want to do it well and have a lot of success,\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

JCCC men’s basketball season will start on Oct. 2 when they compete in the OKC JCCC Jamboree.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During his 6 years at JCCC, they have made 5 NJCAA Division II National Tournament appearances in 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026, winning three district titles in those seasons and four conference titles.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[341],"class_list":["post-3692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Saul Epstein","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/sepstein\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/09\/Basketballcoach-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/thomas-sublet\/","display_name":"Thomas Sublet"}],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Sports<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Sports<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 days ago","modified":"Updated 16 hours ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on September 24, 2026","modified":"Updated on September 25, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on September 24, 2026 9:00 am","modified":"Updated on September 25, 2026 10:52 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":341,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"thomas-sublet","display_name":"Thomas Sublet","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/09\/Basketballcoach.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3692"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3695,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3692\/revisions\/3695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3692"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}