Achieving Coaching Excellence (ACE) recently announced its annual Black head college basketball coaching honor roll.
Started after the 2019-20 season, ACE introduced the Honor Roll, which annually “recognizes leaders in women’s and men’s college basketball that demonstrate tenets of coaching excellence,” according to April 2 and 3 press releases.
This year’s Head of the Class is Tierra Terry of Winston-Salem State (WBB) and Nolan Smith of Tennessee State (MBB).
Terry led WSSU to a 28-4 record, a 21-win improvement from a season ago, won the 2026 CIAA Tournament championship and earned the program’s first appearance in the NCAA Division II Sweet 16, and won her conference’s Coach of the Year award. All in her first season at the helm.
Smith led Tennessee State in his first season to a share of the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title and the school’s first No. 1 seed in the league tournament in 30 years. Smith also was OVC co-Coach of the Year and recorded 15 conference wins, the highest in the Division I era.
Howard’s Ty Grace (WBB) and Byron Smith of Prairie View A&M (MBB) both made their respective 12-member Black coaches honor rolls. Both head coaches won their conference tournaments and NCAA automatic bids.
Grace’s Howard Bison won their first MEAC championship since 2022 in a season that began with a trip to Portugal last summer and ended with an NCAA first-round loss to Ohio State in late March, finishing 26-8. The team also recorded its first ever Power 4 win over Cincinnati, a win over Fairfield, which at the time was ranked second among the nation’s mid-majors and an 11-0 undefeated home record.
“We go out to compete as young women, just like everybody else in this tournament,” said Grace, who Howard hired in 2015. “As soon as I stepped foot on campus in 2015, I wanted to set the standard. And I think we’ve done a great job.”
Howard’s 26-win campaign was the most by any Howard basketball team, men’s or women’s, in school history, earning them a No. 14 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament, the highest in program history. Last week, Howard made the final Women’s Mid-Major Top 25 poll for the 11th time this season.
The Prairie View men’s team’s historic season, however, ended with a lopsided loss to top-seeded Florida in the NCAAs. But the Panthers (19-18) also recorded their first ever First Four victory over Lehigh to advance to the Round of 64 for the first time.
Smith, in his 11th season at PVAM, has now won two SWAC regular-season titles (2018-19, 2019-20) and two tournament titles (2019, 2026).
“This is my 11th year here,” Smith said after his team’s first-round exit. “This is the best team in my opinion in the history of this university. So very proud of these guys for a remarkable year. I think brighter days are coming for Prairie View men’s basketball.”
“Anytime that we recruit a player,” Grace said, “I’m recruiting them as young women first, and I want them to come into this program and know that we’re going to take care of them, that they’re going to have an opportunity to get a great degree from Howard University, and they’re going to have an opportunity to win.”
The other ACE MBB Honor Roll coaches: Kelvin Sampson (Houston), Antoine Pettway (Kennesaw State), Shaheen Holloway (Seton Hall), Eric Strothers (Tougaloo College), Jai Lucas (Miami), Rod Strickland (Long Island University), Kenny Blakeney (Howard), Craig “Speedy” Claxton (Hofstra), Larry Dixon (Morehouse College) and Devin Hoehn (Fayetteville State).
The ACE WBB Honor Roll coaches: Dawn Staley (South Carolina), Kara Lawson (Duke), Amaka Agugua-Hamilton (Virginia), Dawn Thornton (Alabama A&M), Special Jennings (Jacksonville), Felisha Legette-Jack (Syracuse), Carlos Funchess (Southern), Pete Asmond (Miles College), Niele Ivey (Notre Dame) and Vanessa Blair-Lewis (George Mason).
Sadly, Agugua-Hamilton made the list before she was fired at Virginia on April 4 after four seasons and after guiding her squad to the school’s first Sweet 16 appearance since 2000. It was reported that she was the subject of an internal investigation over staff mistreatment allegations.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses at challman@spokesman-recorder.com.