Sunday Sit-down with Columbia College’s James Arnold
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
ABC 17's Chanel Porter brought on Columbia College Athletic Director and women's basketball coach James Arnold in this week's Christmas edition of Sunday Sit-down to talk all things Cougars athletics.
Arnold got back into coaching this season taking over the Cougars women's basketball team who have started the season 9-3.
"We were able to hire a strength and conditioning coach, so it was a win, win, win across the board and I'm enjoying it," Arnold said. "It's been some long days, but certainly well worth it."
The men's basketball team is also having a good start to the season with an 11-4 record, not to mention a perfect 9-0 at home. Despite the success, Arnold said the programs are still adapting to the new world of college sports with the transfer portal.
"One other thing that we're seeing that people forget about is that back when I was in school to transfer academically was a challenge and now schools just accept a lot more credits and make it much easier," Arnold said. "It's just become that much more acceptable at the higher levels."
Not only that, but college programs are still recovering from the impacts of the pandemic.
"A lot of these student-athletes hadn't experienced a full season competition so now as we're trying to transition back to full-fledge conditioning and full-fledged practicing and full-fledged commitment, many of them haven't had that," Arnold said. "Seasons were shortened, practices were shortened, the rigors of being a student-athlete had been shortened so coming out of that, we're really mindful of the impact that's having on students."
Columbia College also hosted a big event this winter in the first Sophie Cunningham Classic.
"As someone that spent their entire life coaching girls and women's basketball and as a father of a girls basketball player, I could have been more thrilled to say yes," Arnold said. "We're looking forward to that not only becoming a permanent home for the Sophie Cunningham Classic but really growing it and just continuing to thrive."
You can watch ABC 17's Chanel Porter's full conversation with Arnold Sunday on SportsZone at 9:30 on Fox 22.
