Mid Michigan Men’s Basketball Coach Discusses Changes to NJCAA’s 2020-21 Season

The National Junior College Athletic Association announced earlier this week that it is moving all of its close-contact fall sports to the spring and making adjustments to its winter sports season.

Fall sports like football, volleyball and men’s and women’s soccer will move to the spring while cross country will still be contested during the fall season. All winter sports competitions, including men’s and women’s basketball and wrestling, will begin in January, with most national championships moved from March to April, while the spring sports season will remain intact.

NJCAA members are expected to face challenges from this decision, including challenges involving travel and scheduling.

Mid Michigan College is one of many junior and community colleges impacted by this decision. The two-year college, which has locations in Harrison and Mt. Pleasant, currently sponsors five sports (bowling, men’s and women’s basketball, softball and baseball) and is a member of the Michigan Community College Athletic Association.

Mid Michigan men’s basketball coach Kaleb House believes a lot of positives will come from the NJCAA’s decision.

“I think there’s some things that we can do this fall. I think we’re going to build some team chemistry that maybe we wouldn’t have been able to because we jump right in,” House said. “We get so many new players at our level. We have a lot of turnover. It’s just the nature of junior college. I just think there’s a lot of positives to it. In a way, I wouldn’t be opposed to it maybe staying this way.”