Deloney ready to help Cougar basketball to the top

J.D. Deloney has always had a knack for coaching. All of the teams he has coached have been successful.

Deloney is hoping to continue his streak of success at Western Nebraska Community College in the coming years as he joins first-year Cougar coach Brian Joyce’s coaching staff as an assistant coach. When Deloney isn’t coaching, he will be the residence life director of Pioneer Hall.

“I am very excited to be here. Western Nebraska has a history of success and they are the team everybody else is thriving to be,” Deloney said. “Having coach Joyce come in with the success he has had at Northeastern Junior College, we will have an opportunity to do some great things. I am very excited to see what we can come up with this season and the future.

“Like I said, the school has a history of success and coach Joyce has a history of success so putting those two things together, I am expecting a couple regional championships and national championships.”

Deloney does have a knack for bringing out the best in his players. While at Patrick Henry High School in Minnesota, Deloney took over a girl’s basketball program that won six games in four years and made them into winners. Before that head coaching position, Deloney served as the assistant coach at Patrick Henry from 1997-2003.

“(The girl’s head coaching position) was like a match in the waiting. I was on the boys staff where we won four straight state championships and I was looking for another challenge,” he said. “In the offseason I worked the girls out, and when the coach left, the administration asked me if I wanted to take over the girls program. I decided to give them the opportunity to play hard and have a chance to win.

“I took the job and the first year we finished .500, like 14-14 which is amazing because it was the same kids (from the previous year). We had all the same starters and subs and they won 14 games. It was amazing with the change of attitude and work ethic. They had an opportunity to see what it feels like to win and work hard. That is how I got into girl’s coaching and it helped me out because it gave me some experience running a program, which is totally different from being an assistant coach. It is kind of a match made in heaven so to speak.”

Deloney coached the girls team from 2003-2006 before taking over the boys head coaching job last year.

“I am competitive so we increased our schedule and competition. That is the only way to get better is to play competition,” he said. “We played seven of the top 10 teams in the state. We had a very difficult schedule and we were competitive in most of those games.”

Basketball, though, runs deep in Deloney’s family. He is a coaches’ son. Deloney also played two years at Bethel University.

“My Pop kept me surrounded around basketball. When he came home we talked about strategies and he started grooming me to be a coach without me knowing,” he said. “Then, playing is what inspired me to coach. Even as the point guard in college, I was always a coach on the floor.

“Coaching has always been a passion of mine including the impact that you could make on young men’s lives. The extended relationships you build with players is more important than coaching. Once you get done coaching them, you still are not done with them. I still have kids from 10 years ago that call me for advice or to just check up on things. It is the relationship that you build.”

Deloney is now hoping to grow even more as a coach under Joyce at WNCC. He is expecting great things and excited to get started.

“I saw a new opportunity at Western Nebraska and Joyce was looking for a quality assistant coach. He is very familiar with our program and what kind of kids we have. It was a natural fit,” he said. “That is why I am here. Brian Joyce is a great coach and I believe I can get a lot of information from him. I think this is a stepping stone to eventually where I hope to end up. My goal is to possibly be a head coach at a Division II school or an assistant coach at the D-1 level. I am definitely aspiring to get to the highest level I can.”