Jarris Krapcha’s promising coaching career started with suds and a water jug.
The year was 2010, and the Albuquerque, N.M., native had just made a career leap of faith after working for four years as a police officer in Leawood, Kan. He landed a job as an unpaid assistant women’s basketball coach at Johnson County Community College, where that first season he did whatever was asked of him.
Washing uniforms. Filling up the water. Playing on the scout team. It was basically a glorified manager role — and one that laid the base for a Colorado high school coaching career that brought Krapcha to Eaglecrest, which he led to the Class 6A boys hoops title this season.
“I contacted every single small school in the Kansas City area — community colleges, NAIAs — emailed them, called them,” Krapcha recalled. “Basically, every single one, I got no response or was told no. Then (JCCC head coach Ben Conrad) offered to meet with me.
“(Taking that job) ended up being one of the best decisions ever.”
Krapcha, The Denver Post’s All-Colorado boys basketball Coach of the Year after guiding the Raptors to their third title in school history and first since 2017, used three seasons at JCCC to trampoline him to a job in Colorado, his wife’s home state.
He spent one year at Mitchell, then three years at Doherty, before taking the Eaglecrest job in 2018, fresh off the Raptors’ Class 5A title that sent legendary head coach John Olander into retirement.
In his 12 years coaching local prep hoops, every one of Krapcha’s teams made the playoffs. He’s racked up a 205-90 record, five Great 8 appearances and two Final Fours en route to this year’s 65-63 dethroning of Valor Christian in the championship at Denver Coliseum.
It’s been quite the journey since those early days back in Kansas, when he went from briefly working in insurance to night shifts as a police officer.
“I wasn’t real happy at that time, and I knew I needed to do something different — something I enjoyed where I’m excited about being at work every day,” Krapcha said. “I hope my younger self would be pretty proud of the career path. From where I started to where I’m at today is pretty special.”
Conrad, who just won his second NJCAA Division II championship at JCCC, said he had had a feeling about Krapcha. Which is why he hired him without a whiff of basketball experience since his high school playing days.
“When he left here, I would’ve bet a lot of money that as long as he had a chance from a personnel standpoint, that he would be very successful,” Conrad said. “Because I knew how hard he would work and that he had a good basketball mind.”
Krapcha’s three seasons at Doherty, one of which led to a Great 8, got him on the radar for when the Eaglecrest job opened. Following in Olander’s footsteps, it took a few years for Krapcha to make the program his own, but Eaglecrest athletic director Vince Orlando was confident the Raptors would find a groove.
And they have, with four Great 8 appearances in the last five seasons, paving the way to this year’s trophy. Eaglecrest finished 26-2 and was the Centennial League champion.
“When we hired him, he never shied away from the expectations that Eaglecrest basketball was — he embraced it,” Orlando said. “Now, he’s shaped the program in his way that is sustainable on a yearly basis.”
Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post
Eaglecrest head coach Jarris Krapcha is in the second round of the 5A state tournament game against Overland at Eaglecrest High School in Aurora, Colorado, on Saturday. Feb. 29, 2020. Eaglecrest won 54-42.
Eaglecrest senior center Garrett Barger, an All-Colorado selection, says that shaping came from the accountability Krapcha demands from his players. Barger felt that repeatedly throughout the season as Krapcha pushed him to be the interior force the Raptors needed to win at Denver Coliseum.
That included calling out Barger in a team film session following the Raptors’ win in the playoff opener against Rocky Mountain, when the 6-foot-9 big man’s game sputtered with just nine points and four rebounds.
“In that meeting, he made it a point that if I’m not pushing hard, if I’m not a double-double threat every game, the season’s going to end,” Barger said. “I took that to heart, and realized that. If I wasn’t trying as hard as I should’ve, he’d get on me. … He was tough on me, but that helped me realize my full potential this season.”
Barger’s play, along with the emergence of Douglas County transfer guard Ant Nettles — who keyed Eaglecrest’s 19-game win streak to end the season after becoming eligible to play on Jan. 3 — enabled the Raptors to pass consistent gut-checks. Nettles’ scoring made up for the loss of last year’s star, LaDavian King, who transferred to Rangeview.
Eaglecrest won four games in overtime along the way, including the dramatic Final Four triumph over Mountain Vista, when Nettles forced an extra frame with his last-second running jumper.
“The overtime games in the season built some character for the playoff run, and it gave us the experience we needed to win the whole thing,” Krapcha said.
All-Colorado Coach of the Year finalists
Jon Rakiecki, Windsor: Led the Wizards to their first title in 101 years in Class 5A.
Todd Schayes, Kent Denver: Guided Sun Devils back to Class 4A title game after losing in 2024 and won the crown.
Mike Puccio, Green Mountain: His Runnin’ Rams made their first title game since ’97 before falling to Windsor.
