Dave Denly is entering his 12th year as the head women's basketball coach at Southwestern College. He has built a program from scratch into one of the best in the KCAC. An up-tempo, aggressive style has enabled the Lady Builders to finish no lower than fourth in every season competing in conference play. Denly's overall record at the helm of the Lady Builders' is 206-122. He guided his team to three consecutive 20-win seasons, setting school records in overall wins and conference wins (14). In seven seasons, Denly has coached 20 All-Conference players, 26 Academic All-Americans and 40 Academic All-Conference athletes. The Lady Builders have also had the KCAC Player of the Year three of the ten years in Denly's tutelage.

Before he took over the women's program at Southwestern College, Denly served as an assistant coach for Brad Horstmann and the men's program at Southwestern College. During that time the Moundbuilders qualified for the national tournament and won the KCAC conference tournament.

The 38-year-old Denly came to Southwestern College from the business world. Prior to starting his coaching career, Coach Denly was working as a pricing accountant at Pella Windows, Inc., in Pella, Iowa. His love for coaching and his best friend from college brought the young and eager Denly to Winfield and Southwestern College to start a new career in coaching in the summer of 1996. Denly has remained at Southwestern since and is now proud to call Winfield his home.

Denly prepped at Pekin (Packwood) High School in rural Iowa, where he led the Panthers to a 51-23 record in four years and was a four-year letter winner and three-year all-conference performer. During his junior and senior seasons, Denly was also named to the all-state team in both football and basketball. Denly still holds numerous records at his high school, including the all-time career scoring leader at Pekin (1,263 points).

Denly played collegiately at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. During his varsity career, the Knights combined to win two conference championships and go 56-23. The Knights qualified to compete in the NCAA national tournament in both of those championship seasons. Denly was not a starter or all-conference performer, but contributed heavily to those accomplishments by playing the role of sixth man. This has also helped in instilling in him the fact that every player has a significant role in the success of a team.

Denly graduated from Wartburg in 1993 with a bachelor of arts degree in business administration and accounting.

Denly also serves as the Director of Athletics at Southwestern College and is in his first year in that role.

Denly resides in Winfield and is married to Sara (Peterson) Denly, a Southwestern alum (2000) originally from Herington, Kan. The Denly's have a daughter Abegale Jayne, born on December 23, 2005, and a son Benjamin Cole who was born on July 11, 2004. Denly enjoys playing golf, reading and spending time with his family and "Jazz" the family dog.

Jack McNickle is in his sixth season on the Southwestern women's basketball staff. This year, in addition to serving as recruiting coordinator, he has been named Associate Head Coach. His recruiting efforts were largely responsible for the Lady Builders signing 8 new players this season.

Before arriving in Winfield, McNickle spent two years as an assistant at the University of Texas-El Paso after many years of coaching at Coffeyville Community College in Coffeyville, Kan., where he developed a reputation as one of the top basketball recruiters in the nation.

On the court, McNickle's area of focus is on pressure defense and working with post players. Three of the post players he recruited and developed at Coffeyville went on to become NJCAA All-Americans, including Angie Lackey, who signed and played at Arizona; Shala Crawford (Georgia) and Kristie McClain (Louisiana Tech).

From 1977-82, McNickle served as athletic director at CCC. During that time, he implemented the start-up of women's athletic programs at CCC. He also handled the bulk of the recruiting for the men's basketball team. He took over as women's basketball head coach in 1981 after the fledgling program had managed only a 5-38 mark in its first two years, and immediately produced the school's first winning season with a 15-12 mark.

During his career at Coffeyville, McNickle was involved in recruiting and coaching teams that reached the NJCAA National Tournament on both the men's and women's side of the ledger.

In addition to recruiting and developing a number of junior college All-Americans and a large number of players who went on to NCAA D-1 playing careers on the women's side, he also recruited many players for the Red Raven men's basketball teams, including Craig Tucker, a two-time All-American who is still the career scoring leader at Coffeyville, and Buster Douglas, a power forward who later became the world heavyweight boxing champion.

Originally a multiple award-winning newspaper journalist, he also served as sports information director for several years at Coffeyville Community College.

"I have coached at both the junior college and NCAA Division One level before coming to Southwestern," McNickle said. "I can truly say that I have enjoyed my time at Southwestern the most, because I truly feel that we have the opportunity to work with genuine student-athletes. We have a very good basketball program, but we also offer an outstanding academic setting, and we stress the importance of academics to our players."

McNickle is a native of Burden, KS, and holds a business administration degree from Cambridge State University.

Jason VenJohn is in his sixth season as an assistant coach for the Southwestern Lady Builders Basketball team.

Born Feb. 26, 1983, VenJohn was raised on a farm outside of Ingalls, Kan. where his parents, Pat and Cindy VenJohn, still live.

After graduating from Ingalls High School in 2001, VenJohn attended Colby Community College where he played basketball for the Trojans. Upon his graduation from Colby, he transferred to Southwestern College where he finished his playing career and graduated in 2007.

Jason attended Wichita State University in pursuit of his master's degree in sport administration, a path that led him through the Wichita Thunder hockey team as an intern before ultimately bringing him back to his alma mater, where he worked as an intern in the athletic office before joining the Lady Builders in January 2007.

In addition to coaching, Jason is also the resident director of Sutton Hall, co-intramural director, the merchandise manager for the campus store, teaches classes in sports management, and also works with student life.

Jason married the former Sarah Benton, a 2007 Southwestern graduate, on June 2, 2007. They reside in Winfield with their daughter Ashlynn.

Jason Jeschke is entering his third year as a full time assistant for the Southwestern Lady Builders Basketball team after spending two years as the student assistant.  This will also be his first year as the head junior-varsity coach.

He was previously a member of the men's team before injuries caused a switch to the sidelines where, subsequently, his dream of coaching became a reality.

Jeschke is originally from McKinney, Tx., where his parents, Eric and Shari Jeschke, and three brothers still live. He attended Trinity Christian Academy High School, a college preparatory school in Addison, Tx. He was a three year letterman in basketball and earned all-district selections all three years as well as all-state honors in both his junior and senior year.

Jeschke resides in Winfield and is married to Courtney (Ross) Jeschke, a Southwestern alum originally from Meriden, Kan. Jeschke enjoys playing golf, tennis, reading and spending time with his wife.