We Are CF.

… CF softball player, Gianna Guerriero, made her public profession of faith in Baptism Sunday at FBC Ocala (4.16.23) 🙌❤️🎁🙌 … GiGi plays outfield for the Patriots, is currently carrying an incredible .524% hitting percentage and now adds eternity in Heaven to her story 👏👏👏

On Sunday former CF great Quenton Jackson scored 19pts for the NBA Washington Wizards!! 👏👏👏

In coach Ryan’s 17 years at CF he had 44 players go on to play Professional Basketball. Here is a list of the former players still playing:

RiCardo Ratliffe - South Korea
Jordan Stretch Parks-Jones - Italy
Eddy Polanco Tavárez - Poland
Kevin Joel Maura KJ - Puerto Rico
Slobodan Miljanic- Switzerland
Brandon Tabb - Sweden
Will Saunders - Romania
Vasile Odagiu - Romania
Darryl Monroe Jr. - South Korea
DeVaughn A. Jenkins - Slovakia
Malik Dunbar - Canada
Jeremy Sheppard - Turkey
Javonte Douglas - Russia
Francois Lewis - Great Britain
Caberk Kus (JB) - Turkey
Van Turner Jr. - UK
Chris Bryant - Australia
Mathiang M. Muo - Australia
Rasham 'Shamy' Suarez - Puerto Rico
Luis Jacobo -Puerto Rico
Iván Gandía-Rosa - Estonian

Ocala’s CF Baseball Players Who’ve Reach The Pro’s 👏👏👏

CF Baseball Players in the Pros (Ocala, Fla)

March Madness 🏀 … WE ARE CF interesting “did ya know” tidbit (at the end) about the 10 Year Anniversary of Ocala’s CF winning in National Championship in Men’s Basketball 🏀🏆 3.23.13 - 3.23.23 🏆🏀🏆 (share👍)

CF Men’s National Basketball Championship l 10 Year Anniversary 3.23.23

10 years ago today College of Central Florida won the NJCAA Basketball National Championship!!
Still the only Florida team outside the Panhandle to ever win a National Title!!

Interesting JIM HENNINGSEN “Tidbit” … After eliminating Ocala’s 63 year old program it’s now NOT surprising to hear that CF’s president didn’t attend the National Championship Game in representing CF and Ocala, it’s also NOT surprising now to know that as the team approached Ocala on its return, after hearing that the press and a crowd of fans would be greeting the team bus when it arrived, CF’s president Jim Henningsen had the bus pull over just before arriving to the college so he could hop on the bus and be the first one off the bus in front of the cheering crowd and local media … sad I know, sad! … self promoting politician and institutional miss management at its best.

"Everything Rises and Falls on Leadership" ... In this short clip below John Maxwell describes what Jim Henningsen might lack in order to the complete leader for CF and Ocala.

​"Person of the Year"..?? This POTY award is for reputation management for Jim and in trade, surely a yearly, full page advertisement contract by CF and no CF staff or public access to voting.

Jim must still hope Ocala won't remember the first decade of leadership that without question found CF with consistent year of year student enrollment declines and steady staff turnover. Those close to Jim (and conversing with We Are CF) report his leadership as the worst Institutional management they or the college has ever seen. Jim has also gone through almost $10,000,000 in taxpayer, private donations and hospital district dollars to end up with 335-40 extra students in nursing. Jim was hundreds of thousands of dollars in preparation for a health care building he didn't have construction funding fully committed on. Jim also proceeded with demolition on several large CF campus buildings to make room for his ideas and YES again, all prior to having funding in place to complete the plan. Talking with Jim (then or now) will find you listening to a gambit or REASONS / EXCUSES FOR ALL THESE FAILS, WITH 100% OF THESE MISSTEPS NOT HIS FAULT.... to keep an open mind and ignoring what has been done under his leadership at CF, he may we be a candidate for this award... otherwise if CF is included, we may just agree to disagree.​ :-)

February 2023 I Jim Henningsen Solely Voided Vocational Instruction & Athletics I NO Hero to Ocala In this short clip, John Maxwell describes what many think Jim Henningsen lacks in order to a complete leader for CF in personally having "good values". We A...

... "SMALL WORLD" .. not long ago coach Tim Ryan was standing in front of the gym in Perkinston MS when this young man was walking by and asked me he used to coach at CF. Coach Ryan said yes and he told him he was from Ocala and he used to attend my summer basketball camps when he was younger, David was a football player from Trinity Catholic (David Williams)!!

"Congrats Again" to former CF great Quenton Jackson on signing with the Washington Wizards!!

.. 5 years ago today @ CF https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/qsOJTTx4QBCOE7kBRISkLw.ZahNDPlg3La5Jy4lekrRYf

chris shared 1 video with you  

... Last Saturday the south endzone of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium was crowded with fans and family as the Florida players and coaches left the field after the Gators lost to LSU. Among the many people stood a couple, that unlike all others were steadily clapping as every Gator player and coach walked off the field. This couple, Kent & Linda Fuchs are always in the same spot, win or lose, after a Gator game and always have that "Proud of You" demeaner. Life offers both balcony and basement people to us and for our Gators, they definitely have balcony people in this couple and UF President.... wish Ocala and CF could have had such an ambassador with this broad a perspective!!

… a casual conversation with the guy/gal next to you in a restaurant line or local gym should be taken as truth, but not always as you will read. Recently, a local business owner happened to be in the same business as CF president Jim Henningsen and had a conversation. The person mentioned to Jim that it was very unfortunate the college’s basketball was gone, to which Jim replied that “replacing athletes to bring in 200 local nurses was a good thing” … What Jim didn’t know was that this stranger in conversation was one of the many local faces that had supported the college’s sports program for years and also reads the paper .… (p.s., if you weren’t in the know, these words by Henningsen might have made good sense, but if you knew after spending $8,700,000 to repurpose CF’s gym, this after putting $3,000,000 of recent improvements into dumpsters was in truth actually adding 30 to 40 students and not 200 as told) .. these true statistics were reported by Henningsen himself in a Star Banner interview on June 24, 2020, and were confirmed again by the hospital district’s trustee chairman in the Star Banner on July 28, 2020… Henningsen told WEARECF no ROI (return on investment) in athletes, I wonder what the ROI is on seeing almost $12 million disappear going after 35-40 nurses per year … plz share and repost … 👍🏆❤️👏

Congratulations to former CF great Quenton Jackson on signing with the Washington Wizards!!

… “Congrats” to former CF basketball coach, Tim Ryan. The following is an email from a Chick Fil-A manager that was sent to his colleges AD after last weekend's summer basketball tournament… Tim Says “So proud of these guys can't wait to get started with them”…. As you know, institutional miss-management and the lack of appreciation for what athletics do for community, had CF president Jim Henningsen end our colleges 63 year old nationally ranked athletic program.. Proud of you coach 👏🎁❤️👍

.. "DASSANCE vs HENNINGSEN"...On October 25, 2011, the Ocala Star-Banner reported about CF's new president .. "James Henningsen hired as president of College of Central Florida" ... in that article, the Star-Banner reports .. "Henningsen inherits a college that is in good financial health" ... later on, we read .. "CF has been educating a record number of students, now topping 9,000." ... "With Dassance at the helm, the college experienced a 44 percent increase in enrollment, from 6,100 in fall 1997 to 8,800 last spring" ....
With the exit of Dassance, so ends the college's 15 years of steady growth. Last fall, Henningsen reported a 23% drop in enrollment since he took the helm.
President Dassance handed over a steady student growth rate (44% over 15 years) and an operation using a $38,000,000 budget (as quoted by Star Banner 10.29.11) to President Henningsen. Now, after some 8-9 years, we read of a much larger, up to $42,814,048, operational budget ($4.8m increase from Dassance - CF ('17-18) Annual report). The trend of needing millions more in budget while watching a 23% decline in students finds our indoor athletic program as the victim of what reads as gross instructional mismanagement…. Summary: after 10 years straight of negative enrollment numbers James Henningsen makes about $50,000 more than his predecessor Mr. Dassance did and who actually grew the college 44% during 17 years … isn’t the CF board supposed to be the gatekeeper for our community, because a guy hired past his skill set and who making about $25,000 per month isn’t going to do the right thing and step aside…
https://www.ocala.com/story/news/2011/10/25/james-henningsen-hired-as-president-of-college-of-central-florida/64291223007/

James Henningsen hired as president of College of Central Florida A new era at the College of Central Florida began Tuesday, when the CF District Board of Trustees approved Seminole State College Vice President James Henningsen as the school's sixth president.

… if CF’s Jim Henningsen’s leadership choices since arriving to Ocala could be put into a book, it might be titled “Days of Destruction” ... In the clip below, you see millions of taxpayers dollars being destroyed and put into dumpsters … already destroyed are the 90 student athletes that no longer walk the CF campus (they actually raised the schools average GPA over non athletic students)… already destroyed are the financial losses for our local business like hotels and restaurants from when CF would host sporting tournaments and these teams would sleep and eat in Ocala. What you also don’t see in the video clip are the 5 large instructional buildings that Henningsen destroyed and replaced with grass.. destroyed are the future students who would have been taught trade skills for our market place in those large buildings that are now grass fields … these lost students that had previously attended CF and trained in life trade skills like cosmetology, welding, automotive paint body, etc for Ocala’s growing needs, but now destroyed …. why? .. because CF president Jim Henningsen “alone” deemed “certificate” students “not worthy” of darkening the doors at CF. Jim Henningsen’s institutional mismanagement has received little to no pushback from its board and today’s current book chapters of Henningsen’s “Days of Destruction” book can be seen in the video clip below of yet another campus building… comment and share please and as always feel free to share thoughts / knowledge or in private (PM or [email protected]) 👍 🇺🇸💯 ://youtu.be/Fi7EhyeQLhA

April 2022 l CF’ Jim Henningsen’s Path of Destruction for Ocala

… MILLIONS LOST as Jim Henningsen over the last decade has ended the colleges many trade school programs (body shop, cosmetology,etc) AND when those students were all gone, Henningsen tore down their classrooms (which were very large, stand alone brick buildings) … now turn the clock ahead a couple years and Henningsen finds himself a “building short” to be able to expand the colleges nursing program by 30-40 students … the Hospital district’s trustees told Jim Henningsen a couple years ago his new expansion plan “is not” worth them spending millions of dollars on with the fruit of only adding 35ish new students per year to CF’s graduating class… the District Trustees told Jim the real challenge to keeping nurses locally is the hospitals pay plans themselves and not the number of students graduating … so Jim goes for plan B and since Jim’s not a sports guy, he ends CF’s 63 year old indoor programs, then goes to the front of the line on Charity Request Day with his hand out to asking for a large portion of the 501c non profit money (that the federal government sent Marion County in the Build Back Better funding plan), money in theory set aside for real 501’s (like battered womens & childrens centers, our local food banks, the Rock school program for kids, etc) … as for money to work with. Keep in mind that Henningsen already gets about $40,000,000 per year (yes, 40:million) from the government for CF and our communities “real” 501c non profits have to knock on doors for funds ... In the video below, you can see about $3,000,000 worth of tax payers dollars being put into dumpsters as the CF gym, which was remodeled not long ago, is demolished so Jim can finally say he’s added something while at CF (Jim’s first 8-9 years were all of lower and lower attendance years). If anyone ever puts a real financial pencil to the “real cost” for our community and tax payers dollars in Henningsen’s leadership (ending of our many trade schools, then tearing down of those brick buildings and then realizing, “oohhh maybe I should have kept one”), adding to that what you see in the video below will surely have our CF president as the poster child for institutional miss-management .. love the sinner, hate the sin here 👍. https://youtu.be/LMC4UVQDzO0

CF’s Jim Henningsen destroys $3,000,000 of tax payers money

Tweet of the week two years ago … Ocala wishes a silent CF board agreed 👍

… Congrats this week to former CF Patriot All American Walyn Napper on his first round win tonight in the
CUSA tournament. Walyn had 19pts and 6 assists…. Walyn earned his All American recognition as a freshman at CF but was forced to leave Ocala when CF’s president Jim Henningsen pulled the plug on the colleges nationally ranked basketball program.

… “Congrats” to former CF standout basketball player Quenton Jackson … you see, after being named the SEC Player of the Week on Monday, Texas A&M senior Quenton earned second-team All-SEC honors on Tuesday when the conference handed out its awards for the year….

Quenton was one of many aspiring athletes that were drawn to Ocala to play for CF’s nationally recognized program and coach, Tim Ryan. Coach Ryan groomed hundreds of young men while at CF to become both productive and responsible adults while also growing their raw talents to eventually be placed around the country to play basketball at the next level.… CF grew to have a National Championship, many state titles and ranked in the top positions for community attendance under coach Tim Ryan .. this dream for Ocala ended when an out of town hire for president decided Ocala didn’t need trade schools, basketball or volleyball and with the stroke of a pen CF president Jim Henningsen ended the schools 62 year old sports program while also wiping away the many life vocational job programs the college offered the community … So while the many vocational students and athletes that came out of CF like Quenton will be no more, Ocala will stand and salute the great futures of men like Quenton 👏👏👏

.. just three years ago on a given evening many of Ocala’s citizens might enjoyed a fun evening watching some great college volleyball or maybe basketball (as in the pictures below against St Pete on Nov 8th 2018). Today as we sit back and watch our failed CF president, Jim Henningsen, struggles to make his institutional miss-management mess turn into maybe 35 extra graduates per year. Jim’s had a decade of enrollment drops, tore down several trade skills buildings and killed three sports programs with false varied stories in his tenure. Insiders say Jim’s quest to “get my name on a building, no matter” blindness has him roaming here and there begging for money to finished his quest and at some point attain the results that could have been accomplished long long ago, with much less destruction and for way less money than what’s he’s spent …. Hiring a guy that had zero experience as a college president prior has proven very costly for Ocala.

... "Congrats" to former CF standout Hannah King who is now 22 and with 2 degrees. King's feeling incredibly accomplished today having graduated with a Masters in Business Administration with honors from a nationally accredited business school (IONA). Hannah was a second team selection in the Mid-Florida Conference as well as a NJCAA Academic All-American, graduating magna cm laude with a bachelor's degree in Business and Organizational Management at CF. These awesome classroom results from athletes like Hannah were in great part why CF athletes raised the schools overall GPA. Yes, CF athletes actually raised the schools GPA average compared to the colleges non-athletes, but that matters not now as Ms. King unfortunately was also in the last class to play indoor athletics at CF. President James Henningsen who came to CF with a reputation as a sports killer decided to end the colleges historic indoor programs. James Henningsen told We Are CF in person he didn't see a return value on investment as for any reason to keep indoor sports going. This statement from Henningsen was despite the school leading the nation in attendance and winning percentages. ... We Are CF expects to see many more great things from Hannah :-)

... (Jim Henningsen) ... "Now I'll Finally Get The Pie Off My Face" could have been Jim's first thoughts after hearing government money would now bandage up on his failed institutional plans.

Today, We Are CF heard that Henningsen has attained $7.8 million from the state to remodel the basketball gym that not too long ago had over a million dollars invested into to to make it a premier indoor sports venue. This remodel decision was pushed even after being advised that it was not a wise spend of local money or the proper fix for Ocala's need of retaining and increasing the number of good nurses.

Jim's actions today are similar to what we often see with political bureaucrats, whose self serving agendas override the best interest of its people. CF's vacant gym was Jim's daily reminder of past bad decisions, and unfortunately, Jim would rather waste millions of taxpayers' dollars than accept wise local advice.

Last December, the wise board members at the Marion County Hospital District told Henningsen that his idea for a new training center in the gym was not the fix Ocala needed. Dr. Ram Vasudevan, a hospital district trustee, said his conversations with both hospital operators in Marion County found there was not a critical shortage of nurses in the county. The issue is retention as nurses leave the area for higher salaries.

Another District Trustee, Dr. Ken Marino, also provided advice for Henningsen: "Producing more people doesn't necessarily solve the problem." So, most of us would hear and understand "pay more" as a priority to retain top level nurses, but Jim did not. Rasmussen College produces about 360 nurses, and CF graduates about 120 nurses every year, so the volume is good. Just need to fix the compensation to remain competitive and retain good nurses.

Jim Henningsen decided to ignore the medical district's advice because it did not fit into his decision to fill a vacant gym that he created by terminating indoor sports. You see, Jim Henningsen still has many around Ocala wondering and asking about the (poor) decision to end our community's nationally ranked and historical indoor sports programs for something that was deemed unneeded by medical professionals.

The Marion Hospital District received $212 million in cash in 2014 as part of the lease of Munroe Regional Medical Center. The hospital district has spent more than $32 million in earnings from the investments of the original $212 million to promote health and nutrition efforts in the county. This board has both the capital and wisdom to do what is best for Marion country regarding health care. They wisely told CF president "NO", but Henningsen's self pride seems to have won over our community's real needs. Will you now see Jim pull a few favors for endorsements (sure) ... find a few to hold a shovel for a picture (sure), but let us not forget that when smart local money (hospital district) with a real local perspective and advice had a chance to fund, they said "no" .. Ocala, Jim may have a little political theater for us next as he tries to hide the stain on his tie.

... "WAY TO GO" and "Congrats" to our favorite Essence Bell ... Essence is former Vanguard and CF standout and has once again advanced her athletic and academic carrier by signing a scholarship with the prestigious Howard University ❤ 🙂 ... Essence unfortunately was one of the last two local high school athletes to be educated and play volleyball and basketball at CF 🙂 ... this sad fact exists only after current president Jim Henningsen decided to empty the gym by ending our communities historical 62 year old indoor sports programs ... today our community is so very proud of Essence and can only hope one day Henningsen's cold heart for sports thaws (or he moves on) so Ocala can once again enjoy all the dynamics great athletics brings to it's students and community.

... another one of Tim's former CF basketball players making a difference on a daily basis in his community

Meet Travis. Travis is a detective with Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and Big Brother to Jessiah. Jessiah loves his Big Brother and lights up when he is around him. Jessiah’s Mom shared that "she knows whatever Travis plans with him, he will love because he just likes spending time with him!" Some of the things they do together are fishing, going out to lunch and doing homework together. To the "best Big Brother in the world" said Jesisah, thank you for inspiring your Little Bro to be the best that he can be.

Congratulations to Tim Ryan on being inducted into the FCSAA Hall of Fame this past weekend. He coached at the College of Central Florida for 17 years with an incredible record of 393-155 and 9 conference titles! Tim and his team created a nationally ranked program on the floor and in the stands .... Ocala loves you coach :-)

... "Congratulations" to former CF standout Kevin Hunt (KJ) on helping Morehead State win the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament and making it into the Big Dance!! Best of Luck KJ !!! (Tim Ryan repost)

... just 175 miles south of Ocala, is another Florida college president who is "upgrading" sports programs as opposed to Ocala's Jim Hennisnsen's path for Ocala ... after CF's Jim Henningsen's nursing construction deal crumbled last fall (unfortunately only after many good skills trade programs were closed and the buildings tore down-yikes), did the Marion Hospital District firmly decline to fund Henningsen's latest save face idea. Today our beloved CF sits with an empty sports gym and with no new nurses graduating than before and at the cost of CF losing a nationally ranked men's basketball program, women's basketball and women's volleyball.
With Henningsen having pie in his face instead of his name on a building, Ocala can only wonder will Jim (1) or put back what he messed up (2) grow the college instead of losing numbers every year (3) (1) just move on himself? .... reflecting on this week's sports news to the south, what sports programs does the Ft Pierce local community enjoy and grow it's brand from: (Men) Baseball, Basketball, Swimming & Diving, Swim Team, (Women) Basketball, Softball, Swimming & Diving, Volleyball ... Jim, will Ocala be held victim to your failed plans forever??? ... you swung, you missed .. let's move on, just get back up, wipe the dust off and turn the gym lights back on.

... no conference opener this year for our hometown Patriots ... anyone else wondering if CF’s president, Jim Henningsen, might reinstate CF’s 62 year old indoor basketball programs since the medical professional trustees in the Hospital District declined to sink millions of dollars to produce the small number of nurses that Henningsen plan proposed? ... I suspect a men’s and women’s team could be put back in place for a song compared to the price that has been paid by our community due to his sole decision to end many good trade school programs and tear down the buildings they operated in, much less the many layers of value for a college and community in having a nationally ranked program in both winning and attendance ... can you imagine the amount of character and community care a leader would have to possess in order to correct what was taken by plans gone astray? ... would love to see it though, wouldn’t you?

... Former CF sharpshooter, Bryce Beamer, had a big 20 point game last week for his new team 👏 “Congrats” Beamer!!!

... in saying “No Thanks” this week to CF’s Jim Henningsen (and his $5,000,000 bandaid facility fix request) The Marion County Hospital District hopefully sent yet “another” sign to Henningsen (who in addition to a decade of negative student growth has now seen multiple institutional plans fail). Ocala can now again hope that this Christmas, Henningsen will have an awakening and put back the estimated 1/2 of 1% of CF’s budget to put Tim Ryan back in business for the 2021-2022 basketball season and the return of our 62 year old college sports program to Ocala 👍🎁 👏 . Jim, the district said our area DOES NOT have the nursing shortages you say, so keep the gym a gym! Hopefully the community’s indoor sports do not need to be part of the destructive history, unlike the fate of the multiple trade programs you ended and their 2-3 buildings torn down.