Josh Schepis is entering his 24th year as the head coach of the Newman men’s and women’s cross country programs in 2023-2024.
Schepis was brought on to start the programs in their inaugural season in 2001. He has led the men to four conference championships and both teams to a combined 27 top-three finishes over the span of 17 years in the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference and the Heartland Conference. A total of 98 Newman student-athletes were named to their respective all-conference team, three were selected Freshman of the Year by their league, and Schepis earned the 2004 MCAC men’s Coach of the Year honor.
Since becoming full members of the Heartland Conference and NCAA Division II, the Jet men have won conference titles in 2012 and 2014 and finished second in three other years, while the women have turned in four runner-up finishes.
The Newman cross country teams have also excelled in the classroom under Schepis. The women were named a USTFCCCA All-Academic team for five straight years from 2009-13 and got back on the honor roll in 2016, while the men had their own six year streak from 2011-16, including posting the highest team GPA in the country in 2013. In 2021, the Men's cross country team was once again named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team.
As an athlete, Schepis has won championships at all levels, from five top-four medals on the national stage as a youth competitor at the Junior Olympics, to being an all-conference runner and a member of a conference championship team as a collegiate athlete at Wichita State.
Schepis earned his bachelor’s degree in education from Wichita State, and currently teaches and coaches basketball at Brooks Middle School in Wichita. He is also an official at the collegiate level in basketball and baseball. He and his wife, Sandra, have five children, Andrew, Bradley, Tessa, Austin and Madison.
