ELSAH, ILL. -- Former Principia College women’s basketball player, Sarah Jarvis, has officially taken over the Head Women’s Basketball coach position. Jarvis accepted to be interim coach last season after long-time head coach Norm Purdy took a leave of absence. Purdy, who gave so much to the program during his tenure, passed on in March of this year.
Before taking on the interim role, Jarvis had been the assistant women’s basketball coach for the last two years. She has also been an assistant coach to cross country and track and field teams for the last three years.
“I am ecstatic,” Jarvis said, to bring the “love for the game and enthusiasm that keeps me joyful about going to practices and games everyday.”
Jarvis was an NCAA Division I runner at Indiana State University for four years before transferring to Principia College for her fifth year to play basketball. “It had always been my dream to play college basketball,” Jarvis said, “The rules say you have to be working towards academic credit, and so I was working towards my art minor.” Jarvis played one season, but led the team to the conference tournament for the first time in its history. Playing at point guard for the Lady Panthers helped the team to break a record and earn the most wins in Principia history going 19-7.
Athletic Director Lee Ellis is excited about his new hire, having Jarvis as the head women’s basketball coach. “She knows what it takes to compete at the highest level, being a DI runner,” Ellis remarked. “She makes demands on students to be as good as they can be.”
But despite being so well liked, Jarvis had to go through the whole process for the job. Ellis said, “If we are going to sponsor a sport, we are going to give it all the resources it requires.” Because the athletic department is becoming more serious about their programs and coaches, “we’ve changed the qualifications for head coaches last year to get more quality, now requiring three-to-five years of college coaching experience,” Ellis commented.
Ellis anticipates the program has a bright future with Jarvis at the helm. Jarvis will be demanding much from the team as well. “I am expecting the women to be very mentally tough, and never go down without a fight. I also expect to be in the top four in conference every year. There’s no reason not to be.” Jarvis plans on accomplishing this through preaching training in the off-season. In terms of Jarvis’ role in the program, she said, “I am looking to bless the program and the community through my persistence and perseverance.”
Jarvis is a student of the game, watching and reading as much about it as she can. She wants her players to come out the best players possible, but wants them to learn about purpose in life and in the game of basketball. “If the seniors graduate with better ball handling skills, great, but I want them to graduate knowing two things: if God brings you to it, he’ll bring you through it, and hard work makes your dreams come true.” It did for her in her dreams of playing college basketball, and now coaching collegiate basketball.