Jay Herkelman reached another milestone in his storied coaching career on Friday night in front of the home crowd in Nellis Hall. Herkelman got his 500th career win as the Coffeyville Red Ravens rolled past the Highland Scotties 89-67.
The game was not as close as the final indicated. Coffeyville led 51-24 at the half and they led by as many as 41, 84-43, in the second half. Highland closed out the game by outscoring the Ravens 24-5 to make the final margin 89-67. Despite the late fizzle, the Ravens were hitting on all cylinders most of the night.
Steffon Kyles scored a team-high 18 points for the Ravens. Kyles hit on 7-of-9 field goal attempts including 4-of-6 from beyond the three-point arc. Carl Crawford added 17 points and a game-high eight boards for Coffeyville. Jalen Norman and Montel James scored 11 points each, and Lionel Ellison and Earl Peterson added eight points apiece. Peterson and Travis Britt dished out five assists each to lead the Ravens in that category.
The Ravens shot 57% from the field on the night, and they outrebounded the Scotties by a 36-23 margin.
Highland got 18 points from Martell Collins, 17 points from Dominique Davis and 11 points from Robel Teckle.
However, the story of the night was Herkelman’s milestone 500th win that he reached in his 19th year of coaching. Each and every one of those victories have been at Coffeyville Community College since his debut in the 1995-1996 season.
Herkelman took over a program that had fallen on hard times. The season prior to Herkelman’s arrival in Coffeyville, the Ravens suffered through a 3-26 season. Two of those three wins came courtesy of forfeits, so on the court, the Ravens were really 1-28.
Herkelman recruited a new team his first season and the Ravens would go on to win the Jayhawk East Conference title, finishing with a 26-7 overall record.
Even with that successful start, Herkelman never envisioned seeing career win number 500 at some point in his futre. “You don’t think about stuff like that,” said Herkelman. “When you start out in coaching, you are just trying to win the first. You just keep moving along and eventually you start reaching some major milestones.”
Since 1995, his Ravens have won 12 Jayhawk East titles, six Region VI championships, and played in the NJCAA National Tournament seven times including a national runner-up finish in 2002 and a third place finish in 2007.
Herkelman is already the all-time leader in coaching wins in the Jayhawk Conference. Among region coaches, he trails only Brown Mackie’s Francis Flax who entered this season with 584 career wins at Region VI institutions.
Opportunities to coach elsewhere have been offered, but Herkelman has accepted none of those. “It’s a very good job at Coffeyville and one of the better junior college jobs in the country,” said Herkelman. “I’ve always believed the grass isn’t greener on the other side.”
“My family was a big factor in staying here,” continued Herkelman. “I didn’t want my daughters to have to make a move. I decided early on that I didn’t want to be a coach that moved around a lot.”
And that loyalty will allow Herkelman to accomplish something rarely seen in the college ranks. “Few coaches get to 500 and to be able to do it at the place where I started, it’s a neat thing,” stated Herkelman.
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