Dillard Volleyball Head Coach Yolanda Brown Named Finalist for HBCU Female Coach of the Year

Coach Yolanda Brown

New Orleans, Louisiana -- It is with great honor that our Dillard University Athletic Department announce that Women's Head Volleyball Coach Yolanda Brown was named a finalist for Female Coach of the Year by The Center for HBCU Media Advocacy, Inc. last week.

Winners will be announced at the Second Annual HBCU Awards, which will be held on the campus of Bowie State University. Nominees for the Female Coach of the Year award will have demonstrated a winning conference record in her respective sport and exemplary ambassadorship for her institution during the 2010-11 academic year.

During the 2010-11 season, Coach Brown's volleyball team finished with an overall record of 20-11, including 5-1 in the GCAC Conference. The Lady Bleu Devils team also captured the GCAC Regular Season Conference title, the GCAC Conference Tournament title and secured a NAIA National Volleyball Tournament berth, all being the volleyball program's first since 2003.

"I was honored and overwhelmed actually," said Coach Brown when asked of her impressions of being nominated. "I received the news via text messaging, so it was shocking, yet humbling and I felt very grateful that someone took the time to acknowledge my efforts and body of work."

The HBCU award nominations is a three-month process in which the HBCU Media Advocacy, Inc. goes through more than 1,300 entries submitted by administrators, students, alumni, faculty and supporters of HBCUs throughout the country. A panel of HBCU chancellors and presidents then names the finalists and winners.

"We were lucky to have such widespread support and participation for our inaugural awards in March of this year," said Jarrett L. Carter Sr., Founder and Executive Director of the Center. "Schools took this year's nomination process very seriously, and combining that with the feedback we received on our last effort, we're proud to show off a slate of nominees and a ceremony that will represent the best of HBCU culture."

During her current tenure in the Dillard Athletic Department, Coach Brown has shown an unflagging determination to restore a winning pedigree back into Dillard's Volleyball team, and as a staff member restoring prestige back to the department.

"Since Hurricane Katrina, our athletic department's goal has been to regain the prominence in all sports," said Coach Brown. "And with our volleyball program being the first conference champion following the storm shows what we have accomplished and the direction we are head in. It's only the start for bigger and better things to come for our athletic department."

Coach Brown has proven excellent ambassadorship and community engagement as Head Volleyball Coach at Dillard University, which is also a criteria for her nomination for this award.

Coach Brown has been instrumental in developing "DU Pink Night", which is a game night to acknowledge Breast Cancer Awareness as well as an all out effort to enlighten and alert students and fans of the symptoms of breast cancer, where to go locally for check-ups and how to reduce the possibly of getting breast cancer in our young adults.

Brown has also developed a "Faculty, Staff and Administrators Night", acknowledging those faculty, staff and administrators that don't always get the credit or recognition for the hard work that they do to academically challenge our student-athletes to help shape them into the best overall person he/she knows they can be before they leave college.

Brown's latest project is organizing and developing a volleyball skills club for underprivileged girls ages 10-13 throughout the Orleans and Jefferson parishes.

"We are building a consistent winner with all sports in our athletic department," said Coach Brown. "I'm only doing what I feel I've been destined to do. I appreciate the acknowledgements and nominations because it will always let me know the importance of my effort and the positive impact I can make in these kid's lives.

By Dillard University Sports Information

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Avenue of Opportunity

Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) To Receive MEAC/SWAC Sports Main Street Global Exposure

GCAC president Kiki Baker Barnes

The Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) and its member institutions of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Division I level, need our support for their athletic programs.

The GCAC was established in 1981 and recently (2010) went through a major transformation with the six (6) non-HBCU institutions leaving for the Southern States Athletic Conference and the Red River Athletic Conference. This move left six (6) small, mostly private HBCUs institutions under the GCAC banner.

The president of the GCAC is Dillard University's Athletic Director and head women's basketball coach Kiki Baker Barnes. Barnes was unanimously voted in by her peers as the 17th president of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference at the 2009 fall meetings, making her the first African-American woman to hold the position.

She is one of only two African-Americans named to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' (NAIA) newly formed National Administrative Council and a member of the Black Coaches and Administrators (BCA) professional organization. Upon her installation as conference president, Barnes stated, "now is a critical time in the history of the conference as it attempts to draw new members and build new rivalries, and I look forward to the challenge."

Talladega College will be leaving the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) and will be rejoining the GCAC in 2011-12 academic year, along with Philander Smith College  (Little Rock, AR). Voorhees College decided in July 2010 not to accept an invitation to join the conference. Further expansion of the GCAC remains one of the conference's most important goals, in addition to raising its profile and sports branding by member institutions.

The conference fields 13 sports programs--Men's Basketball, Golf, Soccer, Cross Country, Track and Field, Tennis and Baseball; and Women's Softball, Volleyball, Basketball, Cross Country, Track and Field, and Tennis. Not all institutions are able to field teams in each sport, and may have as few as three programs, like Fisk University. Playoff bids for sports like tennis, soccer, baseball and golf will have to come by way of play-in tournament games with the NAIA's Association of Independent Institutions.

Current GCAC member institutions are: (click each name for auto link to each college athletic website)

1. Dillard University Bleu Devils, New Orleans, LA
2. Edward Waters College Tigers, Jacksonville, FL
3. Fisk University Bulldogs, Nashville, TN
4. Southern University at New Orleans Knights, New Orleans, LA
5. Tougaloo College Bulldogs, Tougaloo, MS
6. Xavier University of Louisiana Gold Rush/Gold Nuggets, New Orleans, LA
7. Talladega College Tornadoes, Talladega, AL
8. Philander Smith College Panthers, Little Rock, AR

Edward Waters College is the only football playing member of the conference and plays as an NAIA Independent for football. The EWC Tigers recently selected Bethune-Cookman University's assistant Brad Bernard as its new head football coach. Bernard tapped B-CU assistant coach Greg Ross as the Tigers new offensive coordinator and Millsaps College (Miss.) assistant Lane Powell as his defensive coordinator.

The basketball powerhouses this season are Tougaloo Bulldogs (27-4) and Xavier Gold Rush (men) (27-5) that are bracketed in the NAIA Division I National Championship Tournament in Kansas City, Missouri on March 16-22.  The Xavier Gold Nuggets women's team (26-6) are also participants in the national championship tournament in Kansas City.

Many thanks to Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director at Xavier University of Louisiana who has been sending us stories on the Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets nationally ranked Tennis Teams. This pushed us to take a closer look at what was going on with the GCAC and examine the historic academic powerhouses that are charter member institutions, i.e., Dillard University, Tougaloo College and Xavier University of Louisiana.

Check back often for links to articles on our student-athletes from the fifth HBCU conference -- the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference.

Thank you to our growing 380,706 readers world-wide that continue to confirm that Historically Black Colleges and Universities are as relevant today, as they will be when Jesus comes.  Please continue to provide your financial support to our HBCU Institutions, especially to the sports and music programs which are a cornerstone to American society and culture. Thank you also for the nearly one million page views from the readers from 176 countries/territories, above all, our active members of the American military services.

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Videographer: ewc1777; Edward Waters College Triple Threat Marching Band vs. North Carolina Central University Marching Sound Machine ( Nov. 2010)