By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 7, 2019 — When Yolett McPhee-McCuin was appointed the ninth women’s basketball coach in the history of the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) in April of 2018, The Dispatch, a Columbus and Starkville, Mississippi daily newspaper, credited Ole Miss Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics Ross Bjork as saying that Yolett “was born to teach.”
“As the daughter of legendary Bahamian basketball coach Gladstone ‘Moon’ McPhee and her mother a teacher, ‘Coach Yo’ has coaching and leadership running through her DNA. Throughout our search process, it became clear to us (that) coach McCuin is a star in the making, and we better secure her leadership before another program does,” Vice Chancellor Bjork said at the time.
He added: “With her perspective as a collegiate point guard, we know she sees the big picture of what it takes to be successful in the SEC and on the national stage. Coach McCuin’s leadership, style of play, recruiting prowess, energy and passion is what we need to re-establish Ole Miss women’s basketball back to competing for and winning championships.”
Although Yolett did not succeed in establishing “miracle winning season” for the Ole Miss women’s basketball team during her first year as head coach, with 9—22 overall record, Vice Chancellor Bjork’s optimism was well founded and may very well gain traction when the Ole Miss Rebels compete as members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in the 2019 – 2020 season.
As The Dispatch story noted, prior to becoming head women’s basketball coach at Ole Miss, McPhee-McCuin led Florida’s Jacksonville University to a 94-63 record (50-24 in Atlantic Sun Conference play) and postseason appearances in each of her last three seasons at Jacksonville. Her team at Jacksonville University won the 2016 Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
“McPhee-McCuin, who also serves as the national team head coach for her native Bahamas, took over a program at Jacksonville that had only won 20 or more games in a season twice in its history and led the Dolphins to three-straight 20-win campaigns in her final three years,” the Dispatch article noted.
The Dispatch added: “In 2015-16, McPhee-McCuin and the Dolphins made history, capturing the program’s first ASUN tournament title and NCAA tournament berth with an upset in the conference championship game against two-time reigning champion Florida Gulf Coast. The victory snapped FGCU’s seven-year, 71-game home streak against ASUN opponents and boosted Jacksonville to a 22-11 record.
“McPhee-McCuin’s team followed that up with two more 20-win seasons and the first two Women’s National Invitation Tournament appearances in school history in 2016-17 (23-9, 11-3 ASUN) and 2017-18 (24-9, 12-2). This past season, Jacksonville broke the school record for wins in a season.”
Noting that prior to her time at Jacksonville McPhee-McCuin was an assistant at Clemson from 2011-13, the Dispatch article added: “While with the Tigers, McPhee-McCuin solidified her reputation as one of the best recruiters in the country, spearheading the No. 16 class in the nation in her final year at Clemson, which included five McDonald’s All-American nominees.
“Before her stint at Clemson, McPhee-McCuin was on staff at Pittsburgh for two seasons in 2009 and 2010. She was part of a pair of postseason appearances with Panthers, who rose to No. 14 in the national rankings and advanced to a Sweet 16. Her coaching career also includes stops at Portland, Frank Phillips College, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, where she earned her master’s degree in physical education with a 4.0 grade-point average.
“McPhee-McCuin received her bachelor’s in business management and administration from Rhode Island in 2004. She played in 56 games as a junior and as a senior at URI, and helped the Rams advance to the 2003 Atlantic-10 Conference title game. She played her first two seasons at Miami-Dade Community College.”
The fact that receiving a good education while excelling in sports as a basketball player and coach was high on McPhee-McCuin’s checklist of accomplishments is not happenstance. Her mother, Daisy McPhee, is a career educator, who is a former Principal at highly respected Grand Bahama Catholic High School in Freeport, Grand Bahama.
I don’t know whether there is a connection between her mother’s career as a teacher at Grand Bahama Catholic High and the fact that her father, Gladstone “Moon” McPhee, had a legendary career as one of the greatest basketball coaches in The Bahamas’ sporting history — including many years as head men’s basketball coach at Grand Bahama Catholic High — but it is obvious that the product of their marital union has imbued Yolett with a heavy portion of both of their DNA.
Although I am several years older the Gladstone and his twin-brother Sidney, we have been very close friends from our boyhood years, and both he and Sidney were outstanding in every sport in which they participated. They excelled in cricket and baseball, despite their diminutive size – they are not much taller than five feet – both Gladstone and Sidney, who both are nicknamed “Moon,” were also excellent basketball players.
While Sidney decided to pursue a career in the hotel industry, which was commonplace among young Bahamian males when they left school because of the money they were able to made catering to tourists in our hotels, Gladstone continued to be very active in sports, eventually deciding of a career “teaching” basketball as its popularity increased in The Bahamas.
His success as a coach in Grand Bahama and nationally should have long ago qualified him to be recognized by the Government for one of the national honours that over the years successive governments have reserved for politicians and financial donors to their respective political parties.
In virtually all of The Bahamas’ sister West Indian countries with a shared British Colonial background, there are many examples of sports stars who have been Knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II or who are recipients of other high British honours.
Of course, the late Sir Durward Knowles, who won a gold medal for The Bahamas in sailing in the Olympics in the 1950s, subsequently was Knighted by Her Majesty on the recommendation of the Government, but when one takes into consideration the extraordinary accomplishments of the late Tommy Robinson in track and field and Andre Rodgers, the first Bahamian to play professional baseball, the conclusion has got be reached that the value system used to determine which Bahamians qualify for recognition for their accomplishments seriously needs to be revised.
The photograph accompanying this article of Moon and Daisy with their daughter Yolett — and presumably, their grandchildren — was posted on Facebook. I don’t know if Yolett is visiting her parents and it was taken in Freeport or if they are visiting her, but the photo provided me with an excellent opportunity to unequivocally state that here is no question in my mind that Gladstone “Moon” McPhee long ago should have been recognized for his accomplishments as a legendary basketball coach.
Clearly, his legacy continues being embellished by his daughter Yolett McPhee-McCuin, who is following in his footsteps as she lays a solid foundation for her own legacy as a great basketball coach.
