LOUISVILLE, Ky. – NJCAA national champions Northwest Florida State College, Copiah-Lincoln Community College and North Dakota State College of Science were recognized by their peers as the 2025 ATEC/NFCA NJCAA National Coaching Staffs of the Year for Divisions I, II & III.
Head coach Andy Lee, along with assistants Natalie Erwin and Nic Nelson, led Northwest Florida State to the program’s first-ever national championship. As the tournament’s No. 3 seed, the Raiders recorded a perfect 5-0 mark in Yuma, Ariz., which included consecutive victories over No. 1 seed Florida SouthWestern (a three-time NJCAA DI World Series winner) to clinch the title. It was a record-breaking season for the Raiders as they won a program-record 61 games (61-4), including 38 straight during the regular season, and went undefeated in Panhandle Conference action, to win their third consecutive league crown. The team under the coaching staff’s mentorship had one of the top pitching staffs in NJCAA DI with a league-best 1.33 ERA, 22 shutouts (2nd), 0.95 WHIP (2nd), a .201 batting average against (3rd) and 332 strikeouts (12th), complimented by a top-10 offense that batted .366 with 124 doubles, 25 triples, 85 home runs, 490 RBI, 551 runs scored and a .458 on-base percentage.
Under the direction of head coach Meleah Howard and assistants Amber Beall and Terry Bauer, Copiah-Lincoln captured its second NJCAA Division II national championship in the last three seasons. The Wolves went 5-1 in Oxford, Ala., which included an undefeated run (4-0) to the Championship final. Co-Lin bounced back from its first loss of the tournament to Jones College to win the title with a 6-4 victory over the Bobcats. The Wolves finished the season 48-6 and posted a program-record 27-1 mark in Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) to win their first-ever back-to-back league titles. Howard, who was tabbed MACCC and Gulf District A Coach of the Year, earned her 250th career win at Co-Lin this year and the program is 262-62 (.808) since she arrived seven years ago.
Coming off their second NJCAA DIII World Series title in three seasons, head coach Mike Oehlke, along with assistants Matt Fellow and Mecarte Olsen steered the Wildcats to their second straight 50-win season (54-14-1), one win shy of last season’s program-record 55 victories, a fifth-straight appearance at the World Series and a fifth consecutive Region XIII crown. As the No. 1 overall seed, NDSCS posted a 5-1 record, which included three elimination wins, the final two against last year’s national champ Patrick & Henry Community College, bouncing back from a semifinal loss to the Patriots. Under the staff’s tutelage, NDSCS was one of the top offensive teams in Division III, topping the charts in runs (551), hits (654), doubles (124), RBI (474), XBH (195), total bases (963), and stolen bases (257), in addition to its pitching staff leading in shutouts (13) and batting average against (.235).
Regional (respective region only) and National Coaching Staffs of the Year are voted on by active member head coaches.
All three coaching staffs will be recognized at the NFCA Convention’s Awards Brunch on Dec. 13 in Las Vegas.
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