by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
A transfer from Neosho County, Lexy Watts didn’t take long to understand Joe McKinstry’s passion for coaching basketball.
“I remember playing one of our games this season and we were smacking a team by 40 points and he was red in the face screaming at us because we weren’t rotating correctly on defense,” said Watts, a graduate of Olathe North. “Some of our fans asked why he was mad if we were up so much and I kind of shook my head and laughed and said he’s a perfectionist.”
McKinstry’s Kansas City Kansas Community College women’s basketball team may not have been perfect but the Blue Devils were certainly head and shoulders above the rest of the field on the way to winning the 2019 NJCAA DII national championship in Harrison, Arkansas, last Saturday night. Ahead by at least 20 points in every game, the average margin of victory for four games was just over 18 points.
So what do the only ones who really count – the players – think about an NJCAA National Coach of the Year who twice has brought dominating teams to the national tournament because they were better prepared and better conditioned, ran precision plays, rebounded aggressively and put constant pressure on opponents by fast breaking both makes and misses?
“Coach Mac can be very hard at times but I know it is only because he wanted us to be great,” said sophomore Nija Collier, the most valuable player in the national tournament and the Jayhawk Conference. “He and coach Timeka O’Neal pushed me to be the best I could be and I appreciate everything he’s done for me.”
“Being able to be coached by Coach Mac allowed me to really see what passion is like for your craft,” noted Kisi Young, an All-Jayhawk Conference and all-tournament selection. “He’s a very passionate person which also made me want to play even harder.”
“As a freshman, it took a while to realize he was challenging me because he saw me at my best and wouldn’t allow me to do less,” said All-Jayhawk and all-tournament pick Lillie Moore. “There were days I had to re-evaluate and ask myself do I really want to do this because I knew he was going to challenge me. I just want to thank him for giving me the opportunity to continue my basketball career.”
“Playing for Coach Mac was probably the greatest experience I’ve had in my basketball career,” Watts added. “He hates losing and he never let us slack up. One thing this team never did was take days off practicing lightly and not working hard.”
“His passion for the game and his intensity may be hard to deal with sometimes but we would not have made it this far without him,” Carson Chandler, a freshman, said. “He’s the best coach I’ve ever had. He gave me an opportunity to compete at a competitive college level and is always pushing me to do my absolute best and never lets me settle for anything less.”
It was not by accident. In winning KCKCC’s first national championship in 2016, All-American Cheyenne North said: “Us winning the national tournament had nothing to do with talent. It was everything with how hard he pushed us and made us tougher.”
“Coach Mac always said, ‘Be uncomfortable until being uncomfortable becomes comfortable,’” said sophomore captain Camryn Swanson. “As confusing as it sounds, it’s that mindset that won us a championship.”
“We approached the national tournament the way we approached the entire season,” McKinstry said. “We did not allow ourselves to be comfortable even winning by large margins. We continued to execute and not get loose and careless. It is important to not let them be comfortable and do anything less than what they’re capable of on the basketball floor
“I know I’m demanding and hard to understand for a lot of people. But the time I’ve spent with these girls, especially the sophomores who stuck around all summer, really helped build a trust level, that the way I am on the practice floor is a business relationship and nothing more. So as soon as we’re done, I’ll help them in anyway and that they can trust me and rely me. I love every one of them, their families.
“This is the best team I’ve ever coached at any level, men or women, in the information they were able to retain. It was phenomenal. Our play book was extraordinarily large and yet the girls were able to run the same plays from different spots. On some nights we’d call something we hadn’t run in four or five games and they’d run it. A full season truly is a grind and to play as hard and fast as they did with a purpose every single possession is a tribute to how good this team was.”
