Cottey College introduces newest coaches

Cottey College new head esports coach Dominic Habjan, new assistant basketball coach, assistant sports information director, and operations manager Evan Belk, and new head flag football coach and sports information director Matt Harder pose during an introductory press conference Monday on campus.

Photo by Hank Layton | Daily Mail Sports Reporter

The Cottey College athletic department on Monday introduced the three newest faces who will be roaming its sidelines this upcoming school year.

At a press conference inside the Rogers Fine Arts Building, Dr. Maryann Mitts — in her first season as athletic director and head basketball coach at Cottey — said in her opening remarks to a room of media members and college staff that the most important work she’s undertaken in her first few months in Nevada has been hiring new coaches.

“Someone told me a long time ago: hire good people and then let them do their job,” said Mitts, whose department received between 30-60 applications for each of the three available positions. “I feel not only have we hired people that have had experience to be successful here at Cottey, but we have hired very good people. And hopefully I will just step back and let them do their job.”

First to be introduced was Dominic Habjan, Cottey’s new head coach of esports.

“I’m going to be very excited about moving forward with women in gaming. That’s one of the biggest things that drew me to the position, is the fact that Cottey’s always on the forefront of the new frontier. And women in gaming is definitely one of those things,” said Habjan, a Nevada native who earned degrees from the University of Missouri and the University of Wisconsin before becoming the library assistant for acquisitions at Cottey in 2019. “On August 26, we’re hopeful we’re going to be able to host our first LAN (local area network) competition against Coffeyville Community College. This is a brand new thing for this community, and a lot of people in general, so not sure how many spectators we’ll get, but hopefully as the sport grows and we see that exponential year over year growth, people start to learn and understand the competitions.”

Next up was Evan Belk, a Missouri Southern State University dual-sport athlete and graduate who will take one several roles at Cottey, including assistant basketball coach, assistant sports information director, and operations manager.

“I just want to say thanks to Coach Mitts for bringing me on staff. This is absolutely a dream come true,” said Belk, whose recruiting efforts have already helped attract more than a dozen new players to the program. “When I talk to recruits and I tell them, ‘Listen, when you come to Cottey and you go into that gym, you don’t ever have to wonder if they’re staying for the men’s game and not yours. If they show up to that gym, they are there for you.’ So, that was something that a lot of players resonated with.”

Last but not least: Matt Harder, also a Nevada native, who was an assistant coach for the Cottey flag football team in its inaugural season last year but will now take over head coaching duties — as well as replace Mark Skapin as the athletic department’s sports information director.

“It was such a fulfilling experience for me that I just wanted to be able to assist them in that journey and to assist Cottey in really helping to continue to grow their athletics program and develop it and make it better,” said Harder, who has degrees from Colorado State University and Liberty University as well as consulting experience with the Big 12 Conference and the University of Kansas. “This is an opportunity that just appealed to me because you get to start from scratch. We can build a culture. We can build a mindset. We can build a family atmosphere. And we can produce successful young women that are going to be, hopefully, stellar flag football players, but also be good in the community. When they leave these walls, they’re going to be successful. They’re going to break ceilings and change the world.”

As Cottey’s new SID, Harder added his main goal is to promote the college and its athletic programs, starting with updates to the website and apps.

“Being able to get the word out efficiently, quickly of what’s going on in our program, from all the sports that we have,” Harder said. “Winning games helps. Putting on a good show helps. Being exciting. It’s a problem in all of sports, even with men’s sports. How do you draw someone into the stadium or arena and keep them?

“You have to keep finding and developing new ways to engage your fan base.”