by Ericka Simpson
Assistant Editor
Recently hired women’s basketball Coach Christian Papp said that he knew he wanted to be a coach because of the influence that his high school basketball coach had on his life after the death of his mother.
“The investment he made to help me reach my potential amidst the tough circumstances of losing my mom and living on my own for my junior and senior year had such a deep impact on me that I left high school knowing that I wanted to become a coach,” Papp said.
He graduated from Valparaiso University (Indiana) with a degree in history. While at college, he worked as a manager for the men’s basketball team.
His first coaching job was with an eighth grade girl’s basketball team in Michigan City, Ind. He said he enjoyed how “coachable” the girls were and never considered coaching boys again.
After coaching in middle school, he coached in high school for two years. He then accepted an assistant coaching position at Valparaiso with the women’s basketball team and ended up following the associate head coach to Indiana University- South Bend from August 2006 to June 2008.
Last season before he came to Bryan, he was at Pfeiffer University (Misenheimer, NC) where he was the assistant coach.
After women’s basketball coach at Bryan Jamy Bechler resigned in the spring, a friend of Papp’s in Indiana told previous coach before Bechler Matt Bollant about Papp and his coaching experience.
“Next thing I know, Coach Bollant called me up (in late April) and asked me if I was interested,” Papp said. “Obtaining a head coaching job at a Christian school had been my dream for many years.”
When asked about his new team, Papp quoted Gene Hackman in “Hoosiers”: “The team and I are getting to know one another, to figure out who we are and what we can be. So far I like what I see.”
Since being at Bryan, Papp has started a Bible study with his team, and they are also reading the biography of NFL quarterback, Kurt Warner, All Things Possible. It is the story of Warner’s rise to stardom, which Warner credits to the growing of his faith.
The goals Papp set for his team are not just athletic but also academic. He said he not only wants his team to have the highest GPA in the Appalachian Athletic Conference but to be nationally ranked for it. He also wants them to contend for the AAC championship title each year.
“I feel confident that we have the character to achieve those scholastic honors and that we have the talent to win the league if we will be committed to working as hard as we can,” Papp said.
One of the goals that he has set for his team is the “famed” mile. Each of his guards must run a mile in six minutes and the post players have to run it in 6:30.
Coach Christian Papp has his team go through intense trainning to prepare for the season/Triangle photo by Lana Douglas.
Papp said he believes that a game is won by the team that works hard throughout the entire game and does not “quit” when their mind tells them that it is too hard.
“After achieving it (the mile), when faced with a tough game scenario where we’re down a few points late in the game, the girls will remember their hard work and collective investment and want to honor that by not letting the opportunity to persevere and win that game get away,” Papp said.
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