Phil Shoemaker may be “retiring” from coaching NCAA volleyball, but his work is only beginning at Barton Community College. The board of trustees approved his appointment as the college’s new head volleyball coach at Tuesday’s meeting.
After his Alaska Nanooks team played its last home games last month in Fairbanks, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported, “Shoemaker is retiring at the end of the season, his 13th with the Nanooks of the NCAA Division II Great Northwest Athletic Conference and his 29th overall in NCAA volleyball, as he spent 16 seasons at Division I Wichita State in Kansas.”
Board chairman Mike Johnson said Shoemaker “was a very successful volleyball coach at Wichita for a number of years.”
The trustees also hired a new head coach for men’s soccer, Kevin Kewley. While he doesn’t have Shoemaker’s long history of success, Johnson said, “Kevin has met success coaching at Pratt Community College and has developed a strong reputation in a short time.”
Other new hires approved Tuesday were Lenora Haynes, lead care provider at the Child Development Center, and Laura Folkerts, an accounts receivable clerk.
The board also voted to accept two $30,000 gifts from Larry and Kathy Schugart – one this year and one next year – to pay for the portion of the Kirkman Building gym floor that will be used as a basketball practice court. Barton President Dr. Carl Heilman said the entire floor replacement project is expected to cost $185,000, but $60,000 should pay for the area designated for basketball practice.
Heilman said the Schugarts are a local couple who have “shown a great deal of support for the college over the years.” With their $60,000 gift, the gym floor will be named the Schugart Court.
Trustees haven’t decided on all aspects of the new floor, since the Kirkman building is used for many purposes, but that won’t affect the portion of the floor under consideration here, Heilman said. Trustees will discuss the entire floor project in January. “Although the final details are not known,” he said, “we will have a new floor.”
In other business, the trustees approved the purchase of five 2013 Chevrolet Impalas from Dove Chevrolet/Buick in Great Bend for $18,998.98 each, or a total of $94,994.90.
Dean of Administration Mark Dean said all Barton County car dealers were invited to submit quotes, but only Dove’s did. Ed Bozarth Chevrolet in Topeka submitted a quote of $17,124 per car, which is the state contract price and 11 percent lower. “In the past, the board has always purchased from a local contractor,” Dean said, adding last year’s winning bid was 14 percent higher than the state contract price. These vehicles will replace high mileage vehicles in the college fleet as part of the ongoing vehicle rotation.
“I’m glad we’re going with a local vender,” trustee Don Learned said.
The board also heard BCC Vice President Dr. Penny Quinn’s report on a recent on-campus inspection by a team from the Higher Learning Commission. “In general, everything was very positive,” she said. “There were no surprises whatsoever.” Quinn said the visitors had praise for the board of trustees. “They felt you are very informed in what we’re doing,” she told the board.