Larry Vickers is the latest example that if you can do it at a Black college, you can ultimately get a chance to do it at a bigger school.
Vickers spent nearly two decades at one HBCU, Norfolk State, first as a player, then a men’s assistant, then interim head women’s coach to full-time, where he created a dynasty.
Unlike what occurred in Gopherland last week, where the new men’s basketball coach was hailed as some conquering hero in his introductory press conference, Vickers and his family also were welcomed at his new school, Auburn, at the same time but not as flashy.
“Throughout the search process, one name continually rose to the top — Larry Vickers,” declared Auburn Athletics Director John Cohen in the press release that announced the former Norfolk State women’s coach’s hiring. “Coach Vickers has an incredible technical understanding of women’s basketball. No one has worked harder for an opportunity like this than Coach Vickers.”
These are words rarely uttered in print or orally about a Black coach upon their hiring at a non-HBCU school.
I asked Vickers after his team’s semifinals win at the MEAC tournament in Norfolk a couple of weeks ago if he has received his rightful due as a coach whether he’s at a Black school or not. “I think there’s different publications across the country that listed me as one of the best mid-major coaches in the country,” he pointed out.
Vickers’ spectacular resume that got him from Norfolk to Auburn, a public land-grant institution in the Alabama city with the same name, speaks louder than words: four MEAC regular season titles, three conference tournament crowns in four tries, and a 60-plus winning percentage both in league and overall. He finished his 10th and final season with a program-best 30-5, fifth-ranked among the nation’s mid-majors women’s basketball teams.
This historic season that ended in a first-round loss in the NCAAs, the Spartans were led by Minneapolis native Kierra Wheeler, a first-team all-MEAC and the tournament’s outstanding player in their victory over Howard for the league’s crown, and guard Diamond Johnson, the MEAC’s Player of the Year and first-teamer.
Both are virtually unstoppable, but the former quickly corrected me: “It’s not just me and Diamond on the floor…but my teammates are really good as well,” stressed Wheeler, who last week entered the transfer portal and will play her final year of eligibility elsewhere. “My team is really talented.” Johnson, a senior, deserves a real shot at making a WNBA roster later this spring.
“We have amazing players,” noted the former NSU coach. “I have a lot of players that could play everywhere in the country.”
Rob Knox of The Next also pointed out, “Norfolk State can now confidently boast its credentials in any conversation about the greatest Historically Black College and University women’s basketball programs in history.”
Vickers was among five mid-major Black HCs on this year’s Advancement of Blacks in Sports (ABIS) Black coaches watchlist, and as of now he is the only one to successfully leave that list to a Power 4 school. He did his job at Norfolk State and earned the chance to do it elsewhere.
“As far as the mid-major publications, they always list me as one of the best coaches in the country,” said Vickers.
Annual historical reminder…
Louisiana Tech defeated Cheyney State 76-62 in the first-ever NCAA women’s championship on March 28, 1982. It remains the first and only HBCU to make the Final Four and play for a national title.
Finally…
The WNBA’s Chicago Sky last week made league history of sorts with its all-Black coaching staff: HC Tyler Marsh and assistants Courtney Paris, Tanisha Wright, and Rena Wakama all will be in their first season later this year.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.