Long-time NCMC Pirate basketball coach steps down to coach softball at Trenton JUCO

Several personnel matters, including internal affairs, were approved during a Tuesday night meeting of North Central Missouri College trustees. Among them, NCMC men’s basketball coach (since 2000) Steve Richman will take over as Lady Pirate softball coach, replacing Megan Cairns, who resigned after a four-year tenure.  Richman, according to NCMC officials, will not coach men’s basketball, but will continue duties as athletic director. No recommendation was made at the meeting regarding a potential new men’s basketball coach.  Richman has history with softball, having coached the Trenton High School Lady Bulldog softball team in the early part of this decade.  

An early candidate for the NCMC men’s coach could be Jeremy Esry, who has served as Richman’s assistant coach over the past three seasons.  The Hamilton native and former NCMC player is in the early stages of his coaching career, having started at Central Methodist University and Peru State College in Peru, Nebraska before his move to North Central.

NCMC officials do have a history of hiring assistant coaches as the head coach, naming Jenni Croy as women’s basketball coach in the spring of 2007 after the departure of then-head coach James Arnold to Highland Community College.  The same move was made with Arnold, who was the assistant coach for then-head coach Max Mothersbaugh in 2002 and 2003, and slid over to the head coaching duties following Mothersbaugh’s retirement with the Lady Pirates basketball program.