Most families who search for Trinity Valley cheer already know two things: the Cardinals win a lot, and they were the rival team in the second season of Netflix's Cheer. What is harder to find is the rest, because the program's own athletics site hides behind a bot check and older articles quote title counts that are years out of date. This is what we could verify from the college, the national results and the people who run the events, laid out for a parent deciding whether a season in Athens is worth a tryout.
Trinity Valley cheer national titles by year
TVCC's own count, published by the college in 2026, is 20 national titles. Eighteen come from NCA College Nationals at the Daytona Beach Bandshell, which runs junior college divisions next to the four year schools, and two are coed titles at the NJCAA's competitive cheer invitational, which began in 2025. The NCA total covers 17 years because the 2026 squad won two divisions in the same week.
Swipe sideways to see the full table
| Year | Event | Title | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 to 2008 | NCA | Nine titles: 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2008 | |
| 2016 and 2017 | NCA | Back to back titles, with current head coach Jonathan Jackson on the mat | |
| 2021 | NCA | Junior college title | |
| 2022 | NCA | Advanced Small Coed JC, the program's first in that division | |
| 2023 and 2024 | NCA | Junior college titles | |
| 2025 | NJCAA | Coed champion at the first NJCAA invitational, Salt Lake City | 334.78 to 319.8 over Dodge City |
| 2025 | NCA | Advanced Small Coed JC, fifth straight NCA title | 94.8292 |
| 2026 | NJCAA | Coed champion, Kansas City | 119 to 24 over Connors State |
| 2026 | NCA | Advanced Large Coed JC | 94.0458 |
| 2026 | NCA | Advanced Small Coed JC | 92.7042 |
If you have read that Trinity Valley is an "11 time" or "16 time" champion, both numbers were right when they were written. Eleven and twelve come from coverage around the Netflix series in 2021 and 2022, and 16 was the NCA count after April 2025. The program has added a title in every season since 2021, which is why the totals keep moving. The 2026 margins were wide: 94.0458 to Navarro's 91.1791 in Large Coed, and 92.7042 to Mt. San Antonio College's 81.7709 in Small Coed.
Who coaches Trinity Valley cheer now
Jonathan "JJ" Jackson was named head coach on August 22, 2025. He is a TVCC alumnus who cheered for the Cardinals from 2016 to 2018 and was on both the 2016 and 2017 title teams. From Athens he went to Texas Tech, where he won a national title in 2019, and then to Mississippi State as assistant director of spirit and fan engagement, where the program won two NCA and NDA titles. He was recruited to TVCC as an athlete by Khris Franklin, who co-led the program with Vontae Johnson through the spring of 2025. His first season produced the two 2026 NCA titles and the second NJCAA title.
For a recruit, the coaching change matters less than it sounds. The program kept its three squads and its NCA and NJCAA schedule, and a staff led by a former athlete knows exactly what the program's sophomores need to show four year coaches.
Trinity Valley and Navarro side by side
The two Texas programs are about 40 miles apart, recruit many of the same athletes and split the national titles between them. In 2026 they effectively divided the junior college field: Trinity Valley took the coed divisions and Navarro took All Girl and Game Day. This is how they compare on the points families ask about.
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| Trinity Valley CC | Navarro College | |
|---|---|---|
| National titles the school claims | 20 (18 NCA, 2 NJCAA) | 20 since 2000, six NCA Grand Nationals |
| NCA 2026 | Won Advanced Large Coed JC and Advanced Small Coed JC | Won Advanced All Girl JC and Game Day Open, second in Large Coed |
| NJCAA invitational 2026 | Coed champion | Women's champion |
| Squads | All Girl, Coed, Game Day | Large Coed, All Girl, Game Day |
| Head coach | Jonathan Jackson, since August 2025 | Dustin Velazquez, third season |
| Tryouts | Dates not posted publicly for 2026-27 | $40 per date, five dates November to April in the 2026 cycle |
| Scholarships | Offered, amounts not published | Set after the team is final, out of state fees waived |
| Tuition, 12 hours in district | $1,056 a semester | $1,213 a semester |
The practical difference is squad type. An elite coed flyer or base has the clearest path at Trinity Valley, which fields both a large and a small coed team. A strong all girl athlete has more history to look at in Navarro's All Girl results. For the full field, including Blinn, Tyler, Kilgore and the Kansas programs, see our comparison of JUCO cheer teams and junior college cheer scholarships.
How much it costs to cheer at Trinity Valley
Tuition is the small number. TVCC's 2026-27 catalog lists $39 a credit hour in tuition plus a $49 general fee, which comes to $88 an hour for students who live in the college district. A Texas student from outside the district pays an extra $76 an hour, or $164 in all. At the 12 hours an NJCAA athlete needs to stay full time, that is $1,056 a semester in district and $1,968 out of district.
Housing is the bigger line. TVCC prices a residence hall room with a meal plan at $3,232 to $3,400 a semester in the South, West, Northwest and Northeast halls, and $3,748 to $3,916 in Cardinal Hall, for fall 2026 and spring 2027. The cheapest plan includes 19 meals a week. Some athletes share a place in town instead, and if the halls are full you can find an apartment to rent near campus before the summer practice block starts.
Against those costs, TVCC lists scholarships for the cheer program in the USA Cheer college directory, along with priority registration, game tickets, travel and athletic trainer access, and it charges no program fee. The college does not publish award amounts. Ask the staff directly what a roster spot pays and whether it covers housing, because that one line can double or halve what a family spends.
Trinity Valley cheer tryouts and how the staff recruits
TVCC has not posted its 2026-27 tryout details anywhere we could read, so plan around the pattern it has used in recent years and confirm with the coaches. The program has held spring clinics for high school athletes and older, followed by a May tryout at Cardinal Gym, and has accepted video tryouts from athletes who cannot travel, with a deadline at the end of April. Past clinics ran $40 at the door.
What the staff looks at is the same thing every elite junior college program looks at: your highest level tumbling, standing and running, and your highest level stunting from your position. Navarro's published video rules ask for exactly that. If the standing tumbling is not where it needs to be by spring, book a few months of private tumbling lessons before the video is filmed.
The bigger point is timing. By the time a May tryout comes around, the coaches already have a list of athletes they have seen at clinics, on video and at competitions. Being on that list early is what a college cheer recruiting profile is for. On Cheerleaders it holds the skills videos, position, level, graduation year and titles, and only coaches with a verified college email can see it. A parent runs the profile for an athlete under 18 and every contact request goes to the parent. The profile is free. Recruiting Pro adds featured placement, up to 10 videos and the list of coaches who viewed the profile for $39 a month or $228 a year, with no contract.
Trinity Valley is also a stepping stone, which makes the profile useful twice. NJCAA athletes get two seasons, and most Cardinals move on to a four year program after that. Jackson's own path, from TVCC to a national title at Texas Tech, is the route many families are hoping for. To see where those athletes go next, compare the best cheer colleges by national titles and the colleges with cheerleading scholarships that publish what they pay.
Trinity Valley cheer questions parents ask
How many national championships does Trinity Valley cheer have?
Trinity Valley Community College counts 20 national titles: 18 from NCA College Nationals in Daytona Beach between 1989 and 2026, and two coed titles at the NJCAA competitive cheer invitational in 2025 and 2026. Older articles that say 11, 12 or 16 titles were written before the program's run of the last five seasons.
Is Trinity Valley cheer D1?
No. Trinity Valley is a two year junior college in the NJCAA, so it competes in the NCA junior college divisions, not Division I. It still competes at the same NCA College Nationals in Daytona as the Division I schools, in April, on the same Bandshell stage.
Who is the Trinity Valley cheer coach?
Jonathan "JJ" Jackson, announced August 22, 2025. He cheered at TVCC from 2016 to 2018 and won NCA titles in 2016 and 2017, then won a 2019 national title at Texas Tech and worked as assistant director of spirit and fan engagement at Mississippi State before coming back to Athens.
Does Trinity Valley give cheer scholarships?
Yes. TVCC lists scholarships for its cheer program in the USA Cheer college directory, along with priority registration, game tickets, travel and access to athletic trainers, and it charges no program fee. The college does not publish award amounts, so families should ask the coaching staff what a roster spot pays.
Where is Trinity Valley Community College?
Trinity Valley Community College is in Athens, Texas, about 40 miles from Navarro College in Corsicana. The two schools are the best known junior college cheer rivals in the country, and Netflix's Cheer featured TVCC as Navarro's rival in its second season, which premiered January 12, 2022.
