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SIDNEY — After what he saw from last year’s performances, Hunter Redman can confidently say that the athletic programs at Montcalm Community College are doing quite well as the Centurions athletic department heads into its fourth year at the Sidney campus. 

When Redman came on board as MCC’s athletic director, he had the enormous task of building nine sports teams from the ground up. Sports had not been a part of the community college for more than 40 years but were reintroduced in 2022. Since then, however, Centurions athletics have been thriving.

“I think MCC has made great strides in our first few years, since relaunching athletics, with energy on campus, success athletically and academically,” Redman said. “At the same time, we are needing to change how we operate as we continue to grow. We went on a lot of school visits, marketing, word of mouth and contacting schools for practices and competitions to showcase our brand.”

MCC sports nine teams — men and women’s basketball, men and women’s bowling, men and women’s cross country, co-ed clay target shooting, men’s golf and women’s volleyball, with MCC being members of the National Junior College Athletic Association and the Michigan Community College Athletic Association. Most of the teams began competition in 2023, while men's and women's basketball first hit the court officially in 2024.

Having worked at another community college’s athletic department, MCC Assistant Athletic Director Amanda Glaza knew a bit about what she and Redman would face with the challenges of starting up MCC’s athletics department.

“It was exciting to take what I had learned there and implement that experience here, as well as having an understanding of some obstacles we would face and how to tackle them,” Glaza said. “One of the obstacles was being in a probationary period with the NJCAA and MCCAA as this is a requirement of all new members that prevents new programs from receiving academic and athletic recognition, along with being able to compete in postseason competition.”

Redman said the biggest hurdle his athletic department and programs have faced was establishing a solid pipeline for recruits. 

“We wanted to be a destination for athletes. But when you are just starting, no one knows about you, outside of the district,” Redman said.

Zach Ingles, the Centurions head coach of men’s basketball, said it was an arduous process to initially set up recruiting, but, in time, he said he and his coaches eventually found good recruiting tactics that have shown to work well.

“The main thing is to get good, quality kids who can help you win games and then move them on to success at the next level,” Ingles said. “The kids we’ve recruited have busted their butts to get to where we are now relevant.”

Once MCC’s teams got past their probationary periods, each one began to blossom with success. Within the three years these teams have existed, each one has been able to establish milestones.

“The pace of growth in our programs has been a pleasant surprise,” Redman said. “When you think of the different milestones each program achieves in only three years, it's nothing you are expecting to happen, but you’re happy and proud when it does.”

All nine of MCC’s sports programs have made it to at least one national or postseason tournament appearance in their respective sport. Other highlights include the clay target team placing third at the National Trap Shooting Championship last season, the Centurions men’s basketball team making back-to-back appearances in the NJCAA District tournament and earning its first postseason win last season, the men’s golf team winning a regional title, and one-year wonder Abby Davis of Vestaburg earning All-American status on the women’s cross country team.

Redman said he was especially impressed with how quickly MCC’s men’s golf rose in the ranks and has now established a great reputation around the region as a solid program.

“Our men's golf program has been impressive with its progress from year one. Recruiting athletes who were talented, yet also wanted to work hard to achieve success, and a phenomenal coaching staff who established recruiting strategies and program culture,” Redman said. “They went back-to-back in their first two years, tying for a regional championship in the first year and winning it in the second. That is something that is never easy to do, let alone as a brand-new program.”

Glaza pointed out that MCC’s sports programs have grown in numbers of athletes, as well, nearly doubling since three years ago.

“We had 41 student-athletes in our first year and we are projected to have over 70 athletes for the 2026-2027 academic year,” she said.

She believes because of MCC’s size, it has helped student-athletes, coaches, instructors and staff to connect closer to one another, contributing to the success the Centurions teams have enjoyed.

“MCC has a close-knit campus community," she said. "With the small class sizes and individual support along with affordable tuition and opportunities to transfer, it makes MCC a great place for collegiate athletics."

Now with the addition of a new dormitory on campus, Redman and Glaza believe it will only strengthen the academic and athletic programs at MCC. Redman said, through an application process, all MCC student-athletes who want to move onto campus now have the opportunity.

“The on-campus housing will help us with recruiting further out of the district and state,” Redman said. “It leaves us with endless opportunities to get the best athletes for our programs. It will also help with building a stronger student life presence on campus.”

Perhaps just as important as the Centurions teams are having success on the court and in the field, they are also having great success with local support. Each summer, MCC hosts a golf outing at Glenkerry Golf Course in Greenville, Michigan, attracting a number of local teams and players who enjoy golfing and mingling with MCC administration, staff, coaches and athletes.

This summer, the golf outing produced 21 four-man teams, more than 80 players and raised more than $14,000 to support Centurion athletics.

Frank Nerychel, a State Farm Insurance agent out of Greenville and an MCC alumnus, has been a sponsor for the outing each year, but this time he participated, along with a coworker and family members. Nerychel praised MCC’s sports programs.

“Sports are a way to show lots of great attributes that lead to great lifetime practices for work and life, like teamwork and ethical values,” he said. “It builds better people, which leads to better employees.”

For him, the golf outing gave him and his team the chance to learn more about the progress of MCC athletics and form good relationships with MCC members and athletes.

Redman is looking forward to the upcoming season as well as watching the Centurions sports teams continuing to progress and succeed. Though he has enjoyed watching the athletes have success early in the programs’ history, it is the relationships he establishes with them that are equally enjoyable.

“I have enjoyed getting to know our athletes and building our relationship from department to athlete,” Redman said. “As former college athlete, I never had the opportunity to meet or interact with my athletic director, and I think that it is really important to have a culture where administration, coaches and athletes support each other.”

Creating those relationships makes it bittersweet when the sophomores graduate from MCC and move on in their academic and athletic careers, he added.

“I have been most proud of seeing growth in the number of athletes graduating in the spring,” he said. “It is one of my favorite times of the year, as we sadly send our athletes off to their new chapter. But we are very happy and proud of what they have accomplished here and what they have done for MCC.”