If you’re looking to make a list of successful Jefferson residents, Patty Harrison (center) would have to be near the top. Her women’s volleyball team at DMACC in Boone is nationally ranked. Again.

‘We’re hoping to go all the way’

Jefferson doesn’t have a college, but Patty Harrison is the winningest college coach in town

By ANDREW MCGINN
a.mcginn@beeherald.com

Coach P is a fast learner.
When Patty Harrison was tapped 32 years ago to start the women’s volleyball program at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, she didn’t exactly have many credentials in the sport.

Her high school in Lohrville didn’t even have a volleyball team.

“The smaller schools were late to get it,” Harrison, a 1977 graduate of Lohrville High School, explained recently.

At Briar Cliff University,  she played basketball and softball.

So, naturally, she was asked to get Iowa Central’s volleyball program off the ground — and, naturally, she took the team to the National Junior College Volleyball Championships.

“They probably taught me more than I taught them,” Harrison confessed.

Coach P was apparently just made for volleyball.

Today, her DMACC Bears women’s volleyball team is ranked seventh in the nation in NJCAA Division II.

“I feel blessed to be where I am today,” she said.

Throughout it all, she’s been a proud resident of Jefferson.

“When my husband and I got married, we knew our home was going to be in Jefferson,” said Harrison, whose husband, Steve, co-owns Harrison RV Land. “I was lucky to have two great athletic programs within 40 minutes of my home.”

“My family,” she added, “was as important as my career.”

It’s been the kind of career most people can only dream about — five conference championships, eight national tournament trips and seven Coach of the Year honors.

On Sept. 23, Harrison notched her 650th career win.

“Can you believe that? That’s sure dating me,” she joked.

It’s now been a decade since Harrison left the program she started at Iowa Central to become head coach at Des Moines Area Community College in Boone.

Last season, her Bears finished sixth nationally; the season before that, eighth nationally.

She’s the only female head coach in the DMACC athletic program. For years, she was Iowa Central’s only female coach.

“We have built a great tradition here,” Harrison said, “and the girls are very competitive.”

Arguably, coaching at the junior college level is the most challenging coaching gig in all of collegiate athletics ­— given the nature of a two-year college, she’s perpetually rebuilding.

“It’s just teaching these girls to be confident,” she said. “It’s all about team chemistry. I just try to get the girls to work together.”

Her players have gone on to play Division I volleyball at Texas Tech University, and she’s also sent players on to Upper Iowa University, Simpson College and Buena Vista University, among others.

Over the years, she’s produced 14 All-Americans.

“Some of my best All-Americans were from small-town Iowa,” Harrison said.

The faces may change faster than at a university, but the goal is always the same.

“We’re hoping to go all the way,” she said.

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