William Jewell College Men's Basketball

Chris McCabe enters his eighth season with the Jewell men's basketball program in 2026-2027.  • April 29, 2019 | Named Head Men's Basketball Coach  • November 8, 2019 | First Collegiate Win vs. Purdue Northwest (98-77) • January 4, 2020 | First GLVC Win vs. Quincy (86-74) • February 6, 2020 | Defeated No. 12 Bellarmine (70-69, OT) • November 17, 2021 | Defeated No. 11 Washburn (56-52) • August 1, 2023 | Named Interim Athletics Director • March 9, 2024 | Defeated No. 21 UIndy (71-65, OT) • March 10, 2024 | Won 2024 GLVC Championship  • April 15, 2024 | Named Associate VP for Athletics Strategy & External Relations • February 13, 2025 | Defeated No. 9 Missouri S&T (85-80 OT) • August 1, 2025 | Elevated to Vice President for Athletics • February 14, 2026 | Defeated No. 24 Missouri S&T (78-76) • March 8, 2026 | Won 2026 GLVC Championship (vs. Drury) & 100 Career Win • Built the men's basketball program into one of the top-3 winningest in the GLVC, winning 63 games over the last three seasons  • Has led Jewell to two GLVC Championships in the last three seasons and most recently a 22-10 overall mark and 15-5 in GLVC play, both highs since joining the league (2011-12) • Guided the Cardinals to a 21-11 record and the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2024 • Owns an 8-2 mark in the GLVC Tournament and has six straight  • Has mentored seven players to 13 GLVC postseason honors, including three-time First Teamer Jordan Jermain • Got the Cardinals back to the GLVC Tournament for first time in four years in 2022 with the first NCAA era postseason win over Lindenwood followed by an upset of top seed Southwest Baptist • Lead the program to three consecutive 15-plus win seasons for the first time since 2009-11 with a career best 22 in 2025-26 • Has 10 wins over teams receiving votes in the national polls in past four seasons, including five top-25 upsets • The Cardinals appeared in the national polls twice the first time since 2018 in 2023 and have been featured five times since • Has paced a refocused recruiting effort on the Kansas City area, with more than 64% of players recruited under McCabe coming from the Kansas City metro and surrounding area high schools  • Has boasted 50 Academic All-Conference honorees including the league's highest team GPA in men's basketball in in back-to-back seasons • Team won four straight GLVC Sportsmanship Awards from 2021-2025, an honor selected by league head coaches • Served a two-year term as William Jewell's Staff Council Chair and was a 2024 nominee for the College's Staff Member of the Year award • Came from nearby Liberty North High School where he started the program and spent nine seasons as the head coach • Led his team to an overall record of 158-94 and eight district final appearances in nine seasons • Took Liberty North from 8-19 in his first season to back-to-back appearances in the Missouri Class 4 Final Four in just three years • Made five consecutive district championship appearances from 2012-2016, which also included three Class 4 Elite Eight appearances • Sent 12 athletes  on to play or manage college basketball at the college level, with numerous other athletes pursuing other sports • Coached the Cardinals Robbie Hanson and Macaleb Hughes at the high school level • His players were been recognized with 19 All-Conference selections & four All-State honors • Was the assistant under Roger Stirtz at Liberty High School, helping the Blue Jays to three conference championships while winning more than 75 percent of games • Got his start at Johnson County Community College as a student assistant • Spent undergraduate years at Kansas State University under coach Jim Wooldridge, assisting closely with scouting and film, preseason workouts, and camps • Earned his undergraduate degree in social science at Kansas State and a master’s in educational administration from Northwest Missouri State • Married to wife Melynda and is the proud father of one daughter, Ellyanna McCabe Year-by-Year Season Overall Record GLVC Notes 2019-20 10-18 5-15 2020-21 5-16 5-16 2021-22 15-15 9-10 GLVC Tournament 2022-23 15-14 12-8 GLVC Tournament 2023-24 21-11 12-8 GLVC Champions, NCAA Tournament  2024-25 12-16 9-11 2025-26 22-9 15-5 GLVC Champions, NCAA Tournament Total 100-100 66-73

Hildebrandt begins his first year as an assistant men's basketball coach. Hildebrandt was a starter for the Cardinals last year and he will be working on his Masters Degree in addition to coaching.  Christian prepped at Park Hill South HS (Kansas City, Mo.) and played at Johnson County Community College (KS) and Texas-Pan American before playing for the Cardinals last year.

Christian Hildebrandt enters his ninth season on the men's basketball staff in 2026-2027. • October 15, 2018 | Named assistant coach • 2015-16 | Served as a volunteer assistant coach • July 1, 2021 | Promoted to Associate Head Men's Basketball Coach  • Has assisted in leading the Cardinals to two GLVC Championships and NCAA appearances in the last three seasons • Helped guide the program back to the national polls in 2023-2024 after a six-year hiatus, having appeared in the poll five weeks since that time • Has spearheaded a refocused recruiting effort in the Kansas City metro as more than 64% of players recruited in the last seven seasons have come from metro and surrounding area high schools • Primarily responsible for the scouting and game preparation and has played a key role in building one of the GLVC's top-3 winningest programs over the last four seasons • Has mentored eight players to 18 total GLVC postseason honors, including the league's top scorer in 2019 (Eysan Wiley) and three-time First Teamer Jordan Jermain • Has helped send four players to the professional level in Europe • Worked under William Jewell legend Larry Holley, '67 and mentored the team that averaged nearly 87 points per game in 2018-19, which ranked 32nd in NCAA-II  • Spent two seasons at Central Methodist University as a graduate assistant, working under 2018 Heart of America Athletic Conference Coach of the Year Jeff Sherman • Helped lead the Eagles to a combined record of 44-20 and a national ranking as high as No. 7 in February 2018 • Led the Eagles to eight All-HAAC honors and mentored two All-Americans including 2018 HAAC Player of the Year • Played one year for the Cardinals after transferring from Texas Pan American • Averaged 11.8 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest as the only player to start all 27 games in his only season  • At NCAA-I Texas Pan American (now Texas Rio Grande), he appeared in 24 games with a start.  • Began his collegiate career at Johnson County Community College where he was a second team All-Kansas Jayhawk Conference selection as a sophomore after putting in 17.5 points per game, which was good enough for fourth in the league, along with 6.2 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game • Boasted 13.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.3 assists while shooting better than 37 percent from the floor, and leading the Cavs to a region and district championship as a freshman • Finished fourth all-time at Johnson County with 140 three-point field goals and sixth 226 free throws while pouring in 1,026 points in just two seasons, becoming the eleventh player in program history to do so • Was a two-time all-State, All-District, All-Metro and All-Conference performer at Park Hill South High School • Named the Conference Player of the Year •  Led Park Hill South to a ranking of No. 37 in the state of Missouri • Broke the school record in the triple jump  • Earned his undergraduate degree in recreation and sport from William Jewell in 2015 along with an associate of arts degree from Johnson County and master's degree in education with an emphasis in athletic administration at Central Methodist • Married to wife Kelsey (Knox), a former Big South Newcomer of the Year as a player at North Dakota, and has two daughters  

Mason Alexander is in his third season as an assistant coach after a standout five-year career in uniform.  • September 1, 2023 | Named Assistant Men's Basketball Coach • Member of the staff that led the Cardinals to two GLVC Championships in the last three seasons and two NCAA Tournament appearances • Helped mentor seven players to postseason honors  • Was Jewell’s all-time leader with 4,014 minutes played (2019-2023) at the time of graduation which was then broken by teammate Jordan Jermain • Earned All-GLVC Second Team honors in 2023 and was a 2019 GLVC All-Freshman Team honoree • Finished his career among the top-25 all-time in scoring (1,420), field goal attempts (1,317), three point field goals (288), three point field goal attempts (796), three point field goal percentage (.362), total assists (323), games played (134), starts (107), and average minutes (30.0) • Was named to the NABC Honors Court twice and was a four-time Academic All-GLVC selection • Was an All-State performer at McPherson High School (Kan.) • Earned his undergraduate degree in biology from William Jewell in 2023 • Father Todd played collegiately at Washburn and younger brother Max is a junior guard at Northwestern Oklahoma State