Delaware State coach makes lasting impact on current NCAA intern

“College is what you make of it,” said Jeff Savage, softball coach for HBCU Delaware State University, on a recent Campus Connection. Savage and former Delaware State University student-athlete Jessica Chrabaszcz discussed the important role coaches play in the lives of student-athletes.

Chrabaszcz is currently an intern at the NCAA.

Read an excerpt from the interview below. Click here to listen to the entire conversation.

Q. Coach, can you give me a little background about your school and a sense of your softball program for people who might not be aware?

A. Delaware State is a mid-major division school with about 3,500 students, located in the mid-Atlantic in Dover Delaware. We’re in the Historically Black College Conference and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. They’ve had softball there since the early 90s, and this is now my tenth year as head coach.

Q. Let me ask you, Jessica.  You’re an unusual case for Delaware State.  You are from Rhode Island and you’re Caucasian and as your coach said, it’s an HBCU school.  So, why did you originally decide to attend Delaware State?

A. Delaware State was one of the first schools that contacted me, and it fit into all the criteria I was looking for.  It was a Division I school not too far from home.  It was a gated campus in a really nice, small rural area.  And when I went to the campus to look at it and to meet with the team, Coach Savage and the rest of the girls had a vision that I wanted to be part of…The opportunity to be part of a winning program was definitely one of the number one reasons why I went there as well as the commitment and loyalty of my teammates and coaches.

Q. Let me follow-up on that, Jessica.  What was your student-athlete experience like at Delaware State?

A. Delaware State definitely afforded me the opportunity to do many great things.  I was a two-time SAAC president and a captain of the first-ever MEAC softball championship team.  Working closely with the athletics department, my coaching staff and my teammates, I was definitely given the opportunity to succeed outside the classroom and in my future career, propelling me to an internship at the NCAA.

Campus Connection is a weekly interview with members of the athletics community.  If you know someone who would be interested in being interviewed for Campus Connection, please contact Howard Smith at hssmith@ncaa.org.