Claflin hoops legend critical of recent NCAA changes
By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Standout basketball player Jackie Stiles highlighted St. Joseph’s week of hosting the NCAA Division II women’s Elite Eight basketball tournament by hosting a basketball clinic.
Stiles shared her basketball tips and philosophy to 150 young people who gathered at the Missouri Western State University Fieldhouse, though a little hoarse during her visit.
Stiles earned All-American honors and set the women’s scoring record while playing at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, now Missouri State. Stiles left college coaching after the NCAA made changes she believes hurt the game, such as allowing players to transfer and play immediately at another school.
“Everything’s going to be hard. Everything worth accomplishing is going to be hard and you’re going to go through hard times, especially your freshman year,” Stiles told KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “But what’s going to make you stick through those hard times if you can just transfer? And then, you have other colleges recruiting your players and how do you police that? So, I really think that decision kind of hurt the game.”
Stiles was also critical of the NCAA rule change that allows college players to profit off of their name, image, or likeness. She said both changes tilt the game toward more individualized and less team-oriented play.
Stiles, who grew up in the small Kansas town of Claflin, led Southwest Missouri State to the Final Four in 2001 and set the individual scoring record with 3,393 points in four years. Stiles now ranks third. Stiles earned All-American honors before going to the WNBA where she won Rookie of the Year honors with the Portland Fire in 2001.
She said her message to youth is fairly simple.
“Incredible things happen if, one, you’ll work hard and believe in yourself. But secondly, you can’t accomplish anything great alone,” Stiles said. “You have to have a team of incredible people surrounding you. I tell everybody, if you want to be good, focus on making yourself better, but if you want to be great, focus on also making those around you better. And then the last thing is just have fun.”