On this episode of Blacklight on Sports, hosts Charles Hallman and Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald sit down with EJ Shelby, the newly named head football coach at Anoka High School. It is a conversation about the long road to a head coaching job, what it means to lead as a Black man in education, and why building young men matters more than any scoreboard.
A Road Built on Determination
Shelby’s path through coaching reads like a map of determination and sacrifice. He started in 2015 at Concordia St. Paul as a video coordinator and assistant safeties coach, eventually moving into a full safeties coaching role. From there he took a receivers coach position at St. Norbert in Wisconsin, then made stops at St. Olaf, Hamline, back to Concordia, and out to Kentucky, where he pursued a pass game coordinator role as part of a deliberate plan to prepare himself for a coordinator position. Through it all, he was balancing a coaching career with fatherhood, working full time in hospitality during stretches between coaching gigs, and eventually navigating a divorce, all while keeping his kids at the center of every major decision.
The Hamline Chapter
The Hamline chapter stands out. Charles Hallman noted that Shelby may well have been the only Black offensive coordinator at any college in Minnesota at the time. During two seasons as offensive coordinator, the Hamline offense produced a 1,000-yard receiver each year, breaking the program record both times, while also generating academic All-Americans. When the time came to move on, Shelby was fielding Division I opportunities, but a five-minute commute from home won out. He accepted the Anoka head coaching job in February and has been in the building ever since.
DEA: The Three Pillars
The program he is building runs on three pillars he calls DEA: Discipline, Effort, and Attitude. Discipline means doing the work even when you do not want to. Effort means giving your best, not settling for good when great is available. Attitude means understanding that while you cannot control outcomes or detours, you always control how you respond. Shelby is direct with his players: a 3.0 GPA is the floor, not a suggestion, because Cs may get degrees but they do not get kids into college. His job, as he frames it, is not to keep players in high school. It is to push them out into college, a trade, or the military, and into lives bigger than what they can currently see.
What Black Leadership Looks Like
Shelby also spoke honestly about what it means to show up as a Black man in a school building every day. He wants students of all backgrounds to walk away from an interaction with him understanding that passion and high standards are not anger, that Black leadership looks like excellence and intentionality, and that someone in that building is going to fight for them. He sees his presence as part of the example, not just on the field but in the hallways.
What’s Coming Up
Summer practices begin June 15, with official fall camp opening Aug. 17. The roster is expected to land around 80 to 85 players, and Shelby has made clear he plans to bring a little southern Friday night energy to the Anoka community.
One Word: Patience
His parting message to listeners was a single word: patience. Trust the process, stay locked in on the end goal, and understand that the detours are part of the path.
Blacklight on Sports is produced in partnership with the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. Read Charles Hallman and Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald every week in the paper and online.