Thunderbirds athletic dominance
What qualifies as success when it comes to a college level program? Is it the amount of national and region championships you win and how often you hoist the hardware? Is it the amount of student athletes you send to compete in high division athletics?
According to Mesa Community College Athletic Director John Mulhern, success is a combination of all of the above.
“If you have a quality program, you’re going to get quality student athletes academically and athletically, then all of a sudden, you’re going to compete for ACCAC championships, region championships, national berths, and you’re able to move student athletes onto the next level,” said Mulhern.
With such an important job and countless responsibilities, you would think that Mulhern has his hand involved in all aspects of each team he oversees.
However, it is actually quite the contrary, as Mulhern knows his role is to help his coaches in any and all ways he can in order for them to put the most successful team out on the court or field.
“Coaches tell me what they need, we’re here as a team, we work together and it’s important that it all flows together, their success is my success and their failure is my failure,” said Mulhern, “I try to do the best I can to help them be successful.”
Even with a strong backing from Mulhern and the athletic department, winning is not always easy.
When programs are in a rebuilding phase, it can be difficult to turn the tide and show recruits that MCC is the right place for them.
When women’s basketball Coach Kori Stephenson first took over, it was a grind as she looked to turn the program into one of the most successful in the conference, and since taking over, has achieved just that.
Since 2006-07, Stephenson has won seven Region I Division II titles, had seven NJCAA National Tournament appearances and one national championship. Through the years, Stephenson has had a consistent coaching staff with her that have helped each team achieve success.
“It’s not normal, it’s uncommon in the junior college world, at least in our area. We work as a team, we feed off each other, we know our strengths and we are able to bounce with each other on the fly, we have a really good feel for each other,” said Stephenson.
A lot goes into the undertaking of winning at a consistent rate, from recruiting the right athletes to forming the right culture in your program. With success comes a lot of benefits, besides just being one of the best.
Recruiting also becomes a bit easier as athletes want to go to programs that are already elite or on the rise.
However, just because a program is successful, does not mean they only recruit the best of the best no matter what.
According to MCC Cross Country coach Daniel Pescador, fit is just as important as ability when it comes to running for him.
“It doesn’t matter how fast a kid can run, if they come off with the right attitude or just in it for themselves they’re not going to mesh well here,” said Pescador, “It’s about getting the ones who work together the best, once we get those kids it turns out a lot better than getting those kids who are faster on paper.”
Junior college sports can be very unpredictable. One year, you can be in the basement of the standings, and the next year you can be competing for a region championship.
That is what happened with the MCC men’s soccer these past two seasons. Last year, the team finished 4-9-1, while this season they were able to go 13-5-1 and compete for not only a region championship, but for the first time in program history, a national championship as well.
Unfortunately, not all teams have successful turnarounds in programs as fast as the MCC men’s soccer program. If the right pieces are not in place for success, then success is something nobody in that program will ever see.
MCC has had incredible athletes grace the halls and locker rooms over the years, including over 1,000 All-Americans, over 50 athletes that have turned professional, and two Olympic athletes.
But as they say, “there is no ‘I’ in team,” and MCC knows that as their team sports have been some of the best in the conference for a long time.
MCC has no shortage of national championships to its name, as they have collected 20 titles and over 200 Region I/Arizona Community College Athletic Conference championships.
MCC holds the third most national championships in the ACCAC. Their most recent national title win came in 2017 as their men’s golf team took home the trophy for the first time in their history.
In 2014, the women’s basketball team won their first national championship, and in that same year, the MCC baseball team won their fourth national championship. Just three years later men’s golf captured their title.
A winning culture was forged as MCC captured three national championships in three years, with all the winning it is fair to say coaches and programs try to up their standards to achieve the success their peers have already attained, at least according to Pescador.
“We’re all competitive at the end of the day, I’d be lying if I said I didnt wanna have one of the better teams not only in the country but in our own college,” said Pescador, “we saw soccer raise the bar in their success, we saw women’s basketball, baseball and golf have won a national championship, I think that feeds into each of us and we want to have that same level of success as well.”
Though MCC’s last national title was in 2017, many teams have had opportunities at being the best in the nation as recently as this season.
The men’s soccer team competed in the NJCAA National Tournament, where they went 1-1 and even beat the eventual National Champion, Prairie State.
This season, the women’s cross country team fell just one point short of the national championship, while the men’s team finished fourth in the national title race.
If winning was easy, everyone would do it. Winning takes dedication, hard work, and sacrifice to achieve. The athletic excellence MCC has displayed will inspire future generations of players and coaches to not only continue the dominance, but to rise to a new level.
