Ole Miss coach making mark
STANFORD, CALIF. >> The game finally decided, Gladstone Mcphee’s arms shot into the air and he released a scream of jubilation a long time coming for the proud father and lifelong basketball coach himself. His daughter is on the big stage now, beautifully representing the family and their homeland in The Bahamas.
Yolett Mcphee-mccuin remembers so well being 10 when her dad lost in a championship and cried in an empty gym. She went over and cried along with him that day.
They both did so again Sunday night, this time shedding celebratory tears as Ole Miss advanced to its first Sweet 16 in 16 years.
Now, with her oldest daughter that same age, Mcphee- Mccuin has no problem showing her own emotions for 10-year- old Yasmine and younger sister Yuri, 5. They are getting a front-row seat — literally — to mom’s remarkable coaching journey that has taken her to seven different stops.
“You can’t be what you can’t see, and I really believe that. So my daughters are learning how to be strong and go after dreams and also how to be a wife and how to balance,” she said. “I cry in front of my kids. Had we lost, my 10- year- old would have cried tonight. My 5-yearold is just living the dream right now. But my 10-yearold, she would have been an emotional wreck.”
The No. 8 seed Rebels (258) stunned top-seeded Stanford 54- 49 to extend this special March run out West.
Senior Angel Baker told her coach how proud she is of her leading the program. The team’s top scorer, Baker transferred from Wright State for her final two seasons to play for Mcphee-mcCuin. The coach is relatable to these young women: She played community college basketball then at Rhode Island, first becoming the first Bahamian woman to sign a Division I letter of intent and later the first to coach in D-I.
“One of the reasons why I came to Ole Miss is I wanted to be under a coach that looked like me. I feel like Coach Yo really is a believer, a fighter, and that’s somebody who I want to represent,” Baker said.
Almost everyone who witnessed the Ole Miss triumph at Maples Pavilion couldn’t help but feel that energy from a spirited, defensive-minded group so determined to bring this program back to national relevance.
With Mcphee-mccuin’s Mississippi team headed to an improbable Sweet 16, she will be taking a few minutes out of game-planning to write a thoughtful note to her girls’ principal: They’ll be missing another week of school.
“Everybody asks me where I get my passion from. Man, I tell this story over and over again. My dad lost in a championship game. The gym cleared out and he cried, and I was Yasmine’s age, my 10-yearold’s age, and I remember walking over and crying with him,” Mcphee-mcCuin recalled. “That’s when I learned passion and love for the game. And so my daughter is the same way.”
Her father sat courtside as his 40-year- old daughter and her gutsy Ole Miss gals took down the powerhouse Cardinal led by Hall of Famer and winningest women’s coach Tara Vanderveer.