After 41 years without an athletic program, Northwestern Technical College is launching college basketball in January.

The birth of an athletic program comes with hundreds of issues and thousands of questions. “Where are you going to play home games? Are you going to be in a particular league? We have heard, discussed, and solved just about every issue imaginable,” said Don Foley, director of public relations and marketing at the Rock Spring, Ga.-based college.

“Now, there’s one big question almost every person asks. No matter where I go to visit in the area, people ask me, ‘Hey, what are you going to call yourselves?’ Or, ‘Don’t you need a mascot?’”

With more than 2,300 students enrolled at Northwestern this quarter, President Dr. Ray Brooks made this issue a simple one. “We wanted the students of this school to have the final voice in the process,” said Dr. Brooks.

In November, a committee at Northwestern came up with dozens of mascot ideas which were quickly narrowed down. “We had simple criteria,” said Foley. “The mascot we selected had to be unique to the area. We serve eight public high schools across the four counties of Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, and Walker. So, we couldn’t be the Ramblers, Tigers, Wolverines, or any other local high school mascot.”

The Northwestern committee also wanted to avoid popular collegiate mascots. “We weren’t going to be the Northwestern Bulldogs or the Northwestern Crimson Tide,” said Foley. “This needed to be a team that represented these students, our neighbors, and these communities.” After narrowing the list to ten finalists, they were presented to the faculty and staff of Northwestern. “Teachers and staff voted for the final five from which the students would select the winner,” said Foley. Director of Planning and Institutional Research at the college, Dr. Craig Harston coordinated the surveying efforts of our faculty, staff, and students.

After students completed a campus-wide survey process on Thursday, these are the three finalists. “The students casted the most votes for the Patriots, Mustangs, and Knights,” said Dione Hodge, student life coordinator at Northwestern Technical College. “We would be happy with any one of the three finalists.”

The official unveiling date of the winning mascot is still being decided. “We are considering revealing the mascot at the first Northwestern home game,” said Men’s Head Basketball Coach David Stephenson.

Home games in 2008 will be played at LaFayette High School.

The first year of athletics at Northwestern Technical College will be a pilot year for men’s basketball and women’s volleyball. “They are playing in a test league of sorts with three other technical colleges in the Technical College System of Georgia,” said Foley. “Griffin Tech in Griffin, Georgia, West Central Tech in Waco, Georgia, and Coosa Valley Tech in Rome, Georgia, will be playing in a four-team league. Now, there are 29 other schools in the Technical College System of Georgia that will be watching what happens closely this year.”

Four of the 33 schools in the Technical College System of Georgia are already members of the Georgia Junior College Athletic Association. Albany, Chattahoochee, South Georgia, and Valdosta Technical Colleges are currently members of the 16-team conference.

“We’ve been asked if it’s a goal of ours to join this group,” said Foley. “Our goal right now is simple. We need to learn all we can as this pilot year progresses from the planning stages to completion of the season. We want this to be something that will make everyone at Northwestern and in our communities proud.”

Northwestern will play a 12-game schedule beginning on January 12 in Rome against Coosa Valley Technical College. “We will play four road games, four home games, and four games at a neutral site,” said Foley. Northwestern’s first home game will be played on Jan. 19 at LaFayette High School when they host the Griffin Tech Tigers.

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Northwestern Technical College made their first big decision on the new basketball program last month when they hired David Stephenson of Chattanooga to lead the team in its inaugural season.

“This is a huge opportunity for me and an incredible responsibility,” said Stephenson who was faced with something a little different than established programs have to encounter. “We pretty much were dealing with the guys that were already on our campus or heard about it by word of mouth. There really wasn’t a recruiting period.”

More than two dozen interested players signed up for the opportunity to be a member of the first-ever basketball team at Northwestern Technical College. In the end, only twelve would be named as official members of the very first team. “Every one of the guys who came to try-outs gave it their all,” said Stephenson. “We even had several of the guys who didn’t make the cut volunteer to be managers on the team. It was obvious that they just wanted to be a part of this.”

Stephenson held three days of try-outs. Two days at Parkway Nazarene in Fort Oglethorpe and one day at the LaFayette Recreation Center in LaFayette. “I was very thankful for Parkway and the recreation department crews for accommodating us with these sites,” said Stephenson. When the squeaks of the high-tops came to halt, twelve players would be left standing to fill the first uniforms for Northwestern.

The members of the 2008 Northwestern men’s basketball team are Emmanuel Davis (Ridgeland), Casey Day (Trion), Colton Gorrell (Gordon Lee), Casey Hall (Gordon Lee), Brandon Harris (LaFayette), Matt Hill (Trion), Anthony Lumpkin (Ringgold), Tim McKeever (LFO), Jordan Reynolds (Trion), Dustin Rosser (Trion), Nate Smith (LaFayette), and Bud Todd (Trion).

Practices for the Northwestern squad began on Thursday. “This gives the coach five weeks to prepare for the first game,” said Foley. “Coach says he plans on practicing three times a week.”

He said there has been interest from a lot of people outside of the team. “We had one young lady in one of our programs who had an offer to cheer at an SEC school and decided to stay in the area. She says she’d love to help form a cheerleading squad here,” said Foley. “We are just taking things one day at a time and making sure to cover everything as we go along. We can feel the excitement of our students and our neighbors in these counties beginning to grow.”

Stephenson and Vice President of Administration Jeff King will be attending the next organizational meeting involving the inaugural season in Rome, Ga., on Dec. 12.

TCS of GA BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
2007 - 2008
All NTC Home Games At LaFayette High School

Game # Home Opponent Date/time
1 Griffin Tech WCTC Jan. 12/08 tbd
Coosa Valley Tech Northwestern tbd
2 Northwestern Griffin Tech Jan. 19/08 tbd
WCTC Coosa Valley Tech tbd
3 Griffin Tech Coosa Valley Tech Jan. 26/08 tbd
Northwestern WCTC tbd
Games 4 & 5 //All Teams At One Location
4 Coosa Valley Tech Griffin Tech Feb. 2/08 10:00 AM
Northwestern WCTC 12:00 PM
5 Griffin Tech Northwestern 2:00 PM
WCTC Coosa Valley Tech 4:00 PM
6 Griffin Tech Northwestern Feb. 9/08 tbd
Coosa Valley Tech WCTC tbd
7 WCTC Griffin Tech Feb. 16/08 tbd
Northwestern Coosa Valley Tech tbd
8 Coosa Valley Tech Griffin Tech Feb. 23/08 tbd
WCTC Northwestern tbd
Games 9 & 10 //All Teams At One Location
9 Griffin Tech WCTC Mar. 1/08 10:00 AM
Coosa Valley Tech Northwestern 12:00 PM
10 WCTC Coosa Valley Tech 2:00 PM
Northwestern Griffin Tech 4:00 PM
11 Griffin Tech WCTC Mar. 8/08 tbd
Coosa Valley Tech Northwestern tbd
12 Northwestern Griffin Tech Mar. 15/08 tbd
WCTC Coosa Valley Tech tbd