MCC coach heading for Texas

Courtesy photo/MCC Athletics McCook Community College men's assistant basketball coach Joe Reagan has accepted a position as an assistant with the Odessa (Texas) Junior College men's program. Odessa is one of the top juco teams in the nation. [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

There are a few universities that would be on the list of "dream jobs" for college athletic coaches.

Football, perhaps Nebraska would be high on that list. Basketball, maybe Kansas or North Carolina. Wrestling, probably the University of Iowa.

Not too many coaches would turn down an opportunity to work at one of the nation's top programs in their respective sport. Texas is a hot spot for men's junior college basketball, and a former McCook Community College assistant has accepted a position at one of the Lone Star State's top juco programs.

Joe Reagan departed earlier this week for his next post as assistant coach at Odessa Junior College. Reagan spent the past three years assisting head coach Brandon Lenhart on the MCC men's team.

Nothing against McCook, but Reagan is making a big upward move in his coaching career.

"(Odessa) spent most of the year in the top 10 in the country. Definitely a great opportunity," Reagan said in a phone interview from Odessa, Texas, earlier this week. "When the job came available, actually Coach Lenhart was one of them that actually helped me out with that.

"It's a great opportunity. When it came available Coach Lenhart brought it to my attention. It wasn't that I was looking to get out of here, but he knew it was a great situation for me to move on and better my career, and he was definitely a big influence in helping me get the job."

Second assistant

Reagan will be the second assistant coach for the men's team at the Odessa, Texas two-year school. Joe will get a substantial boost in salary and a big boost in the level of basketball he will see. Odessa competes in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference, which has schools from west Texas and New Mexico. Odessa's league comprises Region V in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) regional divisions.

"Howard (Texas) JC won the national championship last year," Reagan said. "Someone from this league has won the national championship something like three of last five or six years. It's definitely a great league to be in, and definitely a great situation. There's some good talent. I told Coach Lenhart it's definitely a different type of game down here for sure."

Lenhart has used strong recruiting -- with players coming from several states -- to help boost the fortunes of the MCC men's program. The Indians won 20 games last season, and MCC should be even stronger in the 2010-11 campaign.

Lenhart and Reagan were on a recruiting trip to Louisiana this spring when he made contact with Odessa assistant coach Zach Janus, a native of Eustis, Nebraska. Janus, former University of Nebraska-Lincoln men's basketball student assistant, and Coach Lenhart had made contact a few years ago when Janus moved from Lincoln to a position on the Tennessee-Martin staff.

In a telephone conversation, Janus told Lenhart he might have a position opening up at the Texas school. The MCC coach discussed the situation with his assistant, and Reagan was interested. Lenhart called Janus back to start the wheels in motion, and the MCC head man submitted a letter of recommendation for his assistant.

"I said that Joe would be great," Lenhart said. "I don't want to lose him, but this would be an ideal spot for him to do exactly what he wants to do, with the resources that Odessa has versus McCook. It just made sense for him to try and get that position."

NBA players

Odessa head coach Dennis Helms, a 33-year coaching veteran, actually left Odessa for a few years, then returned to the west Texas school. Odessa J.C. has produced 10 NBA players, including Larry Johnson, who starred at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas after his two years at Odessa and was the NBA's No. 1 draft pick in 1990.

Reagan said he met Johnson during his job interview visit to Odessa earlier this year.

"He had a golf tournament (in Odessa) that helps out the basketball team," Reagan said. "I got to hang out with him a little bit. Pretty entertaining."

Juco big-time

Coach Lenhart said the NJCAA Region V is one of the most competitive in the country.

"Odessa is one of the top junior colleges in the country," he said. "The resources and the finances and the Texas junior college system is pretty amazing, and Odessa is no exception there. I'm trying to market to my assistants that I would like to bring in, and tell them we have chances to move on with our networking system and those types of things to higher levels, or even with me if I were to move on."

Lenhart said Janus spent 22 days in March and April on the road recruiting for Odessa.

"They flew 10 guys in, put them in hotels and fed them and those things, and they still had $8,000 left in their recruiting budget," Lenhart said. "That's where he's going and that's what Coach Reagan wants, to be able to get out there and network and also recruit. If he wanted to leave tonight to go see a kid, if the kid was that good to go play there at Odessa, he could go fly out to see those types of kids. That's a pretty good deal for him."

Future goals

Coach Lenhart doesn't think becoming a head coach is Reagan's immediate goal.

"I asked him what his goals are now, he's really just trying to learn as much as he possibly can and work as hard as he possibly can, and whatever happens happens," Lenhart said. "If he's at Odessa for 20 years, or if he goes to an NCAA Division I school or if he's a head coach, that's kind of where it's going to take him. It's not like he's beating the bushes to go Division I or be the head coach. He's just trying to fit in and work as hard as he possibly can.

"He's not a guy that has to be a head coach. It's important to him, at some point, I think, in his career, but it's not something that he's just really shooting for that. When I was an assistant, that's where I was -- immediately, I knew before I got into the college scene, that I wanted to be a head coach. Is he ready to be a head coach? Probably not. This is a great stepping stone for him to blossom."

In addition to his assistant coaching duties, Reagan will likely work in the admissions department at Odessa, overseeing student-athlete progress in the classroom and working with prospective students looking to enroll at the west Texas school.

Culture shock?

Reagan may face a little culture shock, moving from McCook to the west Texas city with a population around 100,000. Odessa is located about 700 miles south of McCook and about 350 miles west of Dallas.

Odessa is perhaps most famous for its high school football program. Odessa Permian is featured in the book, movie and TV series, "Friday Night Lights," and the local high school football facility, Ratliff Stadium, holds over 20,000 fans.

Reagan played basketball for and coached under Lenhart at William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa. When Lenhart took over the MCC program three years ago, he brought Reagan along as his assistant. Reagan is a graduate of Corning, Iowa, High School.

Tough decision

Reagan said one of the best aspects of his job is the relationships built between coach and athlete. That was one tough area for him to deal with when he decided to leave McCook.

"It was definitely tough," he said. "When you build up a relationship with kids -- it was probably the hardest thing I did was making phone calls to all the kids and telling them I was leaving, and there was definitely a few tears here and there, from both sides. But that's also the best part about what I do -- you build up those relationships with kids, and we try to create a family atmosphere and that's definitely what we do.

"Tough to leave, it was definitely tough to leave."

Coach Lenhart said MCC is in the process of naming Reagan's replacment. Lenhart said he has received many inquiries about the opening, with several candidates identified in the hiring process that will likely play out in the next several weeks.