Iowa Central’s 16 sports most of any community college in Iowa
By BILL McINTYRE

Iowa Central Community College of Fort Dodge, Iowa, located in the heart of the Corn Belt, serves a nine-county region in North Central Iowa with branch campuses in two other cities.

Organized in 1966, Iowa Central is a vibrant member of its regional community offering a wide range of academic pursuits leading to an associate of arts and transfer to four-year schools, as well as career option programs designed to fit students into today’s fast-paced work environment.

Iowa Central offers abundant adult and community education programs as it continues steady growth despite a declining rural population. Truly its commitment to students and faculty has made it a thriving learning environment for more than 5,000 full and part time students.

With 11 residence apartment buildings constructed since 1996 and nestled into a scenic, wooded backdrop on the Fort Dodge campus, students are provided the opportunity for up-scale apartment living in an energy-efficient environment.

In recent years Iowa Central has constructed on-campus baseball, softball and soccer fields for its nationally prominent athletic teams. New in 2004 were men’s and women’s programs in track and field, cross country and rodeo making Iowa Central the leader in the state of Iowa with 16 interscholastic athletic programs.
Iowa Central enjoys a long and rich tradition in football, wrestling, baseball and men’s basketball. The men’s and women’s soccer teams made an immediate impact on the national scene and in their first 10 years, each has reach top 15 national status.

All of Iowa Central’s athletic teams have enjoyed success on the field and in the classroom which is a major point of emphasis of every coach of every sport.

Iowa Central faculty and coaches work hand-in-hand to implement rigid academic standards, using what is called its “Early Warning System”. Athletic director and men’s basketball coach Dennis Pilcher explains. “Our instructors will call our student coordinators if a student-athlete misses class. The coach of that sport is then notified. If a student accumulates three misses in one semester, it’s a suspension for the next game. It’s a way for us to keep a handle on the classroom work. Every three weeks the student-athlete takes a form to the instructors, who then indicate how that student is doing in that class.”

Pilcher credits the Student Success Center, a place for students to do homework and get help from tutors if they need it, for part of the academic success of Iowa Central athletes. “We require them to spend an hour a day there, or five hours per week, and it’s been a huge positive for us,” he said.

Iowa Central also employs a random drug-testing policy. “All student-athletes are aware of this when they sign a letter of intent. We think it is an excellent measure of prevention,” Pilcher said.

Under the leadership of college president Dr. Robert Paxton, Iowa Central has evolved into one of the nation’s most progressive community colleges, working in partnership with business, industry and community to provide students with a plan for career success.

Few community colleges in the nation can boast the kind of success Iowa Central has generated in athletics because sports are viewed as a key component of the total college experience for the student athletes and the general student population. Games draw students together and promote school spirit and pride. But more than anything else, Iowa Central athletes are expected to emphasize sportsmanship and they are held to a high level of conduct both on and off the field of play.

FOOTBALL
Coach Kevin Twait has led Iowa Central to bowl games in seven of the last eight years, accompanied by numerous top 15 rankings. Twait and staff are firmly committed to excellence on and off the field. The Iowa Central coaching staff works hard to promote its players and many of the Tritons find homes in four-year programs after their experience at Iowa Central.

Twait and his assistants have a strong working relationship with Iowa high school coaches, and with prep coaches around the country. The Tritons play a strong schedule in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference and play their home games at scenic, 5,000-seat Dodger Stadium, one of Iowa’s finest small college facilities.

BASEBALL
The Iowa Central baseball program is one of the elite programs in the country. Coach Rick Pederson has continued an almost annual trek to the Div. II World Series in Millington, Ten. and is a conference, regional and national title contender every year. The Tritons began the 2005 season ranked No. 1 in the country. Pederson recruits Iowa and Minnesota heavily and does a good job of helping place his players in four-year programs once the leave.

Iowa Central home games are played at scenic Barbour Field, an amphitheater-style field located on campus.

MEN’S BASKETBALL
Veteran coach Dennis Pilcher is one of the winningest coaches in the NJCAA. With more than 600 wins in a 36-year coaching career, Pilcher’s teams are known for their disciplined offense and tough, man-to-man defense.

Pilcher and his successful program are well-known to high school coaches throughout the Midwest and he does an outstanding job of helping all of his recruits develop their game to the fullest.

WRESTLING
Luke Moffitt leads the tradition-heavy Triton wrestling team. A former Iowa Central national champion and later a standout at the University of Iowa, Moffitt heads a program that is routinely among the nation’s best. Iowa Central is only three years removed from its second national championship in wrestling.

When the nation’s top four-year programs are seeking help, it is Iowa Central where they often turn. Many former Tritons dot lineups for the nation’s powerhouse four-year teams. Located in a hot-bed of high school wrestling, Iowa Central emphasizes area recruiting but recruits nationally as well.

SOCCER
In the span of a decade, Iowa Central has started men’s and women’s soccer programs and moved to the head of the class among two-year schools nationally. Former Triton All-American Willie McGowan is head coach of both teams. Iowa Central coaches do an outstanding job of combining national and international talent with local and area recruits still relatively new to the sport. The Tritons play their home games on their own on-campus facility.

VOLLEYBALL
Jim Deisler, an extremely successful high school coach in Oklahoma and an assistant at Central Oklahoma University last year, will start his first season at Iowa Central in 2005-2006. Iowa Central volleyball recruits come mostly from Iowa with many top area players on the roster.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Craig Carlson, who had a successful two-year stint as a high school coach locally, and who has a long coaching history at all levels, is the new women’s basketball coach for the Tritons in 2005-2006. Carlson has centered his recruiting in Iowa Central’s nine-county area with plans to branch out statewide.

SOFTBALL
First he turned Iowa Central’s baseball team into one of the nation’s finest, now Rick Sandquist will attempt the same with the softball team. Sandquist will guide the team in 2005-2006 and build with the ample supply of top area players. A hotbed for softball, Fort Dodge has been home to the NJCAA Div. II national softball tournament the last three years and the state’s popular 32-team state high school softball tournament is held at nearby Rogers Park in Fort Dodge. Iowa Central plays on its own outstanding on-campus softball facility.

GOLF
Long-time coach Jerry Malloy continues to enjoy outstanding success with both the men’s and women’s golf teams. The Tritons had individual qualifiers for both the men’s and women’s national tournaments in 2005. Iowa Central plays its home meets at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course.

TRACK AND FIELD
In 2004-2005, Iowa Central became the first two-year school in Iowa to start track and field. Dee Brown is head coach of both the men’s and women’s track and field teams. The former Luther College standout recruited many top track athletes, locally and statewide and it didn’t take long for the two teams to make their presence felt during the indoor and outdoor seasons. Several Iowa Central performances immediately ranked among the best in the nation.

CROSS COUNTRY
New in fall 2004 were the men’s and women’s cross country teams, also coached by Dee Brown, and also the first of their kind in the state of Iowa. During their first fall competition season, the Iowa Central team finished 13th in the nation, had one All-American and three Academic All-Americans.

RODEO
Head coach Tyler Schau is a former national college rodeo placewinner and he led Iowa Central to a successful first rodeo season. The Iowa Central rodeo team competed in in college rodeo events throughout the Midwest. Iowa Central is the only college of any kind in the state of Iowa with a fully-sanctioned member program in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association.