Athletes at Santa Fe College may wear blue and white, but many of the Saints often see orange and blue.
It’s not because the dominant University of Florida is just a hop and skip across town. It’s all because their coaches, Chanda Stebbins and JohnnyWiggs were UF athletes in the '80s and '90s before investing a combined 40 years of coaching at Santa Fe.
Both said all they learned at UF is helping them teach a new generation of athletes at the neighboring college.
Stebbins, who just recently celebrated her 50th birthday, is the athletic director for Santa Fe College. She said she is implementing the lessons learned from her coaches during her time on the court into her own coaching career at Santa Fe.
“I think as a player I really never planned to coach, but I soaked in a lot from them,” Stebbins said. “Becoming a great coach was pretty simple for me because I was about people first and teaching second.”
Stebbins played both volleyball and basketball at UF from 1992 to 1997. The teams she played on were “elite,” she said. She played for UF volleyball coach Mary Wise as part of her first recruiting class.
Stebbins also joined the basketball squad in her sophomore year of college and was juggling two sports on top of a full course load.
“The first struggle I had as a student-athlete was just based on not knowing what I wanted to major in,” Stebbins said. “I think managing being an athlete, the biggest part of it was understanding that you could have a bad game and you still have a test the next day,”
Stebbins ultimately found a love for special education, which she said was in her “wheelhouse.” She graduated with her degree in May of 1997.
Stebbins said being a Gator is more than wins or losses. To her, it symbolizes the memories and success she and her teammates shared together.
“The best part about being a Gator is just the memories that come with that,” she said.
Jalen Speer, 21, a student at Santa Fe, played for the Santa Fe men’s basketball teams and has known Stebbins for a long time. His mother and Stebbins are good friends.
“Coach Stebbins has always played a motherly role in my life,” Speer said. “When I would come in here, she would come and help me work out.
Speer, who is from Gainesville himself, is also a big Gator fan. Knowing that Stebbins comes from great success at UF is really motivating, he said.
“It’s honestly motivation,” he said. “The fact that she is right in front of us just shows that we could do it as well. Having an athletic director that feeds into that is great.”
Speer said he wasn’t very optimistic about coming to play basketball at Santa Fe, but after he got there, it started to feel “like home.”
Johnny Wiggs, the baseball coach at Santa Fe, is another UF athletic alumni. Wiggs played baseball at Santa Fe before he transferred to UF, where he helped the Gators win the 1988 SEC Championship.
Wiggs said that learning from his two pitching coaches at UF as well as his head coach, Joe Arnold, set him up to be a successful coach down the road.
“They made coaching look fun, they made coaching look like a desirable profession,” Wiggs said before a recent Santa Fe practice. “That was sort of the beginning of me really wanting to become a coach.”
In 10th grade, Wiggs’ guidance counselor told him to list the three goals that he wanted to fulfill in the next five to seven years.
Wiggs said he wanted to pitch for the University of Florida, wanted to pitch in the college world series and finally, he wanted to pitch in Yankee Stadium.
Even while playing at Santa Fe in his sophomore season, Wiggs said he always wanted to be a Gator.
“My dad was a Florida State guy, and it was just another reason for me to compete with my dad,” he said. “I chose the Gators as a young kid.”
Wiggs follows Gator baseball when he can but said that when the Gators are playing, they are playing. He said whenever there are Santa Fe transfers playing at UF, it makes him even “more interested.”
“I’m always pulling for the Gators,” he said. “Always proud of what we did, glad I was a part of it, glad I have the degrees on the wall.”
Anthony Fimiano, 19, a business administration major from Fort Lauderdale, is a freshman on the Santa Fe baseball team and said he has already learned a lot from Wiggs since he arrived and is excited that he is his coach.
“Hearing stories about him in Gainesville, playing at Florida and then us playing here, it’s great,” he said while watching his teammates warm up before a recent practice. “He knows a lot about everything and he definitely cares about the whole team.”
Fimiano said it is great to have people like Wiggs and Stebbins to overlook their team and Santa Fe’s athletics because of the success and history that they bring.
“She (Stebbins) had success at Florida playing, came here, and had a great basketball coaching career,” he said. “It’s good to have someone in charge of your athletics that has succeeded in sports.”
BJ Graham, 21, a business administration major from, said it is really fun to learn and play under Wiggs.
“It’s a great experience,” he said. “He really teaches the game, a very knowledgeable guy.”
Graham said the success that Wiggs had at UF has definitely poured over into this program.
“It shows that he knows exactly what he’s talking about,” he said. “He understands what it takes to win and be consistent.”
Graham said that the role that Stebbins has played as their athletic director has boosted Santa Fe athletics to a new level.
“I definitely think with her athletic background, playing and coaching, definitely gives her a positive and easy experience to teach and guide us in life and in sports,” he said while warming up. “Having played at Florida and then coming here to coach the basketball team, I think it definitely has prepared her for this position.”