Coaching While Black
This occasional series will highlight Black coaches at all levels of sport. This week: first-year head coach Jason Kemp (Minnesota State Moorhead).
During his two seasons on Ben Johnson’s staff at Minnesota, Jason Kemp helped the Gophers to the NIT second round in 2024, and was instrumental in the development of several key players, including Dawson Garcia, an All-Big Ten second teamer last season.
After nearly two decades of coaching experience, Kemp finally got his first head coaching position when Minnesota State Moorhead hired him last May.
“My dad said I should have done this a long time ago,” said Kemp after a Nov. 30 overtime game against Concordia-St. Paul. MSM was among four teams, including host CSP, at a Thanksgiving weekend tournament.
On being an HC, “It’s fun. I think the most important thing is I get to be home for my kids and for my wife a lot more,” Kemp added.
The Madison, Wisc. native played four years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and earned his exercise sport science degree in 2004. He later earned his master’s in sports management from North Dakota State in 2007.
At NDSU, Kemp got his coaching feet wet first at Moorhead as an assistant coach (2004), then a graduate assistant (2007), then assistant coach/recruiting coordinator (2007-13). Then came his other stops: William & Mary (two seasons), Ohio University (eight seasons), and a season at Toledo before he joined Johnson’s staff at the U in 2021.
“I’ve had a lot of great bosses and a lot of great examples around me to show me how to do this the right way,” stressed Kemp. “I got to watch Ben Johnson as a first-time [head] coach, and that really helped me in the process.”
Now in the first chair, “Number one, invest in these young men and not just invest in their basketball talent,” declared Kemp.
The 2025-26 Dragon squad includes 5’11” freshman point guard Isa El-Amin from Minnetonka, the son of local and state high school, college, and international champion Khalid El-Amin. “I’m just so blessed to have him here,” said Kemp of the first-year college player. “I’m just happy to have a freshman that can do the things he can do.”
Isa is not his legendary father, Khalid stressed. “I am extremely happy and just thankful that he’s having an opportunity to live out his dreams,” he pointed out. The elder El-Amin added how important it is that his son is playing for a Black coach.
“That was very important … to have a figure on the sideline to be supporting what we’re about, that supporting him early in his college career, teaching him how to become a better player, but also becoming a young man.
“I was thrilled to know that he was going to be playing for a Black coach,” said Khalid.
When told what Khalid said, Kemp replied, “It certainly matters a great deal to me to be able to be an example every day of what a good husband, father, and basketball coach that invests in them as people. It means a great deal to me every day.
“I couldn’t be more pleased to be not only the only Black coach in the league (NSIC), but also someone who can have a big-time impact on their lives.”
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.