Chris McCabe

Title

Vice President for Athletics/Head Men's Basketball Coach
Email

mccabec@william.jewell.edu
Phone

816-415-5947
Alma Mater

Kansas State / Northwest Missouri
Year Started

2019

Chris McCabe enters his seventh season with the Jewell men's basketball program in 2025-2026 and moved into the permanent Athletics leadershipe on April 15, 2024.

• April 29, 2019 | Named Head Men's Basketball Coach
• November 8, 2019 | First Collegiate Win vs. Purdue Northwest (98-77)
• January 4, 2020 | First GLVC Win vs. Quincy (86-74)
• February 6, 2020 | Defeated No. 12 Bellarmine (70-69, OT)
• November 27, 2020 | Defeated (RV) Indianapolis (70-69)
• November 17, 2021 | Defeated No. 11 Washburn (56-52)
• August 1, 2023 | Named Interim Athletics Director
• March 9, 2024 | Defeated No. 21 UIndy (71-65, OT)
• March 10, 2024 | Won 2024 GLVC Championship
• March 14, 2024 | Program's first NCAA Tournament appearance (vs. UIndy)
• April 15, 2024 | Named Associate VP for Athletics Strategy & External Relations
• February 13, 2025 | Defeated No. 9 Missouri S&T (85-80 OT)
• August 1, 2025 | Elevated to Vice President for Athletics

• Has built the men's basketball program into one of the top-3 winningest in the GLVC, winning 63 games over the last three seasons
• Led Jewell to a 21-11 mark in 2023-2024 with the school's first GLVC title in a team sport and the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance
• Guided the Cardinals to the most GLVC wins, league road wins and the highest regular season finish in the conference in 2022-23, since joining the league (2011-12)
• Has mentored seven players to 13 GLVC postseason honors, including three-time First Teamer Jordan Jermain
• Got the Cardinals back to the GLVC Tournament for first time in four years in 2022 with first NCAA era postseason win over Lindenwood followed by an upset of top seed Southwest Baptist
• Lead the program to three consecutive 15-plus win seasons for the first time since 2009-11 with a career best 21 in 2023-24
• Has seven wins over teams receiving votes in the national polls in past three seasons, including four top-25 upsets
• The Cardinals appeared in the national polls twice during the 2023-24 season for the first time since 2018
• Has paced a refocused recruiting effort on the Kansas City area, with more than 55% of players recruited under McCabe coming from metro and surrounding area high schools
• Has boasted 50 Academic All-Conference honorees including the league's highest team GPA in men's basketball in 2022-23 at 3.50
• Served a two-year term as William Jewell's Staff Council Chair and was a 2024 nominee for the College's Staff Member of the Year award

• Came from nearby Liberty North High School where he started the program and spent nine seasons as the head coach
• Led his team to an overall record of 158-94 and eight district final appearances in nine seasons
• Took Liberty North from 8-19 in his first season to back-to-back appearances in the Missouri Class 4 Final Four in just three years
• Made five consecutive district championship appearances from 2012-2016, which also included three Class 4 Elite Eight appearances
• Sent 12 athletes on to play or manage college basketball at the college level, with numerous other athletes pursuing other sports
• Coached the Cardinals Robbie Hanson and Macaleb Hughes at the high school level
• His players were been recognized with 19 All-Conference selections & four All-State honors
• Was the assistant under Roger Stirtz at Liberty High School, helping the Blue Jays to three conference championships while winning more than 75 percent of games
• Got his start at Johnson County Community College as a student assistant
• Spent undergraduate years at Kansas State University under coach Jim Wooldridge, assisting closely with scouting and film, preseason workouts, and camps

• Earned his undergraduate degree in social science at Kansas State and a master’s in educational administration from Northwest Missouri State
• Married to wife Melynda and is the proud father of one daughter, Ellyanna

McCabe Year-by-Year

Season	Overall Record	GLVC	Notes
2019-2020	10-18	5-15
2020-21	5-16	5-16
2021-22	15-15	9-10	GLVC Tournament
2022-23	15-14	12-8	GLVC Tournament
2023-24	21-11	12-8	GLVC Champions, NCAA Tournament
2024-25	12-16	9-11
Total	78-90	51-68

William Jewell College Athletics

Schedule

Chris McCabe