(Hutchinson CC Sports Information) -- With almost 600 junior college coaching wins and two national championships to his credit, Hutchinson Community College men's basketball head coach Steve Eck has earned the highest honor in the National Junior College Athletic Association.
The NJCAA National Office announced on Monday, January 14 that Eck and two others will be inducted into the 2019 NJCAA Basketball Hall of Fame. The NJCAA Men's Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame now features 156 current members since its inception in 1984.
Joining Eck in the 2019 Class is former Moberly Area College head coach Pat Smith and Owens Community College head coach Jim Welling.
Eck becomes the 10th Hutchinson-affiliated member inducted into the NJCAA Men's Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Eck has been Hutchinson's head coach since the 2009-10 season. Over that span the Haven native has amassed a school-record 274 coaching victories and a record of 274-55. The Blue Dragons have won a pair of Jayhawk Conference championships and two Region VI titles. The Dragons have made five NJCAA Tournaments appearances, finishing the 2016 season as the national runner-up. The 2017 Blue Dragons won the NJCAA national championship, the third in school history.
Eck was named the 2017 NJCAA Division I National Coach of the year.
Hutchinson is Eck's fourth junior college head coaching position.
Eck came to Hutchinson after a highly successful two-year run at Cowley College, where he produced a 60-8 overall record, one outright Jayhawk East championship, one shared East title and two berths in the Region VI championship game.
After a successful 10-year run at Wichita South High School where he won six Class 6A state championships, Eck entered the college coaching ranks at Butler County Community College in 1996. Eck went 80-22 in three seasons with the Grizzlies, going to the Region VI championship game twice.
After one season as an assistant at UMKC, Eck went to Redlands Community College in El Reno, Oklahoma
In his first season at Redlands, Eck's team won the NJCAA Division II national championship, going 30-5. One year later, Redlands moved up to Division I. The 2003 Redlands team went 32-3 and qualified for the NJCAA Tournament. In 2004, Redlands advanced all the way to the NJCAA Tournament championship game, losing to powerful Southeastern Iowa in the title game.
Overall in 21 junior college seasons Eck has a junior college record of 596-105 as of the day of the NJCAA's announcement.