BY EARL VAUGHAN JR. | CityView Sports Columnist
Tyreece Brown had about as successful an audition as possible for the head coaching job of the Fayetteville State women’s basketball team.
It was this time a year ago he was given the reins as the interim coach of the Broncos. He responded by guiding the team to a 29-3 record and a trip to the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen.
His reward was to get the "interim" tag removed from his title as he takes over as full-time head coach this fall.
Brown has a long history with Fayetteville State, going back to his playing days for the Bronco men when he helped lead the 2005 team to the finals of the CIAA tournament as starting point guard. He always wanted to coach and the opportunity came to him when he was invited to help out with the women’s team. He started in 2012 as a volunteer assistant then became full-time in 2016.
When he got the interim head coaching job, he made it clear he didn’t want to discuss being the full-time head coach until the season was over.
“I didn’t want any distractions,’’ he said. “I wanted to lock in and do what I had to do. I know if I do everything I’m supposed to do, everything is going to fall in place.’’
For his first official team, Brown will return the bulk of last year’s roster. The major loss will be senior guard Aniylah Bryant from Havelock, last year’s CIAA Player of the Year.
To help replace her, Brown is bringing in the Robesonian’s female basketball player of the year, Jashontae Harris, who averaged 19.2 points per game for St. Pauls, scoring almost 1,500 points for her career.
As for Brown, he feels his year as an interim head coach has prepared him to deal with another potential run at the NCAA tournament.
He compared the basketball season to running cross country for the first time.
“I didn’t know what three miles was like,’’ Brown said. “I believe that’s what happened to us at the Sweet Sixteen. This was new for all of us. Now everybody is returning. Everybody’s hungry.’’
Brown said this year’s Bronco team will focus on improving throughout the season and preparing for what he hopes is a run toward the national championship.
“Today we started strength training and individual workouts,’’ he said. “During the season we’ll refine a lot of stuff that they do. Right now we’re giving them new stuff to do, new skills and fundamentals.’’
Brown said the team will also be getting into the weight room to get stronger.
“That’s what helped us this season, our conditioning,’’ he said. “We were able to wear teams down.’’
But Brown knows his team is also going to face another challenge. Coming off a championship season, he expects them to be the target of every team on the schedule and get the best game the opponents have to offer.
“It’s something that we welcome,’’ he said. “We’re scheduling top 25 teams so we can get comfortable with that. We know that every team on our schedule is going to be our toughest challenge.’’
Brown said the Broncos finished the 2024 season ranked in the top 20 in the nation in multiple polls. He expects to debut this season in a similar position.
“They want the attention,’’ he said of his players. “They want people to give them their best.’’
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