Brown succeeds Betts as Men's Basketball
Coach at SC State
June 21, 2006
ORANGEBURG, SC – South Carolina State
announced its new head men’s basketball coach during
a noon news conference Wednesday at the Garnet and Blue Room
of the Kirkland W. Green Student Center on the campus.
SCSU Photo
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Jamal Brown |
Jamal Brown, a former Bulldog player and assistant coach,
was introduced as the successor to Ben Betts, who resigned
recently after three seasons at SCSU to accept a position as
an assistant at Oklahoma. Brown was presented by Bulldog athletics
director, Charlene Johnson.
It will be the first head coaching position for Brown, a nine-year
coaching veteran who most recently was an assistant at Tennessee
State under former Bulldog head coach Cy Alexander. Brown is
the second consecutive Alexander protégé to head
the SCSU basketball program, one of the most successful in
historical Black colleges and universities, and among the winningest
in the Palmetto State over the past decade and a half.
Brown had a role in some of that success as both a player
(1993-96) and a Bulldog assistant (1997-2003). He was the starting
center on SCSU’s 1995-96 team, which compiled a 22-8
record and earned the school its second berth to the NCAA championship.
During his six-year tenure as a Bulldog assistant, he helped
guide SCSU to three more NCAA berths – 1998, 2000 and
2003. He was also instrumental in signing some of the Bulldogs’ top
recruits during the period, including four who were the Palmetto
State’s “Mr. Basketball.”
When Alexander took the head coaching job at Tennessee State
after the 2003 season, Brown followed him to Nashville and
has been instrumental in reviving a Tiger program that had
was only 2-21 overall and 0-16 in the Ohio Valley Conference
in 2002-03.
Tennessee State improved to 7-21, 6-10 in the OVC in 2003-04
and was 14-17, 9-7 the following season. The Tigers were 13-15,
11-9 this past season and led the OVC in attendance.
In presenting Brown, Johnson said, “South Carolina
State is happy today to introduce Jamal Brown as our new men’s
basketball coach. Selecting a coach for one of your major programs
is not an easy task, but I know we have a very capable person
in Jamal.
“He was very productive as a player here,” she
continued, “and as an assistant coach, contributed to
some of our most successful seasons. And, he has been a part
of a staff that revived the basketball program at Tennessee
State.
“We know these accomplishments are significant and feel
confident that he will build on the fine tradition we have
enjoyed here at South Carolina State. The university welcomes
Jamal and his family back to the area and pledge to provide
the support needed to make him and our basketball program successful.”
The terms of Brown’s contract are being negotiated and
will be made public when completed, according to Johnson.
Brown, who was accompanied by his wife Lola, a Columbia, SC
native, and four-year old son Gilbert said he was elated at
the opportunity to coach at his alma mater.
“This is a glorious day for me,” he said. “I
appreciate the Board (SCSU Board of Directors), president (Andrew)
Hugine and Mrs. Johnson for their faith that I will be able
to accomplish this job. I am exceptionally humble and grateful
for the opportunity.
“I have one desire, one dream,” he continued, “to
make the young men that make up this (SCSU) program the best
that they can be. I promise that they will walk away from South
Carolina State with a degree.
“My motto is “Driven, Dedicated and Committed”,
and this I will impart to the players here.”
Brown, a Charleston, SC native, earned a bachelor’s
in marketing at S.C. State in 1997 and is presently pursuing
a master’s in sports administration at Tennessee State.
He is an active member of the Black Coaches Association (BCA),
the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and Kappa
Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
He and his wife Lola, a Columbia, SC native, are the parents
of a son – Gilbert.
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