Inductees

In 2004, for the first time in her life, Jill Nagel had to watch a basketball season go on without her.

She had starred for King City High School in the early 1990s, and then at William Jewell College, where, “after a quarterfinal conference tournament loss at Lindenwood,” she said, “I took off my jersey and sobbed for what seemed hours.” And so began a six-year stretch of working as a collegiate assistant.

However, when she and her husband, Greg, moved back to Missouri to escape the cold winters of Michigan and start a family, Jill put her career on hold. And so she dusted off her college biology degree to work for a Columbia pharmaceutical company and took coaching sabbatical.

“I visited high school and college practices and games and thought I might start a recruiting service,” Nagel said.

Rock Bridge High School, however, hired her to coach girls basketball a year later, and Nagel became one of the most successful coaches in state history. That’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted her with the Class of 2022.

Entering the 2022-2023 season, Nagel is 383-98 in 17 seasons. Her teams have won five Class 5 state championships (2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015), placed third in 2017 and reached the Final Four in 2020 before the pandemic led to its cancellation.

The Bruins are the only Class 5 program to accomplish four consecutive state titles and only the fourth girls team in Missouri high school girls basketball to earn that distinction.

Additionally, Nagel is tied for third-most among MSHSAA girls basketball state titles by a coach. So far, 33 players have gone to play in college, 14 at the Division I level.

She is a five-time Coach of the Year by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association and six times by the Missouri Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association.

“I didn’t know what the Rock Bridge job might lead to, but I felt led to it,” Nagel said. “The position allowed me to stay in basketball coaching and was a challenge to coach at a level I had not coached before.”

She came from a third-generation farm family outside of King City, with her dad a longtime farmer, her mom a school teacher and a slightly older brother who toughened her up playing football and basketball.

And Nagel’s passion for basketball grew daily. At one point, none other than former Texas Western star Jerry Armstrong (MSHOF 2016) coached the boys at King City and allowed Nagel to watch practice.

A 1994 King City graduate, she was a guard, but William Jewell moved her to the four spot and then the three. Soon, she found her calling in coaching.

At Rock Bridge, she has found the right balance, and an understanding employer. You see, she has worked for Biopharma Product Testing, formerly ABC Laboratories, for 18 years. Its support in her coaching role, as a way to benefit the community, hasn’t been lost on Nagel.

On the court, she follows a motto of, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Nagel cares – about players on and off the court, and tailors her coaching to each individual.

The 2008 state title team won 10 consecutive games after a blowout loss to McCluer South-Berkeley. The Bruins won their first district title in 26 years.

The 2012 team trailed by 16 points in the state semifinals but rallied, and then won the next night. It earned a No. 19 ranking from USA Today.

The 2013 team toughened up after traveling to the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix. That team overcame the loss of its fourth-leading scorer and post player to a knee injury in mid-January, and then rallied from a 10-point deficit to beat St. Joseph’s Academy in the finals. It finished No. 30 in the MaxPreps national poll.

The 2014 team was a “once-in-100-year team,” Nagel said, noting it had seven NCAA Division I players. That team finished No. 5 in the MaxPreps national poll.

The 2015 team had a blue-collar mentality and willed itself to the team title.

Nagel credits many for her success, including parents M.L. and Suzanne McCrea, brother Andrew, as well as Greg and their children – Zach and Kati.

“This is a program honor, and we are celebrating as such,” Nagel said. “No one person can do this alone.  Our success is the result of a number of people committed to our winning tradition of excellence on a daily basis.”