OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – The Johnson County Community College athletics department is pleased to announce that three current Cavalier coaches have been selected for induction into the JCCC Athletics Hall of Fame. Women's basketball coach Ben Conrad, volleyball coach Jennifer Ei and women's soccer coach Jim Schwab will be inducted during a ceremony on Thursday, October 16.
"I am extremely proud of all our Hall of Fame inductees. They have built enduringly successful programs and meaningful relationships that continue to impact the student-athletes they have coached and led," said JCCC Athletics Director Tony Tompkins.
Jennifer Ei
Jennifer Ei compiled an impressive record of 480-140 (.776 winning percentage) through 17 seasons as head coach of the Johnson County Community College volleyball program and has gained a reputation of producing perennial top-ranked teams in the NJCAA.
Ei has led the Lady Cavaliers to national tournament appearances in 13 of her 17 seasons, with a national championship in 2020-21, runner-up finishes in 2008, 2010 and 2024, and third place finishes in 2013, 2018, 2021 and 2023. Her 13 tournament appearances are the most in Kansas Jayhawk Conference history passing Barton Community College legendary coach Ray Bechard. Also in those 17 seasons, Ei has had her teams appear in 156 of 165 NJCAA Coaches Polls (95%), including 108 times in the top five, and 17 weeks at No. 1, including seven weeks in 2022 and four weeks in 2023. Her teams have also finished in the top five in nine of the 17 NJCAA season ending polls.
Ei's Lady Cavaliers are also perennial powers in the Kansas Jayhawk Conference, winning 81 percent (144-33) of her conference matches over 17 seasons. She also guided her team to the Kansas Jayhawk Conference East Division crown in 2010, 2015 and 2020-21, and runner-up finishes five times. Her 486 wins currently rank first among active conference coaches, fifth among all-time conference coaches and are second most all-time in team history. She also is just the second JCCC volleyball coach to be selected as KJCCC East Division Coach of the Year, earning the honor following the 2010 and 2020-21 campaigns. She was also selected the NJCAA D-II Coach of the National Tournament and the NJCAA D-II National Volleyball Coach of the Year in 2020-21.
Ei has also mentored 21 NJCAA All-America performers, including 12 first-team selections, one NJCAA National Player of the Year, seven AVCA All-Americans, four volleyballmag.com All-Americans, 16 NJCAA All-Tournament picks including one MVP, 62 All-Region/District selections, and 68 All-East Jayhawk Conference selections, including two conference MVP awards, two Defensive Players of the Year and one Freshman of the Year.
Off the court her student-athletes have consistently been recognized for their academic achievements, as 83 percent of her players (179-of-216) achieved a grade point average of 3.0 or better during the fall semester in each of her 17 seasons. In the 2014, 2020 and 2021 fall semesters, all her student-athletes topped a 3.0 grade point, in 2015, 13 of the 14 players recorded GPAs above 3.0 and in 2022, 12 of 13 roster players had a 3.0 or higher. Additionally, 74 of her players have gone on to earn NJCAA Student-Athlete Academic award honors accumulating a grade point above a 3.6, including 24 earning a 4.0 GPA.
In 2020, libero Rylie Barnum became the second JCCC female athlete, and first volleyball player, to earn Academic All-America® College Division At-Large as named by College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA). In the spring of 2021, Gracie LaForge was bestowed the prestigious honor of Academic All-America® by CSC and in 2023 Jaydyn Troutman became the third volleyball player honored. Ei also has had six student-athletes earned CSC Academic All-District® College Division At-Large.
Ben Conrad
Four-time National Coach of the Year Ben Conrad took over the reins of the Johnson County Community College women's basketball program in June 2008, the Lady Cavaliers' stature not just rose in the Kansas Jayhawk Conference but on the national stage as well. Conrad has enjoyed an unprecedented level of success and carved a reputation as an energetic leader and relentless recruiter.
Conrad's tenure boasts 12 30-win seasons, eight consecutively, a first in NJCAA women's basketball history, two NJCAA Division II National Championships (2015, 2025) three national runner-up finishes (2017, 2021, 2024) and five other NJCAA D-II Tournament appearances (2011, 2012, 2013, 2022, 2023) and 10 KJCCC conference titles (2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025), and he is currently on a string of five straight title. His teams have finished as the number one or number two ranked team in the country nine times and his teams have been ranked in the top 10 over 90 percent of his tenure, including a span of 98 consecutively. He also has held the No. 1 ranking 68 times, including all 12 polls in 2015-16, the first seven regular season polls in 2018-19, the final three weeks in 2020-21, five weeks in 2021-22 and the final eight weeks in 2023-24.
Conrad also has accumulated many awards and recognitions since taking over the program in 2008. He was named the United States Marine Corps/WBCA Junior/Community College of the Year in 2016, Spalding® NJCAA Women's Division II National Coach of the Year and NJCAA Division II Coach of the National Tournament in 2015 and 2025, Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Women's 2-Year Coach of the Year (2021, 2022, 2025), World Exposure Report Women's D-II Coach of the Year in 2021, NJCAA Women's District Coach of the Year (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025) and the Kansas Jayhawk Conference Women's Coach of the Year (2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024). He has coached 23 NJCAA All-Americans, 17 WBCA All-Americans, 10 World Exposure Report All-Americans, 15 National All-Tournament selections including two MVPs, 62 All-Region VI performers, 58 All-Jayhawk Conference picks, six conference MVP selections, three conference Defensive Players of the Year, and four conference Freshmen of the Year selections. Off the court, he has had 32 student-athletes recognized for academic excellence by the NJCAA and two earn Academic All-District® At-Large by College Sports Communicators.
Through 23 seasons as a college head coach, Conrad has amassed a 601-155 record (.795), including a 508-63 (.890) slate in 17 seasons at Johnson County. In 20 seasons as a community college coach, Conrad has averaged nearly 29 wins per year with an overall mark of 579-90 (.865). In his 17 seasons at JCCC, Conrad has an impressive record of 82-34 (.707) against ranked opponents in Division II and is 87-44 (.664) against D-I and D-II opponents.
Jim Schwab
When it comes to building a foundation for success, the Lady Cavaliers have a master architect in head coach Jim Schwab. Player or coach, indoor or outdoor, professional, amateur or collegiate – whatever the realm, the bottom line is Jim Schwab is winning. Schwab has been a driving force behind the tremendous success of Johnson County Community College soccer since taking over the men's program in 1990. Schwab finished his 36th season as a head soccer coach at JCCC and his 26th with the women's program in 2024, Schwab has built one of the top women's soccer programs in the National Junior College Athletic Association.
The only coach in the program's history, Schwab won his 200th game in 2010, and his 250th in 2014, topped the 300-win plateau in 2017 and garnered No. 350 in 2022. His 387 career victories are the most of any coach in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) and National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) among active coaches and second-most all-time in the NJCAA. Schwab has led Johnson County to 24 double-digit win seasons, and he has won 17 or more games 13 times. His Lady Cavaliers have appeared in the NJCAA Women's Soccer Preseason Poll in 17 preseason polls in the programs 26-year history (65%), including a No. 2 preseason ranking in 2010. Overall, his program has appeared in 127 of 247 polls over the last 26 years (51%).
Under his tutelage, JCCC has captured 10 Region 6 titles, second most of any program in the region, and his teams have made it the final four in the region playoffs in 22 of 26 years. He also has won seven Kansas Jayhawk Conference tiles and two District titles. In 2009, he guided the program to its first NJCAA Tournament appearance, finishing runner-up. JCCC also tied its season wins mark with 19, while establishing a record for shutouts with 18. In 2023 he again led JCCC to a runner-up finish at the NJCAA D-II National Tournament after receiving an at-large bid to compete in the championship. Last year Johnson County matched its season record of 18 shutouts, while setting a new NJCAA D-II record with 15 consecutively. Schwab's squad would win conference, region and district titles on their way to another national runner-up finish with a 19-1-4 mark.
Honors have also come Schwab's way. Ten times he has earned the Region 6 Coach of the Year, and in 2009 he garnered the NJCAA District B Coach of the Year honor. In 2017, he was named the Kansas Jayhawk Conference East Division Coach of the Year for the first time and last year received the honor for a second time.
Additionally, he along with his staff of assistant coaches Alex Hagen, Madison Hagen and athletic trainer Sarah Plowman have been selected the United Soccer Coaches Central Region Staff of the Year each of the last two seasons, and last year they were named the NJCAA D-II Coaching Staff of the Year by United Soccer Coaches, a first in program history.
Schwab's players have also seen unbelievable success. In 26 seasons as women's head coach, he has coached 20 NJCAA All-Americans, seven United Soccer Coaches All-Americans, seven NJCAA All-Tournament performers, 113 NJCAA All-Region VI performers, four Region VI Players of the Year recipients and 137 All-Kansas Jayhawk Conference performers, including nine in 2015, 2017 and 2023, eight in 2009 and 2024 and seven in 2010 and 2014. In the classroom, 115 individuals have earned NJCAA Academic Student-Athlete awards, and 41 have posted 4.0 grade point average including a record eight in 2024-25. In 2019, defender Georgia Vernardakis became the first JCCC female athlete to earn Google Cloud Academic All-America® College Division At-Large as named by College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA), and he has produced eight CSC Academic All-District® selections, five in 2024-25. Two of those five, Emily Crosby and Montana-Rose Currey, were honored aa CSC Academic All-America College Division At-Large and Crosby would be honored as the 2024-25 Academic All-America® College Division Women's At-Large Team Member of the Year. She is the just the second female student-athlete in JCCC history and fourth in CSC history to receive this prestigious honor.
Additionally, Schwab has seen 88 of his athletes continue their athletic careers at the four-year level: seven at NCAA Division I, 27 at NCAA Division II, one at NJCAA Division III and 53 at the NAIA level.
The Johnson County Hall of Fame is currently comprised of 50 individual member and one team. The JCCC Athletics Hall of Fame plaques are displayed on campus in the JCCC Gymnasium.