Schuckman: JWCC needs full-time effort into making full-time position for its next men’s basketball coach

QUINCY — John Wood Community College — more specifically the bell cow of its athletic department — finds itself at a crossroads.

This week’s resignation of Jonny Dahl as the men’s basketball head coach not only leaves the school searching for a permanent replacement roughly seven weeks before students begin returning to campus for the fall semester, but it reveals a change that needs to be made.

The college needs the head coach of its highest profile and most successful program to be an active and engaging presence on campus at all times.

That means making this a full-time position.

During Brad Hoyt’s 13 seasons making the Trail Blazers a national presence — they made four NJCAA Division II national tournament appearances with a national runner-up finish in 2015 — he served as athletic director and was a daily presence throughout the year in the Student Activity Center and on campus.

Hoyt left in April 2024 to become the head coach at Quincy University, and JWCC baseball coach Adam Hightower was named his successor as athletic director, a role he wholeheartedly earned and deserved and has thrived in for the last 15 months.

So when the school sought a replacement for Hoyt, they turned to Dahl, a former JWCC student-athlete who played NCAA Division I basketball and coached a successful AAU program. However, he is a local insurance salesman and coaching college basketball was a part-time gig with a part-time stipend.

Now needing to find a replacement for Dahl, the school cannot afford to put a part-time effort into its next move.

Several coaches with experience at the NJCAA and NCAA Division II and III levels have inquired about the position. Some of the more routine questions revolve around the returning roster, the strength of the schedule, and the amount of community support.

Then comes their primary question and concern: Is it a full-time position?

Only the JWCC administration can provide an answer that will attract the quality of coach the program deserves.

No one is asking for the position to be coaching only and nothing else. Several candidates have suggested they’d be willing to teach or work in admissions or help in some facet on another part of campus. They want to be involved and engaged just as much as the school needs them to be involved and engaged.

Having an office on the school grounds and being there day in and day out for the student-athletes not only makes sense, but it should be expected and encouraged.

This is a community college, and the community aspect is vitally important.

Strong leaders who are ever-present and involved make the community stronger.

The JWCC athletic department has that kind of leader in place in Hightower, and now is the time to match that by putting a full-time leader in charge of the program that truly is the bell cow of the department.