Barry Janusch watches the Olympic College softball team play a game at Lions Field. The longtime athletic director has worked at the college for more than 30 years, making him one of the longest tenured administrators in Northwest Athletic Conference history.
It’s been a long journey for Barry Janusch, now having passed three decades at Olympic College, first as men’s basketball coach and for the past 27 years as athletic director at the school.
Janusch’s tenure is remarkable as it is uncommon. Not many stay as AD at schools in the Northwest Athletic Conference as long as he has, and at 64 he has no intent to leave.
Janusch was lured here by Dave Sturgeon, who at the time was the men’s basketball coach but in 1992 was moving over to coach the women’s basketball team, leaving the men’s coaching position vacant. Janusch was an assistant coach at Idaho State and was looking to move on when Sturgeon called him to tell him the men’s position was open. Janusch was hired and that started a now 31-year career at OC.
Sturgeon and Janusch met for the first time at Clark College in Vancouver. Sturgeon was a sophomore on the basketball team when Janusch, who played high school ball at Spokane’s West Valley, was recruited in 1977 as a freshman.
“My claim to fame is we were playing Olympic College, coached by Tommy Thompson, and they were ahead by one point when they called time out.” Janusch said. “They didn’t have one so we got to shoot two technical foul shots. I shot them and made both and we won by one point.
“Tommy reminds me of that game every time we meet,” Janusch laughs.
Janusch played his final two years of college ball at Oregon College of Education (now Western Oregon). The team went 26-4 his senior season and reached the round of 16 in the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City. They got beat by Alabama Huntsville, which finished second, losing in overtime to Bethany Nazarene College 86-85 in title game.
After college, Janusch played and coached…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/janusch-constant-over-30-years-170948601.html?src=rss
Author : Kitsap Sun
Publish date : 2023-09-19 17:09:48
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