OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Johnson County Community College women's basketball coach Ben Conrad has been selected the 2025 NJCAA Women's Basketball Division II National Coach of the Year, announced by the NJCAA Thursday, April 10. Bart Walker at Northwest Florida State College and Jason Bonde at Rochester Community and Technical College were the D-I and D-III recipients respectively. These awards are presented annually to the top coach in each division of NJCAA women's basketball.
Conrad, who just completed his 17th season at JCCC, led the Cavaliers to a national title with a 75-67 victory over No. 6 Pima, finishing the season with a record of 34-1, tying the best season in program history. The win over Pima gave him his 601st victory as a collegiate head coach.
Conrad stands 508-63 (.889) at Johnson County, an average of 29.9 wins per year, and has led his program to 12 30+ win campaigns, eight consecutively, a first in NJCAA Women's Basketball history. He is the only coach in Kansas Jayhawk Conference history to make that claim.
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.
Conrad now has won two NJCAA Division II National Championships and school record 34 wins (2015, 2022, 2024, 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). His teams have finished as the number one or number two ranked team in the country eight 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, 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 Coach of the Year in 2021 and 2022, 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) and the Kansas East 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 31 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), and in 20 seasons as a community college coach, Conrad has averaged 28.8 wins per year with an overall mark of 579-90 (.865).