‘I think it is something that was needed’
New coaches put diversity and change on display on sidelines around the area
If the 2020-21 high school boys basketball season ever gets to tip off amid the intensifying coronavirus pandemic in the next month or two, one of the biggest changes people may notice will be the new faces on coaching sidelines.
Four new head coaches were hired in either the Colonial League or the southern portion of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, and three of the four are Black.
Former Allen standout Darnell Braswell was hired to succeed his mentor, Doug Snyder, in charge of the Canaries. Nigel Long, a recent Freedom High and Muhlenberg College sparkplug, was hired to replace longtime coach Chad Landis at Liberty, and J.T. Randall, a former Pottstown head coach and an assistant at Reading, is Dieruff’s new leader.
All three have more things to worry about than being trailblazers, such as getting their programs installed in the midst of COVID-19.
Normal summer and fall activities were either canceled or curtailed by the coronavirus, and Long will have to wait until Jan. 11 at the earliest to begin official practices with the Hurricanes, due to restrictions in Bethlehem Area School District.
Braswell and Randall were able to get in their first practices over the weekend and are excited by the opportunities they have to lead proud Allentown programs.
If you include Executive Charter’s Ray Barbosa, last year’s Morning Call coach of the year, the city has three head coaches of color in charge of boys basketball programs; add in Stan Broyles, starting his eighth season as the Allen girls coach, and the city has no shortage of diversity in terms of basketball coaches.
Yet. it is significant that for the first time in nearly 100 years of basketball, Allen has a Black head coach in boys basketball in Braswell. The same for Long at Liberty, which is celebrating its 100th season of hoops.
Braswell is well aware of his significance in the storied annals of Canaries basketball. He is following in the footsteps of legends who have led Allen teams for 95 years in J. Birney Crum (25 seasons), J. Milo Sewards (24), John Donmoyer and Doug Snyder, both 23.
Crum has a stadium named in his honor. Sewards has a gym and Donmoyer has a court named for them. Snyder, while kidding about hoping to have a bathroom stall named for him, is destined for something special.
Braswell, who played on a District 11 title team for Snyder at Allen and then blossomed into one of the best Division III players in the country for Scott Coval at DeSales, said being the first Black coach in Allen boys basketball history means a lot to him.
“I don’t take it lightly,” he said. “I think it is something that was needed. It’s time.”
He also is pleased to have Randall and Long join him as new EPC coaches.
“This is a time where young African-Americans can see and understand that they can do some things along this line,” Braswell said. “They, too, have an opportunity to come in and be a person of culture, a person of power and a person of influence.”
Braswell, 32, wants to be an inspiration and a role model for the students in Allentown, and that’s one of the reasons he left the collegiate coaching ranks at DeSales to return to his alma mater.
Winning is important, but doing things the right way and the preaching the fundamentals of life that Snyder and Coval instilled in him will be just as important.
“I tell people all the time that I played for two great coaches,” Braswell said. “My plan is predicated on how they coached me, and my coaching style is going to be predicated on what I learned from them and how I am used to playing the game. I will use a little of what I learned from each guy and I am very fortunate to have played for both of them.”
The important thing for any coach, he said, is to love the game and love teaching kids.
“This game means a lot to me and allowed me to travel and do a lot of things I didn’t think were possible when I was a teenager walking the halls here,” Braswell said. “That’s going to drive meto be a driving force to present opportunities to kids, just as it presented an opportunity for me.”
Randall’s road
Randall is the second full-time Black boys basketball coach at Dieruff; the late Saunders “Foo” Belfield was the Valley’s first Black head coach, in 1996-2002. (Jamil Newsome, who is Black, was the interim coach to start last season for Dieruff.)
Randall was on the Reading coaching staff in 2016-17 when the Red Knights wonthe storied program’s first state title. He had the qualifications to be a head coach regardless of his skin color and believes that it should take more than race to earn prominent coaching positions.
“It’s a weird concept and I’ve thought a lot about it,” Randall said. “Why can’t we get in that door? Why can’t we knock down the door? But I think some of us expect to be in the door because when we walk into the gym, a lot of the players look like us. But it has to be more than that. It has to be more than we know the game and we’ve played the game. It has to be what else do you have? At the end of the day, we are role models and what are we teaching them? What do we bring to the table to guide these young men.”
Randall inherits a very different situation than Braswell. While Allen won four league and four District 11 titles under Snyder, Dieruff hasn’t had a winning season since 2007-08. The injection of someone who possesses a fresh perspective and image of Huskies basketball could be beneficial.
“My situation is completely different from Darnell and Nigel because I’m not from around here,” Randall said. “I’m not even from Pennsylvania. I am from Virginia. They have an affinity for this area. I’m an outsider. I am just honored that this community has entrusted me with the task of bring something that been dormant.”
Long wait
Bethlehem Area School District announced last week that all extracurricular activities are going to be shut down until at least Jan. 11. Since Liberty and Freedom require 15 days of practice before playing games, the season for those teams won’t get started until Jan. 26 at the earliest.
But the 24-year-old Long, who coached at Bethlehem Catholic last year, is not going to complain.
“It has been crazy for all of us,” Long said. “But in honor of Thanksgiving, I still feel we have a lot to be thankful for. One of our assistants, Louis Ortiz, says that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Whatever season we get, we’re going to be grateful for it.”
In terms of making history as Liberty’s first Black head coach, Long respects it and is honored by it, but doesn’t dwell on it.
“I’m honored to have that distinction, especially because of the rich tradition at Liberty,” Long said. “I understand the accomplishment, but I know this is just the beginning. It’s a start. We have a lot of work to do.”
Long said he believes the new coaches add a level of excitement to area basketball.
“I’m happy for Darnell to get the opportunity at Allen and J.T. to be hired at Dieruff and I’m just as excited for my friend Katy Mitton to be hired as a female coach at Bethlehem Catholic,” Long said (Mitton took his spot on the Golden Hawks staff ). “All of them are unbelievable people and that’s what our community needs … good people who want to help kids.”
Long’s wish is that one day he is not recognized as a Black coach, but just a very good one.
“We want to get to that point in this world where we’re hiring the best candidate regardless of skin color, ethnicity, denomination or wherever you came from,” he said. “You should be hired because you’re the best candidate. I am hopeful we get to that point, not only in boys basketball, but the entire world.”