By Macy Shroffer
Student Reporter
Jon Bingesser is the head coach of Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva. His friends and family unanimously agree that coaching is who he is.
Bingesser coached volleyball at Highland Community College for seven and a half years before taking a position at Northwestern Oklahoma State University. Bingesser attended Pittsburg State University where he earned a degree in psychology. He participated in track and field there and is still active in volleyball contests within the USA Volleyball men’s division. His sister and parents were all collegiate players and coaches, so he hails from an athletic household.
Bingesser said, that volleyball was always something he was attracted to as a young boy, especially because his parents were sports coaches during his youth. He even taught himself volleyball when he was little and said that his mom learned a lot from him and his sister. The two of them would play together and study the game.
“I always knew that I was going to coach volleyball,” Bingesser said. “I really had no choice; this was the life that I saw for myself immediately.”
Bingesser said people used to say to him that he could be rich or do what he loved. Coincidentally, what he loved he happened to be good at. He knew from an early age that this was what he was meant to do, and it is even something he loved in his personal life.
Leslie Polanco is an assistant coach to Bingesser at NWOSU. Polanco was a player for Bingesser in 2016 at Highland Community College.
“Volleyball is his whole life” Polanco said.
Polanco said that while coaching with Bingesser she has seen his passion for the game and his competitiveness to win. She said that these are his best qualities from a career standpoint.
Michaela Serrioz is an associate athletic director at a community college in Kansas. She was on Bingesser’s first college team in 2015, amd she later coached with him.
Today they are close friends and have kept in touch over the years.
“I’ve never met anyone more passionate,” Serrioz emphasized. “The biggest thing I admire about him would be his honesty and his passion with life, but also his desire to just be the most honest and upfront person he can be.”
From coach to confidante, Serrioz has seen him through it all. In any area of his life, she said she feels as though volleyball is what makes him the happiest.
Michael Smith met Bingesser while he was coming into his position as the sports information director at Highland Community College. Their friendship began professionally but after working together they found they were remarkably similar. Today they stay connected and consider themselves to be close friends.
Smith has seen firsthand how committed he is to his work as he began to see his success grow through the volleyball program. He went to many games and even went on trips with the volleyball team.
“It was very evident to me when I met him, and just watched him coach,” he said. “He had a lot of success at Highland and down there in Alva as well.”
He also points out that the one thing that made him the happiest was his team.
“He is happy when his team is succeeding,” Smith said.
Smith said Bingesser’s team means the world to him and thinks about them throughout the days and he would do anything for them.
Kendra Branstetter met Ningesser in college when she was going to Fort Scott and he to Pittsburg. Since then, they have been friends for longer than 15 years.
“I am the one person that does not know a thing about volleyball, even though he has drug me to a lot of games,” Branstetter said.
She has been to all his games and supported him, but she gets more of his personal life, and said she knows a lot of interesting facts about Bingesser that few people would know.
“He has more knowledge about birds than anyone I know,” Brandstetter said. “He can name almost every state bird. He identifies birds as we are driving down the road. It’s a very rare interest of his that I have always thought was more of a passion than volleyball.”
She also explained that Bingesser has a knack for music and has a unique way of connecting his favorite music to any occasion.
“During our friendship, he has made me a collection of CDs over the years,” she said. “Every song has a purpose and a meaning. He made one for my son 10 years ago”
She said that this has meant a lot to her throughout their friendship. She also said her absolute favorite thing about him is that he is a true committed friend.
“We have both been through life changes and moves,” she said. “Over all the years of our friendship, we have only lived in the same town for a couple of years, so to still be friends and live states away I think that says a lot about him as a person and how dedicated he is.”
Friends and relatives who have known Bingesser for a long time all concur that he is one of the most genuine, committed individuals they have ever encountered. He genuinely cares about everyone in his immediate circle of friends as well as the players he instructs.
While it might be simple for many individuals to leave work at work, Bingesser finds that volleyball is his true happy place, and it shows on the court.
