Month: April 2019

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Joe McKinstry is the NJCAA DII National Coach of the Year for the second time in four years but the ultimate in accolades came recently at the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Tampa.

“I had a number of four-year coaches who were at our national tournament in Arkansas come up and tell me how well our kids played, how they shared the basketball and their ability to execute offensively,” said the fourth year Kansas City Kansas Community College head coach.

“This is the best group I’ve ever had at retaining information and performing so it’s great to get complements like that from bigger schools. I think they were kind of shocked and amazed. I guess they expected a lower level of basketball.”

The NJCAA coaching award is McKinstry’s third this year. Voted Jayhawk Conference Coach of the Year, he also won the national tournament coaching award.

“On a personal level, it’s kind of surreal,” McKinstry said of the NJCAA Award. “It’s not something I think about but don’t get me wrong, I’m going to keep it. It’s certainly something I take pride in but honestly, I’m a much better coach than when I won the award in 2016. But I also thought I was a better coach in 2017 and 2018. Those teams just didn’t win national championships.

“To be honest, I think it kind of waters down Coach of the Year just because you won the national championship. In 2017, our team wasn’t all that great and Coach Chamissa (Anderson) and I had to coach our tails off to win 19 games and last year we only had one sophomore and had 21 wins and put ourselves in position for this year when we certainly turned the corner. This was a great team, no distractions, a very easy team to coach. If I make Coach of the Year, that means I had the best kids and the best team; I feel very fortunate to be their coach.”

McKinstry got his 100th win this year and now has 105 wins in 136 game in his four years at KCKCC.

“As far as preparing a team, preparing for opponents, game situations. I feel more comfortable,” he said. “With 136 games to take into consideration there’s experiences and reflections from the past that you’re able to take and help current teams and players.”

The Blue Devils finished 32-4, the third most wins in history. They also won the Jayhawk Conference Division II championship for the first time and led every national tournament game by at least 20 points culminated by an 84-59 cruise in the championship game.
“In 2016, we were seeded No. 4 and beat the three teams seeded ahead of us,” McKinstry said. “This year there were a lot of upsets so I was proud that as the No. 3 seed we were the only one that didn’t falter.”

The national championship enhanced further the strength of the Jayhawk Conference which has put teams in the Final Four each of the last six years (three titles, two seconds and a third).

“We’ve played eight games in the national tournament and were well-conditioned and prepared for that level of basketball which speaks to the other teams in our conference and the talent and competitiveness coming out of Region VI,” McKinstry said.