Coaching While Black
This occasional series will highlight Black coaches at all level of sports.
This week: Eastern Illinois WBB Coach Marqus McGlothan, Cleveland State MBB Coach Daniyal Robinson and Yale MBB Coach James Jones
We recently talked to three Black Division I head coaches who led their respective squads to Minnesota in non-conference basketball action.
Old home week
Eastern Illinois WBB Coach Marqus McGlothan wasn’t entirely pleased with the end result, an 81-52 road defeat to the host Gophers Nov. 20. Nonetheless he told us afterwards that it was good to see several Gophers who McGlothan have known over the years.
“It was just good to be back,” noted the St. Cloud State graduate and former assistant coach. “(To see) some people that I used to coach in AAU or coach against in AAU. It’s just a unique experience (to see) them grow as my career has grown.”
Carrying the diversity torch
Cleveland State and Minnesota in men’s basketball have only played each other twice, the latest on Nov. 19, a 58-47 home victory for the latter. But in both contests, which the Gophers leads 2-0 in the all-time series, the visiting Vikings are led by a Black HC – former coach Dennis Gates, now at Missouri brought CSU to town during the 2019-20 season.
Gates’ successor, Daniyal Robinson is now in his third season in charge since 2022. He has won nearly 60 percent of his games since his arrival.
“These games are tough,” said Robinson. “They prepare us for league play.”
Cleveland State competes as a mid-major in the Horizon League, and is picked for seventh in the league’s preseason poll. On the loss at Minnesota, “We got a chance to learn a lot about ourselves, things that we need to work on,” Robinson pointed out. “So being able to play in these types of environments against Power Five or Power Four programs (such as Minnesota) will only serve us well as we go into our league play.”
Robinson has over 21 years of coaching experience, beginning as a graduate assistant at Arkansas-Little Rock, where he graduated in 1999 with a health education degree, then later stops at Houston, Illinois State, Loyola (Chicago) and twice at Iowa State as an assistant.
“My high school coach was a great mentor of mine,” said Robinson proudly. “He taught me more than just basketball. He taught me a lot of things about life, and I wanted to give back and do the same for a lot of the young people that we get a chance to work with.
“I originally thought I was going to go back and coach at my high school, but then I got the opportunity to be a grad assistant at Arkansas-Little Rock,” he surmised. “I’m very, very thankful for the opportunity that I have to be able to coach at this level.”
Longevity
It’s very unusual in this crazy, what you have done for me lately world of college sport, especially for coaches, and even more so for Black coaches, whose job survival rate is far lower than for White coaches.
James Jones is the all-time winningest men’s basketball coach at Yale, the longest tenured coach in the Ivy League. He is in his 26th year, hired in 1999, and sometime this season, will reach and surpass 400 career years. This will make Jones the second-most winningest coach in both school and league history.
“I’ve have had some great players and great assistant coaches that makes my job easy,” said Jones after a three-point loss at Minnesota Nov. 16. He loves being at Yale and proudly noted he has full support from school administrators.
“It’s a tremendous place to work,” reaffirmed Jones. “A lot of great people.”
Finally, when asked how is it that he have stayed at one school as a coach for over two decades, “I haven’t been offered an opportunity that’s better than Yale, that’s why I’m still here,” concluded the Yale HC.