Every position we hold brings us a unique challenge we will not see anywhere else.
It does not matter how easy or difficult our job may be. Something about that job will provide us with an obstacle.
I was reminded of these sentiments when thinking about junior college athletics.
JUCO coaches may not have achieved what four-year school coaches have during their careers. However, JUCO coaches still deal with something high school, other college and professional coaches will never face. JUCO athletes only have two years of eligibility, which means coaches only have two years to build a winner. If they do not turn out a winning program in that time, more often from not, they will be starting from scratch and trying again.
I have spent the past seven-and-a-half years in Mississippi covering either Coahoma Community College or Southwest Mississippi Community College athletics on a regular basis.
CCC does not have any of the same coaches it did as when I first came to Clarksdale in 2011.
The Lady Tigers basketball program will have a new coach this season with Stephanie Murphy leading the program.
That lack of stability with both athletes and coaches and the short window of opportunity makes it difficult to turn a program around. It’s even more difficult to recruit when programs such as CCC have not won on a regular basis.
Reggy Hankerson has done an excellent job with the track program taking athletes to the national competition in Kansas the past two years. Hopefully, that encourages more athletes who can be competitive in track to attend CCC.
I saw similar issues covering SMCC sports during my more than two years working in McComb. Just one of the head coaches there is the same as when I moved to McComb in July 2014.
The SMCC men’s basketball program was more successful than any team I covered in McComb winning a state championship in 2015-16. That helped encouraged more athletes to play basketball at SMCC. I am hoping to see a similar pattern with CCC track in the next few years.
The coaches who are successful at JUCO must have a win now mentality. No redshirt unless someone is injured. No warming the bench and developing for a year.
Athletes must be ready to go and coaches must have a plan in place.
I realized that more than ever when former Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly was playing for East Mississippi College. Kelly led EMCC into Southwest Mississippi Community College. The game was a blowout in EMCC’s favor.
Kelly was on the team for just one year and he was ready to go.
So what can we, as a community, do to help CCC overcome the obstacles it faces of trying to build a winning program?
One, we must continue to support our school and not forget our coaches and athletes are doing their very best. Two, CCC has already gotten off to a good start recruiting athletes from Coahoma County and surrounding communities in the Delta. The women’s basketball team has been the strongest in that area signing players from both Clarksdale and Coahoma County high schools. If we do not recruit local athletes, that is a red flag to those from the outside. Three, once we get athletes from our own community, we need to let others see why they should want to play for CCC.
Physical improvements have been made to the campus and the coaches are better than they once were. We just need to do a better job of telling our own story. That could be said about many things right here in Clarksdale and Coahoma County.
We must recognize the challenges we face and not continue to do the same things.
Yes, it is hard to build JUCO athletic programs at a school that has not had a winning tradition, but the challenge is not one that can’t be met. We just have to support CCC.
It all starts with football season.
The Tigers won just two games in 2017, but they had a chance to win in many of the losses against top-notch schools. Turnovers and penalties took them out of close games early in the season and probably hurt their confidence.
There is a short window of opportunity where the 30 sophomores have one chance to correct their mistakes. We have no time for baby steps. There is no improving from week-to-week. If the sophomores want to make the playoffs, this is the last chance.
I believe the playoffs are a realistic goal for the Tigers and the season is just a month away.
I cannot predict how any of the teams at CCC will fare in the upcoming school year, but I have no doubt the coaches and players will do their best to handle every challenge that is thrown their way.
