Episode: 029 “Being a Trailblazer: Basketball, HBCUs, and Aggie Pride”

Airdate: May 3, 2021

Length: 1:17:32

Guests: Coach Will Jones

Coach Will Jones, head basketball coach at North Carolina A&T State University has a story I that I believe will inspire anyone to not easily give up on their pursuits and to trust God above all. Coach Jones reflects and shares about being a basketball player in high school in the Lowcountry of South Carolina to a Division 1 college basketball player at South Carolina State University to his journey in the coaching ranks. He will encourage you in your path with his journey filled with patience and perseverance as he made his way from graduate assistant to assistant coach to head coach.

All the while, as he shares, he wanted to be a trailblazer like those legendary Black coaches that came before him. His faith in God’s plan for his life anchored him especially during the hard, uncertain times.

But the vision is clear. A&T begins a new chapter as another Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to leave the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), a conference exclusively consisting of Black Universities, to play in the Big South Conference against Predominately White Institutions (PWI’s). Just like A&T has left its championship mark in the MEAC, he wants to represent HBCUs and make a lasting impression on the Big South.

Listen to Coach Jones as he enlightens us on the unique challenges that Black coaches face in the NCAA ranks and what he and other Black coaches are doing to weather that storm.

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Phil Allen, Jr. is a Los Angeles-based pastor, social justice activist, filmmaker and author. Allen’s book Open Wounds explores the murder of Nate Allen—Phil Allen’s grandfather—in the Jim Crow era of South Carolina and how that traumatic event resonated through generations of his family. Open Wounds – which is based on the Allen-produced documentary of the same name – was published on February 9, 2021. The book can be purchased on Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, or Fortress Press.com. Allen is a Ph.D. student studying Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA.