(The Dallas Examiner) – With the constant immersions and departures of college sports leagues from decade to decade, two private institutions in Texas are joining the HBCU Athletic Conference on July 1.
Paul Quinn College, along with Huston-Tillotson University in Austin – both are historically Black colleges and universities – will officially join the conference.
Known for its “We over Me” motto, the Quinnite Nation has a mission of providing a quality, faith-based education that addresses the academic, social and Christian development of students and prepares them to be servant leaders and agents of change in the global marketplace.
Sorrell stated that people should give more attention to schools such as Paul Quinn.
“I’m biased, but I don’t think there are more innovative institutions in America than us,” said Dr. Michael Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College. “I think you can make an argument for Arizona State. I think you can make an argument for Southern New Hampshire. You might even be able to get Purdue. But there is something different about small schools creating, not like reinventing themselves, but creating a new vision for education,” Sorrell said. “So, what we’re doing now is creating a new vision for athletics, and we want to have the No. 1 small college athletic program in America.”
The Quinnite Nation does this through various methods, according to Sorrell.
“We want to do that by doing something and couching in language that no one ever does,” he stated. “We want to win national championships, Academic All Americans, and when you think about that, we as a community and sometimes a society, like to pretend that the two of those things have to be inconsistent, that academically gifted individuals cannot be athletic and gifted individuals at a high level, and we definitely don’t have that conversation in our community. I think we should, and I think we have to.”
Paul Quinn has invested millions of dollars to improve the athletic field and programs for the teams. Media giants such as ESPN, have ranked the college basketball court, which was renovated and unveiled in October 2021, as the best basketball court in the country, according to Sorrell.
“First, we had to cast a new vision,” Sorrell said. “Then, we had to begin the stabilization process. As we were stabilizing, I realized sometimes you have to get smaller to get larger. So we contracted to expand. We were never afraid of small steps backwards to take two steps forward. We think there’s great value in that. About 10 years ago, I looked around and thought, all right, we are stable institutionally. We still have lots of work to do, but now we can begin to cast a new vision. And so, what athletic programs do we want to look at?”
Sorrell earned his master’s degree in public policy and his law degree from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
“I’m a Duke [alumnus] and I have friends who played there. I was in grad school, law school there, so I got to see their model up close. I loved Georgetown under John Thompson,” Sorrell said. That was a preeminent program when I was coming up through high school and college basketball. So I studied those models and what I thought was brilliant about John Thompson was he took an elite academic institution and made it accessible for young brothers who might not have ever seen themselves as Georgetown students and might not ever know exactly who the Jesuits were, but they embraced that. So, I looked at that model. I looked at Duke, and I said, ‘Let’s do our own version of this.’ ESPN said the best basketball court in America is at Paul Quinn.”
Sorrell explained additional projects designed to help the school succeed.
“We built a state-of-the-art gym. Then, we built a fantastic soccer facility. Now, we are completely renovating the old gym, turning that into a state-of-the-art volleyball and kinesiology experience,” he said. “We just added a beach volleyball court. So next up, we’re trying to figure out, is it going to be golf or is it going to be tennis? So you’ve got great facilities.
“Next up was, we needed a great athletic director, right? Because somebody has to shepherd this, and I love sports. I love athletics. I am a jock at the core. But AD Evans is so much better at this than I could ever think about and it’s what he does and what he lives and breathes, and he was the right person. We got lucky, because I have a Twitter friend who said, “Hey, man, AD Evans is the guy and he was familiar with our school, so we got the right AD.”
To kick-off the upcoming season for the HBCUAC, Sorrell recruited Brian Evans, former vice president of athletics at Georgetown College in Kentucky, to serve as its vice president of athletics at Paul Quinn College. Evans arrived with over 25 years of leadership experience, emphasizing a comprehensive and holistic approach to student-athlete development.
Evans is responsible for advancing the institution’s strategic goal of securing national championships across all sports, while ensuring student-athletes graduate fully prepared for success in their professional pursuits.
“I think that’s very important when you’re affiliating yourself with an athletic conference that you need to be with sister institutions, those that fit your ethos and what you’re trying to accomplish, and it married up well with what we were trying to do,” Evans said. “It creates a different kind of experience for our student athletes. It creates a different experience for our campus and the timing was perfect for us.”
“The HBCU Athletic Conference had been trying to recruit Paul Quinn College for some time,” Evans said. “Just from a logistics standpoint, it didn’t work for us. But as other moves started to happen, it really started to make sense for us as an institution. The leadership of the conference is a highly respected person with Dr. Kiki Baker Barnes. I think it’s going to be a tremendous experience, not just for institutions, but also for our student athletes.”
Commissioner Kiki Baker Barnes, former head coach of women’s basketball at Dillard University, has led the HBCUAC since 2022. Founded in 1981, HBCUAC is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, formerly known as the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference until 2024.
For the HBCUAC, men’s sports will include baseball, basketball, cross country and track and field. Women will compete in basketball, cross country, softball, softball, track and field, and volleyball.
Sorrell said the Tigers are now looking to get the right coaches for its different athletic programs.
“Lots of coaches know the game, but you need coaches who you know really embrace what you’re trying to do the way you’re trying to do it and now we are putting ourselves in that position,” Sorrell concluded.
Last month, Paul Quinn announced LeShawn R. Hammett, former head coach for the men’s basketball team at Pennsylvania State University, as its new head coach of men’s basketball on social media. Hammett is a three-time USCAA National Champion and was named Coach of the Year by USCAA and HoopDirt.com.
Camille Smith became the head coach of women’s basketball in March. She was previously an assistant coach for the WNBA Dallas Wings. She played professionally in the WNBA for 12 seasons before retiring in 2019.
“Coach Camille Smith brings so much to the Quinnite Nation as our new women’s basketball coach,” Sorrell said in a media statement. “First, she is a winner. She has won at every level – two Final Fours at UNC; a WNBA championship; and multiple titles in international play. Her character and passion for doing things the right way makes her an unbelievable role model for both our young ladies and young men. Camille’s hiring speaks volumes as to where our athletic program is today and where we are headed in the future. We love this move.”
James Stafford became the head coach of men’s basketball in September 2023. He was previously the assistant coach at Prairie View A&M. His coaching experience spans from high school to Division I college.
“It is highly unusual to conduct a head coaching search two weeks into a new school year,” Sorrell said in a media announcement. “To do so and have that search produce someone like Coach Staff is highly unusual. Everyone we spoke to commented on his experience, character, and ability to build relationships. We are thrilled to call him a Quinnite.”
Coach Clark Charlestin, the new head of men’s soccer, was Coach of the Year in 2024.
“Coach Charlestin brings his championship mindset, elite tactical knowledge, and a passion for student-athlete development to PQC soccer. He represents the evolution of PQC soccer. Coach Charlestin knows what it takes to win,” according to the athletic department.
Coach Nicholas Arbelaez, the new head coach of women’s soccer, was brought in to level up the college’s soccer game.
Patrick Gonzalez, head coach of women’s volleyball, has coached volleyball for over 15 years at the high school, club and collegiate levels.
Unapologetically HBCU
“Carter G. Woodson wrote a book called, The Mis-Education of the Negro, and in that book, Woodson states that we are the only group of oppressed people who sent our children to be educated by our oppressors,” Sorrell said. “So then, when the oppressors teach you to hate that which is yourself and of your own community, you then can’t be surprised when you take ownership of those sentiments that they have taught you to feel.”
Sorrell reflected on his upbringing and what it was like for him and others to break the stereotype that exists for the Black community.
“I grew up in a home where everyone went to college, with the exception of myself. I was an athlete. My other first cousin didn’t go, but her brother went. My sister went. We think that Black equals inadequate. Far too many people in our community believe that. When you believe that, then you don’t aspire for that which you believe is inadequate, we’ve been taught self-hatred. Now, I’m not going to knock the brothers and sisters and struggle with this idea, because 400 years of oppression created that mindset. Some folks think that White water is wetter, White ice is colder. The reality of it is there is beauty in your own. And if you can’t appreciate your own, then you can’t ever fully embrace and appreciate yourself. I look at it, and this interesting thing is taking place in Paul Quinn.
Sorrell said it is up to the students to determine their own futures.
“We are now starting to attract students from the private schools from Dallas, students that are in places that wouldn’t have ever thought about us. People are now recognizing, ‘Wait a minute, there is something here,’ and we are unapologetic in our Blackness, and our embrace of our history, not to the exclusion of anyone else because we love our Latino students, because we’re unapologetic in celebrating their history too. But what we have to understand is we have to dislodge people’s biases that they were taught by other people. That’s why when you come to our campus and you see our building, you’re kind of like, ‘Dang. Hey, I didn’t know it was nice like this.’ I will hope that the Black ones would recommend it at a higher rate. But the reality of it is, some folks just can’t see what’s right in front of their face. And it’s hard to become a prophet in your own land, so just keep fighting, keep pushing, keep putting up wins and then telling our story.”
Evans reflected on NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders influence in increasing exposure for HBCUs. He thanked Sanders for the hard work he and other athletes have put in to make more dreams possible for those who came behind them.
“He’s working at a different institution now, but he still continues to support HBCU athletics. If you listen to his interviews, he’s always hearkening back to Jackson State because they took a chance on him when nobody else would,” Evans said. “But what that does is it makes it possible for other young, up and coming coaches not to be afraid of coming into this arena. I think for me too, it made this a viable option for our young African American athletes. Because society has done such a poor job or in their mind, may do a great job of being willing to let our young African American athletes to come to the HBCU route. You see some of them wanting to go into basketball now and I think Deion Sanders had a hand in that.”
Evans also credited other NFL and college legends for helping HBCU programs gain more respect.
“What I see those people doing, such as Eddie George, the former coach of Tennessee State, is making space for us, not just in what he did at that school but also at Bowling Green, but across the spectrum of college athletics. As we’ve seen over the years, there is nothing wrong with our aptitude, it’s our access, and they’re creating access all across the spectrum of sports, and showing that when we’re given the opportunity, we excelled at those things. Jesse Jackson actually said, ‘We can be great at anything, especially when the rules are public and everybody knows what the rules are, that you can’t cheat us.’ I think Deion Sanders’ impact is going to be built for many, many years to come.”