During his first quarter at 鶹Ƶ, Joel Yellow Owl dropped out. He couch surfed with friends and essentially lived out of his car at times before landing a minimum wage job shoveling rocks and doing other hard manual labor.
“I just wasn’t ready for it, the academics,” Yellow Owl recalls.
But when he stopped by Sherar Gymnasium during an open gym period, then head coach Ray Funk pulled Yellow Owl aside for a conversation.
“Coach Funk said ‘Hey, are you ready to come back? We still want you’,” Yellow Owl recalled. “I was surprised to hear that. My whole mentality was, if I could just come back and make the most of this opportunity that would be incredible. But I also knew that I needed to figure this thing out in the classroom.”
That he did. During his two seasons at YVC, Yellow Owl was not only a standout player for the Yaks, including being named to the Northwest Athletic Conference 2014 East Region First Team, he also proved himself in the classroom and earned All-Academic honors his sophomore season.
“Coming from one of the lowest points that I had, that opportunity that was provided to me at YVC was huge and Coach Funk showing some grace for me at that time,” he said.
“[My father] always drilled into me that we’re created to serve people and so I knew I wanted to serve in some way.” — Joel Yellow Owl
A calling to serve
After YVC, Yellow Owl continued his playing career at Oregon Institute of Technology, where he was named NAIA Division II Second Team All-American in 2017. He briefly pursued a professional career and earned a spot with the Yakima Sun Kings, but in his first game tore his lateral meniscus.
With a young daughter to care for, Yellow Owl’s focus shifted to what would come next.
Both of his parents were social workers and his father also served as a minister,
planting a church in Wapato in 2000.
“My parents are both therapists and I knew I didn’t want to do that, but I knew I wanted to do something where I could serve people,” he said. “[My father] always drilled into me that we’re created to serve people and so I knew I wanted to serve in some way.”
Reflecting on how his coaches inspired him to maximize his potential, Yellow Owl jumped at the opportunity to return to Oregon Tech and serve as an assistant coach for the men’s basketball team.
That first coaching role lasted a year before Yellow Owl returned to the Yakima Valley to be closer to his family and took a job with Yakama Nation Behavioral Health Services.
“When I can see students have that breakthrough moment, whether it be big or small, that fills my heart up with joy.” — Joel Yellow Owl
While working with young people from 16 to 25 and helping them transition to living independent lives, a new coaching opportunity came up to coach the boys basketball team at White Swan High School, where he played for three years, during the 2021 season.
“That was an amazing experience doing that, giving back to the community,” Yellow Owl said.
Following that season, a new job opportunity opened at Toppenish High School, where Yellow Owl worked with students on mental health interventions and also served as basketball coach for a couple seasons before taking a break when his family welcomed the arrival of their third child.
After a one-year coaching hiatus ended last fall, Yellow Owl took over as head coach of the girls basketball team at Zillah High School, returning to the school which he helped reach the 1A state championship game during his senior season in 2011.
As a coach, Yellow Owl’s goal is to help his players to find success not only on the court, but in all aspects of life.
“I want them to be able to have the tools and be prepared for whatever it is that they want to do in life,” he said. “Whether that be getting a job right out of high school or whether that's going off to college.”
Yellow Owl regularly reflects on his experiences at YVC and strives to create the same sense of belonging and grace for his players.
“I really try to work with my players on this notion of ‘show me, don’t just tell me.’ And that’s on both ends. I’ve got to show them that I care how they’re doing, I can’t just say it,” Yellow Owl said. “I hope to help my players develop a determination to succeed, but also learning how to communicate, learning how to work with others, all of those soft skills that you need to really succeed no matter what you do after high school.”
Yellow Owl's coaching was recognized after guiding Zillah to its in program history in 2026 by varsitywanews.com, which named him overall girls coach of the year.
In his day job as an academic specialist at Toppenish High School, Yellow Owl’s role is expansive. He leads planning for graduation while also helping students stay on track to graduate and supporting their social emotional health, including coordination with other agencies that provide mental health supports to students.
Working with so many other staff members at the school also gives Yellow Owl the same sense of belonging he felt on the basketball court.
“I love working with teams,” he said. “Whether it be our counseling department or working with our administration or our teachers, it still gives me that feeling of being in practice every single day thinking, ‘Hey, what are we going to do today to get better and reach our goals.’”
For Yellow Owl, that means finding ways to help students overcome whatever adversity life throws at them and feel confident in themselves when they graduate.
“When I can see students have that breakthrough moment,” says Yellow Owl, “whether it be big or small, that fills my heart up with joy.”
Story by Dustin Wunderlich, director of community relations. Photos provided and from archives.
Story updated to note Joel Yellow Owl's recognition by varsitywanews.com as Washington state's overall girls basketball coach of the year in 2026.