Chipola Brain Bowl Is Reaching New Heights
By: Shelia Mader
Chipola Brain Bowl is quietly reaching new heights, competition by competition. The team is led by Stan Young, who is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Chipola College, and serves as the college’s Brain Bowl coach. Chipola holds the state record for Brain Bowl championships and recently secured its third consecutive National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT) title. The team is preparing to compete in the Florida state tournament this weekend before advancing to a national competition against four-year universities in April.
Young explained that Brain Bowl competition in Florida differs from traditional athletic structures.
“Florida Brain Bowl actually started back in 1981,” he said. “We’ve had our own state system long before the national tournaments came along. The Florida state championship is completely separate from qualifying for the national championship, it’s really two different systems.”
He noted that the Florida format emphasizes core academic disciplines. “At the state level, we focus on four main subject areas that align with what we teach at the community college level, math, science, social science, and humanities. The national tournament, on the other hand, is run by NAQT and follows a different structure entirely.”
Because of this distinction, teams do not advance in a traditional progression from state to national competition. “It’s not like sports where you win state and then move on,” Young said. “They’re separate events with different qualification processes.”
Chipola’s most recent victory came at the NAQT national championship, marking the program’s third consecutive title.
“The top three community colleges at that tournament advance to compete against four-year universities,” Young explained. “We’ll be heading to that championship April 10–11.”
Before that, the team will compete in the Florida state tournament in Jacksonville during spring break, where the top 10 teams in the state will face off.
Chipola has historically dominated the state competition. “We’ve won 13 state championships, which is the most of any school,” Young said. “Since I’ve been coaching, I think we’ve won 13 out of 19. After the first few years, we went on a seven-year winning streak, had a short gap, and now we’re on another streak of four or five in a row.”
Despite their success, this year’s roster presents a slight challenge. One key player, John Maupin, will be ineligible for the state tournament due to participation limits.
“Our state rules only allow two years of eligibility, while the national system allows three,” Young said. “John is in his third year at Chipola, so he won’t be able to compete at state.”
The team will instead compete with three players: Devin Tharpe, Jeremy Scurlock, and Ian Hatcher.
Even with the reduced roster, Young remains confident. “It shouldn’t hurt us too much,” he said. “All four of our players are strong, any one of them could be the leading scorer on another team. John does fill an important role, but we should still be in good shape.”
Following the state tournament, Chipola will once again test its knowledge on a larger stage as it competes against four-year universities at the national level in April.
