Wayne State College head men’s basketball coach Jeff Kaminsky announced today that Joel Stryker has been named assistant coach for the Wildcats.
“We are excited to announce that Joel Stryker will be joining our staff,” remarked Kaminsky. “He is a great fit for our program. Not only is Joel a graduate of Wayne State and looking forward to his return to campus, he has already established himself in our primary region in which we recruit. His success on developing players is a great match with our program with our primary focus on player/team development.”
Stryker comes to WSC after spending the last five years as an assistant coach at Doane University including the final 1 1/2 years as associate head coach. He helped coach the Tigers to one of the best seasons in the Great Plains Athletic Conference in 2021-22, going 19-13 overall and matching the school record for most wins in conference play (11-9). Under Stryker Doane improved from 6-19 to 19-13 in one season (2021-22) while the Tigers saw an increase in conference wins the first three seasons.
Other coaching stops for Stryker include three years as head coach at Wood River High School where he coached two Class C-1 All-State honorable players and a 1,000-point scorer. He also served as head junior high basketball coach at Sidney High School, assistant coach at Lutheran High Northeast High School and volunteer assistant coach at South Loup High School.
A native of Callaway, Stryker holds a pair of degrees from Wayne State College earning his bachelor's degree in Pre-K/12 Physical Education and Health and a master's degree in sport and recreation management in 2022.
Stryker played collegiately for North Platte Community College, Dana College and Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture (NCTA). At NTCA, he set a school record scoring 55 points in a game (twice), assists in a game (12), 3-pointers in a single game (12) and single season scoring average (34.2) to earn USCAA Division II First Team All-American honors and was a two-time USCAA Division II Academic All-American.
Wayne State finished the 2023-24 season at 16-14 overall and was 9-13 in conference games.
