Cloud County Hall of Fame Coach Brett Erkenbrack Among Inaugural 2025 NJCAA Legacy Award Honorees

The NJCAA has announced its first-ever honorees for the Coaches Legacy Awards presented by Nufabrx, which recognizes the all-time winningest coaches in NJCAA history. The NJCAA Coaches Legacy Awards presentation marks the first in the nearly 90-year history of the organization which coaches have been recognized in such a fashion.

Among the honorees is Cloud County Community College head women's basketball coach Brett Erkenbrack. Erkenbrack is entering his 37th year as the head coach of the T-Birds, during which time he has compiled a 756-385 (66.3 percent) overall career record with 21 seasons of 20 or more wins.

Erkenbrack has led Cloud County to 13 trips to the Region 6 Final Four and four appearances in the Region 6 Championship game. He has led the T-Birds to two NJCAA Region 6 Championships (2001, 2011) and two appearances in the NJCAA Division I National Tournament (2001, 2011). The 2001 Lady T-Birds became the first Kansas school to ever win the NJCAA Division I National Championship with a 71-56 victory over Midland College (Texas). The 2011 team finished eighth in the NJCAA National Tournament.

Erkenbrack was inducted into the Cloud County Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010 and the NJCAA Hall of Fame in 2017. He was named the CONVERSE/WBCA District 5 Coach of the Year in 1994, the KJCCC Western Division Coach of the Year in 2000, as well as twice being named the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2011. He was also named Region 6 Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2011, and was honored as NJCAA National Coach of the Tournament in 2001.

During his storied career, Erkenbrack has mentored more than 40 players who have been named All-Region 6, including 15 first-team selections. Eight players have been named NJCAA All-Americans, and over 50 former players have gone on to play at the NCAA Division I level. Over 100 other former T-Birds have moved on to play at the NCAA Division II or NAIA level. Former T-Bird Shanele Stires played three seasons with the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA.

Erkenbrack became the newest member of the 750-win club when the T-Birds defeated Garden City Community College in overtime, 57-53, on January 13, 2025. Cloud County ended the 2024-2025 season at 17-13 overall. Two players, sophomore guard TiAna Davis and freshman forward Talasia Thomas, received All-Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Division I Women's Basketball second team honors.

This is the first time since 1938 that the NJCAA will recognize the achievements and proud legacy of its coaches, past and present, at one time.

In all, nearly 200 coaches across 28 NJCAA-sponsored sports from around the country were nominated by the member colleges at which they coached.

Coach Erkenbrack is one of ten head women's basketball coaches nationally, and one of only two Kansas junior college basketball coaches (Jay Herkelman, Coffeyville head men's basketball coach), who is on the NJCAA's inaugural year awards list.

All honorees will be recognized at a special luncheon on Tuesday, June 17, in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the Hilton Charlotte University Place Hotel. The luncheon will precede the 2025 NJCAA Hall of Fame and Awards event, scheduled for later that day.