Coaching While Black
This occasional series will highlight Black coaches at all levels of sport. This week: St. Paul Saints Strength and Conditioning Coach Stephen Hopkins and Minnesota Lynx Player Development Director Sefu Bernard.
Hopkins helps keep players healthy and fit
Strength and Conditioning Coach Stephen Hopkins recently completed his second season with the St. Paul Saints. He is the only Black member on the staff.
Hopkins played college football at Michigan (2010-14) and is studying for his master’s degree in sports administration at Tennessee State University.
“I was born in Kansas City, Missouri,” said Hopkins. “When I was young, I moved to Dallas, Texas. So I grew up in the suburbs. I got recruited by a lot of different schools, but I think it was a combination of academics and the Michigan tradition of football that got me.”
What drew him into his current field? “I think for one, I wanted to impact people. I knew that I could connect with guys… I knew I could pass on some knowledge in that department to help guys avoid those shortcomings,” said Hopkins. “But also, I just had a passion for performing and human performance.”
On working with the Twins’ top minor league club, “There’s 27 guys. I make programs [for each player] and make sure we’re actually doing them correctly, and just making sure guys stick to the routines,” explained the Saints strength coach. “Just making sure the guys continually get in the work, make sure guys stay healthy.”
Every day all season long, Hopkins said, he stresses to the players how important “the big picture” is. “I work with the team nutritionist to make sure the meals get here to the ballpark. There’s guys who have weight goals, making sure these guys stay [on them]. We kind of motivate the guys to just keep up with their routines and the routines they have to keep on the field.”
Sometimes, he noted, Hopkins must deal with a player’s resistance. “I don’t want to call it pushback. I just think it’s hard [for a player] to want to work out and work out all the time all year, right?
“But when you’re a professional athlete, for the most part, you have to stick to some type of program,” reiterated Hopkins. “The in-season is not as intense as the off-season. I would say they need to be reminded and held accountable… that they need to be doing certain things throughout the year to stay healthy.”
Asked if there are other minor league strength coaches who are Black, Hopkins said, “To be honest with you, it’s very rare for me to see someone like me in other organizations. I’m glad I’m back for a second year” with the Saints.
Bernard helps players build their skills
Sefu Bernard was named Director of Player Development for the Minnesota Lynx in late April just weeks before the start of the 2025 season. He held a similar position with the Washington Mystics from 2015-2024.
Bernard easily could be called a hoops lifer, spending nearly a decade in D.C. before a season in Connecticut (2011-12), and before that working with the old Detroit Shock in the 2000s before they bolted to Tulsa, and now in Dallas.
Before joining the W, Bernard was a senior director of basketball operations for NBA Asia, national development coach for Canada Basketball, and player development manager for the NBA’s Toronto Raptors.
After working against them, Bernard said he is glad to be on the Lynx’s side: “I had the conversation with Cheryl [Reeve, Minnesota head coach and basketball operations president], he recalled, “about some of the opportunities to help support the development of the team and the players within the team.”
“Those preliminary conversations, we realized it was a fit, and I was excited about being here,” continued Bernard. “This is one of the, if not the most storied franchises in the W, and I’ve had a high reverence for what Cheryl has done, what the team has accomplished, the people, the players. So I was excited to join when the opportunity came up.”
He is the only Black male on the Lynx coaching staff. As Reeve and the other coaches are devising practice and game plans, “My job is to support them in player development as it is in chess, to turn the pawns into the rooks, the rooks and knights into kings and queens so that their tactical staff can be that much better.
“Some people look at player development as a means to an end,” explained Bernard. “But for me, this is right where I am, where I’ll be. This is what keeps me up late at night and causes me to wake up early in the morning.
“Yeah, this is my life’s blood. I love it,” admitted the Toronto, Onterio native and University of Windsor graduate.
Now with the team in the semifinals and hopefully playing for a WNBA championship, Bernard said he now fully understands what makes the Lynx the team it is. “It starts with Cheryl and the coaching staff to everybody behind the scenes,” he said.
The players “have an ethic, a humility about them, and they demand without being demeaning. Makes it very exciting to be a part of this team.”
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.