Our Team
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As any coach or athlete knows, no one succeeds on their own – whether on or off the court. Lasting success depends on the talent, drive, commitment, and passion of multiple individuals coming together as a team to accomplish something bigger than themselves.
Nations of Coaches is blessed to have a team of highly talented professionals who work together to help coaches and athletes across the country achieve a higher level of play in sports… and in life.
ExEcutive Leadership

Tommy Kyle
Executive Director
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Dale Clayton
Vice President
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Justine Lightfoot
Chief Operations Officer
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Justine joined Nations of Coaches in 2022 as the Wives Coordinator. Alongside the NOC Wives Leadership Team, she organizes and leads programming designed for basketball coaches’ wives across the country, encouraging purposeful living and hope found in Jesus. Additionally, she is currently serving as the Chief Operating Officer. With experience in non-profit management, marketing and event coordination for over 14 years, she also gives focus to the organization’s processes and procedures.
An Indiana native and Business Administration major graduate of Bethel College, Justine resides in western North Carolina with her husband and collegiate basketball coach, Ryne, and their adored black labrador.
REGIONAL DIRECTORS

Regional Director, National
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Regional Director, WV, VA, OH
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Tim Carter
Regional Director, TX
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Coach Carter earned an associate’s degree from Hutchinson Community College (1976), his bachelor’s degree in education from Kansas (1979) and a Master’s in education from Oklahoma (1984). He is a past board member of both the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Tim and his wife, Sheila, have two daughters, Kiara and Kortney, and a son, Wynton.

Regional Director, IN, MI
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Regional Director, SC
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Regional Director, FL
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Regional Director, NC
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Mark worked several years for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, then transitioned into a career in law enforcement in 2013. Mark now serves as the Nations of Coaches Regional Director in North Carolina.
Mark has been married to his wife, Alicia, for over 21 years, and they have three children. They are also very involved in their local church.

Women’s Coach Representative
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Kelly’s heart is to help and inspire coaches. What she learned while coaching at the college level is the demand on the coaches’ lives. She is dedicating her ministry to support and encourage coaches of women’s college basketball.
CHARACTER COACH TEAM LEADERS

Character Coach Director
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Before his start at Nations of Coaches, Roger was an FCA Campus Representative for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes serving the coaches and athletes in college, high schools, middle schools, junior high schools, and club teams across southern Illinois. He has additionally served as Character Coach to the athletic teams at SIU and as chaplain to the Southern Illinois Miners pro baseball team.
Roger has worked in the development of the Global Sports Chaplaincy Association. and made dozens of international trips to over twenty nations on five continents to facilitate ministry in sport.
Roger was born and raised in Carbondale, Illinois where he was a high school athlete competing in football, wrestling, and track and field. He currently resides there with his wife, Sharon. They have a son, a daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters.

Character Coach Coordinator
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Because of his experience as a Christian student-athlete, Grayson is passionate about helping others fight for a healthy balance between work or school, sports, and family, and seeing people reach their full God-given potential. Grayson stated, “My goal is to see the kingdom of God moved forward through the game of basketball.”
Grayson is married to Bailey Speers Wakefield.
HOMEFRONT TEAM

Marriage & Family Ministry Coordinator
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NOC Wives Coordinator
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Justine joined Nations of Coaches in 2022 as the Wives Coordinator. Alongside the NOC Wives Leadership Team, she organizes and leads programming designed for basketball coaches’ wives across the country, encouraging purposeful living and hope found in Jesus. With experience in non-profit management, marketing and event coordination for over 14 years, she also gives focus to the organization’s processes and procedures.
An Indiana native and Business Administration major graduate of Bethel College, Justine resides in western North Carolina with her husband and collegiate basketball coach, Ryne, and their adored black labrador.

Marriage Coordinator
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Lynette received her MS degree in Engineering Management from Cleveland State University in 1994 and her BS from North Carolina A&T in 1990.
Lynette served as a women’s teacher-leader with the Bible Study Fellowship in Charleston, West Virginia, and she and Jayson have facilitated marriage Bible studies and have been the keynote speakers for the 2011 FCA marriage retreat. She currently serves as a co-facilitator of a life group “Healthy by Design” at Every Nation Cincinnati in Ohio, and as a facilitator with Coaches Wives Bible Study.
Lynette celebrates 30 years as a coach’s wife to Jayson. They have 3 children, Brandon, 27, Bryan, 24, and Briana, 15, and reside in Cincinnati, Ohio.

NOC Wives Bible Study & Spiritual Growth Coordinator
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NOC Wives Coaching Coordinator, Marriage Enrichment Coach
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Dee Kijanko is an artist, writer, speaker, and mentor, who is passionate for the hearts of women. She and Tony have been married for 45 years and she has been devoted to their “co-ministry” to all of the teams Tony has coached. She has been volunteering with the NOC Wives Steering Committee for the last year, helping to develop outreach and support to all women married to a coach.
Together the Kijankos are grateful to have parented four children and now are filled with joy to be called “Mimi” and “Papa” by six grandchildren. They also have led short-term international mission teams to many countries over the past 30 years

Marriage Enrichment Coach
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Tony Kijanko has been coaching in some form for many years. Before his 45-year football coaching career, he played offensive tackle at Bowling Green State University and professionally for the Cleveland Browns. Afterward, he coached high school and college football at various schools, most recently at Taylor University in Indiana. In his “retirement” he continued to coach his oldest grandson at Dawson County High School in North Georgia.
Together the Kijankos are grateful to have parented four children and now are filled with joy to be called “Mimi” and “Papa” by six grandchildren. They also have led short-term international mission teams to many countries over the past 30 years

Marriage Events Coordinator
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Most importantly to her, she has been a Head Coach’s wife for 38 years, bringing humor and insight from living her life “behind the bench.” Jacci and her husband, Mike, live in Wakarusa IN. They have two sons, two incredible daughters-in-law, and two grandsons who live two doors down.
LEGACY TEAM

Legacy Events Coordinator
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During the past 18 years of coaching, Curtis said the Lord led him and his family to invest spiritually into the lives of the young men and their families. He has since found great purpose in continuing to do so within the Nations of Coaches team as he enthusiastically shares the vision of the organization and invites others to learn more. Curtis and his wife, Tanya, have been married for 30 years and have three adult children.

Evie Lowman
Legacy Admin
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Evie joined Nations of Coaches in January 2023 as the Legacy Admin. She earned both a BS and a Master’s Degree from Auburn University and brings sports marketing experience from her years working at the Auburn Network, Inc. As an added dimension to Legacy development for the ministry, Evie also helps process accounts receivable for Nations of Coaches. A native of Eufaula, Alabama, Evie enjoys traveling and spending time with family, especially her three sons – Wesley, Jeb, and Chet.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS TEAM

Communications & Marketing Director
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Rachel has been serving Nations of Coaches since 2019 within the creative marketing team. She specializes in brand positioning, design strategy, and user experience with over a decade of experience in design and marketing.
A New York City native, Rachel was an NCAA Division 1 Collegiate softball player who graduated from Fairfield University with a BS in Biology. She later went on to graduate from design school at the Art Institute of Pittsburg and ultimately received a masters degree in Instructional Design and Technology at Full Sail University. Rachel enjoys spending time with her three sons and daughter.

Creative Marketing Associate
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Kathy joined the Nations of Coaches team as Director of Marketing & Communication in 2017. A graduate of Auburn University with a BFA in Art/Graphic Design, Kathy has more than 30 years of experience in marketing and design.
FINANCE & ADMIN TEAM

Financial Officer
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Executive Assistant
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Coaches Ministry Administrator
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Operations and Homefront Administrator
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Susan received a BA from Covenant College in English education and music as well as an MA in counseling from Lindenwood University. Before joining Nations of Coaches in 2021, she taught English for over twenty years. True to her passion for a good cup of Joe, she also moonlit as a barista in two different local coffee shops to help put her sons through college.
Susan and her husband, Steve, are recent residents to Decatur, Alabama, and she is grateful for the opportunity to use her gifts of service, organization, writing, and editing to assist Tommy and Heather Kyle at the Home Office in their ministry.
In addition to her three adult sons, Susan has two lovely daughters-in-law and three beautiful granddaughters whom she drives to see as much as possible. She also serves as the church pianist at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Alabama. In her spare time, she enjoys yard work, hiking, bird watching, and lounging with her two fur buddies.
Character Coaches Raising Support

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Carl has also served with a prison basketball ministry for eight years, playing and pastoring. He is a licensed minister and served with Athletes in Action for seven years.
Carl currently lives in Dayton Ohio with his wife, Angela, and they have two adult children, Jonah and Qunteelah.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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RICK BARNES is the reigning Naismith College Coach of the Year after guiding the University of Tennessee to a school-record-tying 31 wins and a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2018-19. In 32 overall seasons as a Division I head coach, Barnes has led his teams to 24 total NCAA Tournament berths, seven Sweet Sixteens, three Elite Eights and one Final Four in 2003.
His coaching experience includes head coaching stops at George Mason (1987-88), Providence (1988-1994), Clemson (1994-98), Texas (1998-2015) and Tennessee (2015 – current).
He earned a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Lenoir-Rhyne in 1977 and was named the college’s Distinguished Alumnus in 1997. Barnes was inducted into the Lenoir-Rhyne College Hall of Fame on Oct. 5, 2002, and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Lenoir-Rhyne on May 7, 2005.
He and his wife, Candy have a son, Nick, and a daughter, Carley. Carley and her husband, Josh Lickteig, have four children: Avery, Caleb, Emma and Isla.

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Coach Dana Ford is the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Missouri State University.
A native of Tamms, Illinois, Ford is a 2006 graduate of Illinois State University where he was a four-year letterman for the Redbirds under coaches Tom Richardson and Porter Moser from 2002 to 2006. He was a regular starter and led ISU in steals as a senior.
He went on to successful assistant coaching stints at Winthrop University and Wichita State University under coach Gregg Marshall. He later served as associate head coach at Illinois State under coach Dan Muller. His coaching resume also includes assistant coaching stops at Chipola (Fla.) College and Tennessee State. Coach Ford was most recently the head coach at Tennessee State University.
He and his wife, Christina have a daughter, Charlie Rose, and three sons, Carson, Cameron, and Crain. The Fords are also the parents of another daughter, Promise, who passed away in infancy in 2017.

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Ritchie McKay is the Liberty University Men’s Basketball head coach. After spending six seasons working under Tony Bennett as associate head coach at Virginia, McKay returned to Liberty on April 1, 2015. Coach McKay previously served as the program’s head coach during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.
Prior to his first stint as head coach at Liberty, McKay served as head coach at Portland State (1996-98), Colorado State (1998-00), Oregon State (2000-02) and New Mexico (2002-07). McKay also served as an assistant under Jim Molinari at the 1997 World University Games in Italy, where the USA captured the gold medal.
McKay earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in athletic administration from Seattle Pacific in 1987. A stellar player for the Falcons, McKay left the program as the school’s single-season and career record holder for steals, and he was third in career assists. He still holds the school record with 10 steals in a 1987 game against Pacific Lutheran.
McKay is married to the former Julie Summers. The couple have two sons and a daughter, Luke and Ellie, current Liberty students and Gabriel, a current student-athlete at Trevecca Nazarene University.