Coaching While Black
This occasional series will highlight Black coaches at all levels of sport. This week: Western Michigan Head Men’s Basketball Coach Dwayne Stephens
Dwayne Stephens first began coaching in 1997-98 as an assistant coach at Oakland University, then four seasons as an assistant at Marquette. But after almost two decades working on Tom Izzo’s Michigan State staff, he believed that experience uniquely prepared him for his present position at Western Michigan.
“You know what’s funny is [that] you never really understand what it’s like until you take that next step over to the next seat,” said Stephens after his team played at St. Thomas December 13 in a non-conference contest. He was hired as the Broncos men’s head basketball coach in 2022.
On Izzo, the longtime MSU coach and Hall of Famer, “I understand Coach a lot better now than I did when I was with him, even though I was with him for 20 years,” continued Stephens. “More than anything, he is an unbelievable relationship person, and that’s what I try to do with my guys, is to develop those relationships.”
Stephens during his coaching career has worked with nearly 25 players who played in the NBA, including HOFer Dwyane Wade, Draymond Green, and Miles Bridges.
Under his helm at WMU, the Broncos have become one of the top rebounding teams in the MAC. In Stephens’ first two years, Western Michigan led the league in offensive rebounding and was in the top three in both total rebounding and rebounding margin every year. WMU also ranks fourth in both field goal percentage defense (.426) and three-point defense (.313).
On a stat not often discussed, according to Stephens, “One of the things I’m most proud of since I took over the program is our team grade point average was a 2.3, and now it’s a 3.4.”
William C. Rhoden wrote in Andscape last April on Black coaches in college basketball that Black coaches have a “forced representation [that] seems to present an unfair burden for Black coaches to have to carry” in order to be successful compared to their White counterparts. “The burden on Black coaches is real,” said Rhoden.
Stephens is one of three MAC Black head MBB coaches — fewer than 1 in 3 HCs in men’s hoops are Black.
“It’s a position that I don’t take lightly,” Stephens said. “I know there are not as many minority coaches as we like to see…that are given the opportunity to lead a program. If we do right by everyone, that’s going to open opportunities for others.”
WMU begins conference play this Saturday, January 4, at home against Toledo, its only meeting of the 18-game MAC slate this season. The Broncos aim to improve on the 10th place the MAC preseason coaches’ poll predicted.
“I’m just going to keep doing the things that I know and stay true to who I am and what I believe, and recruiting good players that are good people and doing things the right way,” concluded Stephens. “We are headed in the right direction. I’m saying we’re getting better and the foundation has been laid.”
Finally…
All 13 WNBA teams now have head coaches after Washington and Dallas filled their vacancies last week. Since the 2024 season ended there have been eight WNBA HC job openings. Two Black men were hired to join Seattle’s Noelle Quinn, who is the league’s only Black female coach.
Remember, this is a league where almost two-thirds of its players are Black.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.