Kara Lawson And Hubert Davis Made History In 2020 And 2021 Because They Became The First African -American Head Coaches At Duke And North Carolina
It’s rare that I talk about Duke and North Carolina in the same article unless they’re matching up on the hardwood against one another.
However,
Today I am making an exception!
Why?
Because last year Kara Lawson made history by becoming the first African American to be a head coach at Duke.
When?
July 11, 2021!
Kara Lawson has many titles to her name!
What are they?
WNBA Player, Broadcaster, Assistant Coach!
She played 13 seasons in the WNBA where she she averaged 9.8 points (41.4% FG, 39.0% 3-PT), 2.6 rebounds, and 2.5 assists over 377 career games with the Sacramento Monarchs, Connecticut Sun, and Washington Mystics from 2003 to 2015. In addition to her WNBA career, which included a championship with the Monarchs in 2005 and an All-Star appearance in 2007, Lawson was a member of the Team USA roster that captured the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. “according to https://www.nba.com/celtics/roster/coaches/kara-lawson
She was an analyst for Washington as well as working for ESPN as a game and studio analyst for both Men’s and Women’s College Basketball as well as the NBA.
And in 2021 she added Head Coach to her name but her first season as the Head Coach of Duke Women’s Basketball was brief one.
Why?
Because of corona virus concerns! “according to an article by ESPN News Services and because there were people in the traveling party that were positive for the coronavirus but no players tested positive for the Coronavirus. “according to an article by Stephen Wiseman Of The News & Observer
With the Duke Women’s Basketball team bringing their season on the hardwood to an end where they finished with 3-1 record where they defeated Longwood in their season opener
When?
On November 25,2020 by score of 94-64 in Durham North Carolina!
How?
Jaidia Patrick scored 21 points along with seven rebounds and five assists. Junior Onome Akinbode-James added her third collegiate double-double with career highs of 15 points and 16 rebounds.
started getting in foul trouble in the second quarter with three starters receiving two fouls each and a total of four with multiple fouls. Duke built an 18-point advantage on five different occasions in the second quarter, before heading into the break with a 44-29 advantage.
The Duke tandem of Patrick and freshman Vanessa de Jesus paced the Blue Devils over the first 20 minutes, combining for 21 of Duke's 44 points. With 11 points in the opening half of her Duke debut, de Jesus led the Blue Devils, hitting 4-of-6 field the field.
As a team, Duke hit 56.7 percent from the field in the first half, while holding the Lancers to 26.8 percent shooting.
Duke came out in the third period and continued to shoot well hitting 57.1 percent from the field on their way to scoring 30 points in the quarter, which was the fifth most in school history. Duke built a 74-50 advantage with 10 minutes remaining.
Heading into the fourth quarter, all five Duke starters had scored double-digits led by Patrick with 15.
Duke hit 9-of-15 field goals in the fourth to close the game with a 30-point victory.
Patrick, a product of West Haverstraw, N.Y., had a career afternoon as she made her first collegiate start. The 5-10 guard hit 9-of-13 field goals, 2-of-2 treys and collected two steals to go along with her career-highs of 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists. As a rookie a year ago, Patrick collected 33 total points, 21 rebounds, three assists and four steals in 119 minutes.
For the contest, Duke hit 57.6 percent from the field, held a 53-29 advantage on the boards and dished 19 assists.
In her collegiate debut, de Jesus notched 13 points, four assists, three rebounds and one blocked shot in 30 minutes. She became the first Blue Devil to score 13 or more when starting their first career game since Rebecca Greenwell totaled 17 at Alabama in 2014.
Senior Jade Williams (12) and junior Miela Goodchild (16) also reached double-digits. Sophomore Jada Claude pulled down a career-high 10 boards, while scoring a career-high seven points. “according to an article on goduke.com
In their second game of the season the Duke Women’s Basketball program defeated Western Carolina by a score of 83-56!
When?
On November 29, 2020!
Where?
Durham North Carolina!
How?
They made thirteen three pointers and Graduate transfer Sara Anastasieska paced the Blue Devils with a game-high 23 points, while freshman Vanessa de Jesus scored a career-high 17 points and junior Miela Goodchild added 14 points. Duke senior Jade Williams neared a triple-double with a career-high 15 rebounds, nine points and a career-high eight assists. “according to an article on goduke.com
For the second straight contest, Duke got off to a hot start jumping out to a 14-4 advantage boosted by eight points from de Jesus. The rookie knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to open the game.
In their third game of the season Duke beat East Carolina by a score of 72-47!
When?
On Saturday December 5,2020!
Why?
Miela Goodchild collected a season-high 24 points! “according to an article on goduke.com
Then the Duke Women’s Basketball program lost to Louisville by a score of 73-49!
When?
On Wednesday December 9, 2020!
Where?
Durham North Carolina!
Why?
The Duke women's basketball team held strong against second-ranked Louisville Wednesday evening in Cameron Indoor Stadium before eventually falling, 73-49, in the ACC opener for both teams! “according to an article on goduke.com
After entering the contest hitting 57.1 percent from the field in the first quarter, the Blue Devils struggled out of the gate. Duke hit only 6-of-21 field goals for 28.6 percent and trailed 21-12 through 10 minutes. Jaida Patrick and Jade Williams paced the Blue Devils with six and four points, respectively, in the quarter. “according to an article on goduke.com
Duke made a run in the second and cut the Cardinals lead to 24-20 on a layup by junior Onome Akinbode-James, but Louisville went on a 6-0 run itself to increase its lead. “according to an article on goduke.com
Louisville hit its first five three-point attempts and Duke was limited to 0-of-11 from downtown in the first half as the Blue Devils trailed 35-22 at the break. The Blue Devils hit a season-low 30.6 percent from the field in the half and was led by Williams with eight points.“according to an article on goduke.com
Recently,
Duke’s rival North Carolina hired their first African American Head Coach
When?
Recently when North Carolina promoted Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach Hubert Davis to Head Coach!
He replaces Roy Williams who’s Roy Williams college coaching career began in 1988 as the Head Coach of Kansas where he was coach for fifteen seasons.
Kansas hired Williams on July 8, 1988. Williams coached a number of the finest Kansas players in history, including Mark Randall, Adonis Jordan, Rex Walters, Greg Ostertag, Scot Pollard, Jacque Vaughn, Raef LaFrentz, Paul Pierce, Drew Gooden, Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich.
Kansas averaged 27.9 wins per season, including 35 in 1997-98. He also won 30 in 1989-90, 34 in 1996-97, 33 in 2001-02 and 30 in 2002-03. The Jayhawks reached the Sweet 16 nine times and the Final Eight on five occasions.
In seven years of Big 12 Conference play, his teams went 94-18, capturing the regular-season title in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2003 and the postseason tournament crown in 1997, 1998 and 1999. In 2001-02, KU became the first Big 12 team to go 16-0 in league play. From 1995-98, Kansas was a combined 123-17 – an average of 30.8 wins per season.
Overall Roy Williams 519 wins to 418 losses.
After Kansas he became the Head Coach of North Carolina where he had an overall record of 648 and 485. “according to Roy Williams Coaching Record | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com (sports-reference.com)
Roy Williams was Inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007
• Fourth all-time in wins by a Division I coach with 885, behind only Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim and Bob Knight
• Second-winningest coach in UNC history and third in Kansas history
• Only coach with 400 wins at two schools
• Sixth-highest winning percentage (.778) in NCAA history
• Led UNC to three NCAA championships (2005, 2009, 2017)
• Consensus National Coach of the Decade (2000-09)
• Led UNC and Kansas to nine Final Fours, fourth most all-time
• Second in NCAA Tournament wins (79), second in No. 1 seeds (13), second in games (105), third in NCAA Tournament winning percentage (.752) and tied for fourth in NCAA championships
• Eight wins over AP No. 1 ranked teams are an NCAA record
• Second in NCAA history in 30-win seasons (12) and tied for fourth in 20-win seasons (29)
• Tied for fifth all-time with 18 regular-season conference championships
• Has 885 wins after 32 seasons – 110 more than any other coach in NCAA history
• Second-highest ACC road winning percentage all-time (.621) and third-most ACC road wins (90)
• Third in regular-season wins by an ACC coach (202)
• 32 NBA first-round draft picks (22 at UNC, 10 at Kansas)
• Cole Anthony will be his 52nd former player to play in the NBA
• Four National Players of the Year, six ACC Scholar-Athletes of the Year, 10 consensus first-team All-Americas, 17 first-team All-Americas and three Bob Cousy Award winners
• Only coach to coach two Academic All-Americas of the Year (Jacque Vaughn at Kansas, Tyler Zeller at UNC)
Hall of Famer Roy Williams won his 879th game as a college head coach when the Tar Heels beat Yale on Dec. 30, 2019. It moved Williams into a tie for fourth place all-time in wins by a Division I head coach with Dean Smith, under whom Williams served as an assistant at Carolina for 10 seasons from 1978-88.
When he was asked to stay at midcourt after the teams shook hands so Tar Heel captains Garrison Brooks and Brandon Robinson and Smith’s son, Scott, could present the coach a framed portrait of Smith and Williams in recognition of the milestone, Williams was visibly uncomfortable and more than mildly upset.
The reasons illustrate why he is widely regarded as the perfect choice to be Carolina’s head coach and one of the sport’s best-ever coaches: first, any mention of Williams tying and eventually surpassing his mentor’s win total makes him cringe, because, regardless of the facts and figures, Williams feels undeserving of such high praise; and second, on that December night, his only priority was to rush off the court and check on freshman guard Anthony Harris, who had seriously injured his knee in the second half. Harris had missed most of his high school senior season due to a knee injury, and the initial diagnosis indicated he had just torn the ACL in his other knee.
Achievements, awards, photo ops and cheers from the Tar Heel faithful aside, all Williams wanted to do was to go hug his fallen player and help him deal with the disappointment and pain of another rehab he almost certainly faced.
“The only thing I’m thinking about right now is that young man,” Williams said in his postgame news conference. “He’s worked his tail off to get back in this position. My team is hurting for him right now.”
Scott Smith told Williams his father would have been happy to have Williams match his total. “I think Coach Smith would be. I’ve been very fortunate,” Williams said. “I have been able to stay relatively healthy and I’ve had really good kids who made me look good for a long time and I’m very appreciative of them.”
Carolina’s 94-71 win over Miami on Jan. 25, 2020, gave Williams win No. 880 and sole possession of fourth on the wins list behind only fellow Hall of Famers and national championship-winning coaches Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim and Bob Knight.
Williams enters the 2020-21 season, his 33rd as a college head coach, with an overall record of 885-253. He is 15 wins from 900 and 18 from passing Knight for third place.
The Asheville native and 1972 Carolina graduate has led his alma mater to national championships in 2005, 2009 and 2017 and two other Final Four appearances. A 2007 inductee in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Williams is second among active coaches and sixth all-time in winning percentage (.778), second in 30-win seasons (12), fourth in 20-win seasons (29), has the most wins ever over No. 1 ranked teams in the AP poll (8) and has averaged more wins per season (27.7) than any coach with 800 or more wins.
Among ACC coaches all-time, he is second in winning percentage on the road in league play (.621), third in wins by an ACC coach (467), third in ACC regular-season and Tournament wins (229) and third in regular-season ACC titles (9).
On Feb. 25, 2020, Carolina beat NC State for his 200th regular-season ACC win in 287 games. He reached 200 wins in the second-fewest games in ACC history (Smith won his 200th in 278 games).
Roy Williams was f the most successful coaches in NCAA Tournament history, standing second in games (105), wins (79) and No. 1 seeds (13); third in appearances (29), winning percentage (.752), Final Four wins (9) and championship game appearances (6); and fourth in titles (3) and Final Fours (9). Over the last 19 years, spanning his last two seasons at KU and 17 in Chapel Hill, Williams’ teams have 54 NCAA Tournament victories, more than any other coach in the nation. Carolina’s 45 NCAA Tournament wins in the Williams era are more than any other school has in that 17-year span (Kansas is second with 38).
His North Carolina teams earned 10 No. 1 or No. 2 seeds, won three ACC Tournament championships and averaged more than 27 wins and nearly 12 ACC wins per season. In the last 17 years, the Tar Heels have produced 11 Associated Press top-10 finishes, 21 All-Americas, 17 first-team All-ACC selections, 21 first-round NBA Draft picks, six ACC scholar-athlete of the year awards and seven Academic All-America honors.
Carolina beat Syracuse in 2017 for his 800th victory. That came in his 1,012th game in his 29th year. The previous record for 800 wins was 33 seasons by Smith and Krzyzewski; Rupp is the only coach to reach 800 wins in fewer games (972).
He is the only coach in college basketball history to win 400 games at two schools – 467 at Carolina and 418 at Kansas. He is second in wins at UNC and third at KU.
On Aug. 24, 2018, the University of North Carolina officially named the playing floor at the Dean E. Smith Center, home of the Tar Heels, as Roy Williams Court.
Roy Williams was one of the one of the greatest coaches of all-time, and in a society that judges things by counting championships, he’s right there on the top shelf with the greatest of all-time,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said after the Tar Heels won the 2017 national title, UNC’s third in a 13-year span.
“according to his biography on goheels.com”