Steve Hunter has given outgoing Nixa coach Jay Osborne a good review of what life is like as a juco coach. The former Ozark coach would also be glad to give any juco a good reference regarding Osborne as a prospective coach.
“We have talked about that,” Hunter said about the possibility of Osborne landing at a juco next school year. “I think he would like to try his hand coaching at any level in college. He’d be a good juco coach because he lets his kids play and gets after it. I think he would do well.”
Hunter speaks from experience. While southwest Missouri basketball fans will always remember the success he enjoyed at Ozark, Hartville and West Plains, he’s in his eighth season coaching at NorthArk.
Hunter has led the Pioneers to a 149-80 W-L record since resuming his coaching career in 2014, after a one-year break. His high school career record over 28 years is 536-254. His 15-year tenure at Ozark included a state championship in 2003.
He coached his 1,000th career game last year.
Hunter has remained a presence on occasion at Ozark and Nixa games while on the recruiting trail.
“I’m in a gym every night,” he said while attending the Nixa Invitational Tournament on Thursday. “If I’m not recruiting, I’m playing. There’s some wear and tear of being in my car a lot, but that’s part of it.”
Hunter has embraced the recruiting aspect of his job that, of course, was new to him upon going to NorthArk.
“College is different than high school in that you don’t know what is coming,” Hunter said. “In college, I always say if you don’t have a good team, you need to point the finger at yourself because you’re the one who picked them.
“When I got in, they told me the worst thing about juco is you only have (players) for two years,” he added. “I found out maybe the best thing about juco is you only have them for two years because if you don’t put up numbers, you move on to the next guy.”
There are also instances Hunter and other juco coaches have a player for only one year.
“We’ve kept as many as seven or eight (returnees) and kept as few as two from year to year,” Hunter said. “Sometimes, we push them out the door or they don’t make grades or they sign to go (to a four-year school).”
Like the NCAA, the NJCAA gave its athletes an extra year of eligibility last year due to COVID. Thus, Hunter has two players in their third year at NorthArk.
“That’s unheard, of course,” Hunter said. “Two of them had opportunities to go to four-year schools, one at a D-II and one at an NAIA. But in the D-II case, the senior our player was going to play behind stayed another year. So, he said why should I go wait my turn there when I can still play juco? And, he’ll still have two years (of eligibility) once he leaves.
“The great thing about juco is you get to play for a year or two and then you can still select a four-year opportunity,” he added. “And very few kids contribute at a high level at a D-I or D-II as freshmen and sophomores. Jucos are also very affordable. We’re a state institution, so we’re not dealing with private-school (tuition). Jayvee kids (at private four-year schools) are paying large sums of money to go to school. The scholarship money at those schools is going to the varsity kids.”
NorthArk’s roster this season includes players from six states and three countries. Springfield is represented by Parkview grad Dontae Tate and Kickapoo grad Tanner Oetting.
“I’ve been able to recruit a lot of kids from southwest Missouri,” Hunter said. “We’ve had a kid from every Springfield school except Glendale. Every year we recruit from this area because southwest Missouri basketball is good.
“I’m always talking to the COC and Ozark Conference coaches,” he added. “The relationships I have with coaches around here helps me when I recruit because I know what I’m getting from the style of (coaching) the players had.”
The recruiting trips in these parts also make for a shorter drive home for Hunter. He still owns a house in Ozark and stays at an apartment in Harrison during the week.
Hunter values being able to see his son, Jordan, on an everyday basis. Jordan, an Ozark grad, serves as an assistant coach and business teacher at NorthArk.
With 36 seasons and more than 1,000 games courtside, Hunter isn’t ready for retirement, yet.
“Every year you evaluate the pros and cons. As long as I wake up in the morning and look forward to coaching, I’ll do it,” he said. “I also tell the kids, ‘If you don’t look forward to this every day, then you probably need to get out and let someone else take your spot.’ That goes for me as a coach, too. You have to give the game its due and we’re still doing that and winning at a high clip.”
