Assumes Greater Academic Role at E&H
EMORY, Va. --- Emory & Henry College's head
women's basketball coach announced Monday that she is stepping down
after 28 years of coaching E&H basketball teams to take on
full-time teaching responsibilities at the college.
Joy Scruggs, who has completed the most seasons of any E&H head
coach, will be taking on more teaching work with an expanded
lifetime wellness program at the College. The three-time Old
Dominion Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, said she has been
looking forward to the new teaching role since the college
announced last year that it was making changes in its general
education program that provide for an intense focus on student
wellness.
Scruggs, whose 384 career victories rank her 34th
all-time among Division III coaches, coached Emory & Henry
women's basketball team to a 1984 regular season ODAC championship
and to a 1988 ODAC tournament championship. She was named ODAC
Coach of the Year three times, in 1984, 2002 and 2003.
The tournament and conference championships are among the coach's
best memories, but E&H victories over higher-ranked teams have
also had special meaning for the coach. "I remember most those
times when we won not because we had more talent, but because we
had teamwork that maximized our players' abilities."
Scruggs said the team's strength over the years has come from an
understanding that helping others is basic to success, whether in
basketball or life. "Even for those teams that had more talented
players and more record-holders, their underlying reason for
success was because of how they played together and what they
helped each other accomplish," the coach said.
A physical education instructor who has long had a passion for
health education, Scruggs is enthusiastic about the teaching
responsibilities she will assume this fall. "I think our students,
as a whole, are becoming more active, and the change in curriculum
should be a strong impetus in moving more students toward a life of
activity and positive health choices."
This release is courtesy of the Emory & Henry
College sports information department.