Former Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer met Jackson State coach Deion Sanders in 1995, when Sanders joined the Dallas Cowboys and Zimmer was secondary coach. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Last year, Jackson State coach Deion Sanders proved to naysayers that he could recruit against Power 5 programs.
Now, he’s taking that energy and putting it toward creating a Power 5-level coaching staff.
On Tuesday, Sanders added former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer to his staff as an analyst.
Earlier in the offseason, Sanders hired former Minnesota coach Tim Brewster, who coached tight ends at Florida last season. He also added assistant strength coach Maurice Sims from the University of Georgia to run that aspect of JSU’s program.
“I’m not just trying to build a HBCU coaching staff,” Sanders said. “I’m trying to build a Power 5 staff.”
Zimmer, fired by the Vikings after eight seasons, is still owed nearly $20 million, so he comes cheap.
Zimmer and Sanders have been friends for parts of four decades. They met when Sanders joined the Cowboys in 1995 and Zimmer was the secondary coach.
They clicked because Zimmer coached Sanders hard from the start, earning the All-Pro cornerback’s respect during his five seasons in Dallas.
They’ve maintained their relationship over the years and with Zimmer being unemployed, it made for a perfect fit.
“Zim has great knowledge,” said Sanders, “and he’s going to be a great resource who can help propel us to the next level.”
Zimmer won’t move to Jackson, Mississippi, but he’ll help the staff in a multitude of ways with his experience and defensive knowledge.
“He’s asked me about it a few times,” Zimmer told Thee Pregame Show. “The pay’s not good, but I do love Deion and I’d do anything for him.”
So would Brewster, though he didn’t have a close relationship with Sanders before joining the staff.
They met several years ago when Brewster was recruiting Sanders’ players at Trinity Christian high school in suburban Dallas.
Brewster was considering a few options when Sanders contacted him to discuss the possibilities.
They met, their philosophies meshed, and Brewster joined the staff.
“He brings a lot of energy,” said Sanders, “and he can coach his butt off.”
Sims worked with Brewster at North Carolina in 2019.
“He has a way of connecting with players that allows him to work them hard and almost cross that line,” said Brewster, “without going over.”
Sanders wanted a strength coach who would challenge his players mentally and physically.
He wanted a strength coach who would allow them to dominate in the fourth quarter and at the end of the season, when their bodies are bruised and battered.
“It’s not where I want it to be but we’re getting there,” Sims said. “It takes 2 to 3 years to get to the point where you have a group that can tell the freshmen why they need to listen to you.”
Sanders is also putting together a staff that can recruit.
Brewster is the man credited with bringing quarterback Vince Young to Texas and he nearly helped persuade four-star tackle Miles McVay to choose Jackson State over Alabama last week.
The Tigers are involved in a lot of recruiting battles for four- and five-star players.
He wants everything about JSU’s program to say Power 5 because it helps with recruiting.
JSU greets recruits at Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport in a custom Mercedes Sprinter van. The revamped locker room — Sanders contributed $100,000 to its renovation — has a TV above each locker and looks like it belongs in the SEC.
The lounge has a pool table, pingpong table, foosball and arcade games.
JSU has a training table just for the players to eat, a rarity among programs at historically Black colleges and universities, and a new training room.
Every edge matters.
Sanders and his staff are continuing to recruit some of the nation’s best players.
Imagine if they had a budget of more than $1 million like most Power 5 schools. They’re doing it on nickels and dimes.
But they signed two players from ESPN 300 last year, including Travis Hunter Jr., the second-ranked player, and receiver Kevin Coleman Jr.
No one knows how long Sanders will be at JSU, and he tells anyone who listens that he’s so focused on today he’s not worried about tomorrow.
He’s already interviewed several times with Power 5 programs. If JSU meets expectations this season, he’ll have more interview opportunities.
His success at JSU should make a lot of administrators wonder what he could do at a program with significantly more money considering the way he’s built a staff and recruited.
“We’re just a Power 5 coaching staff,” said Sanders, “that happens to collect its mail in Jackson, Mississippi.”
Jean-Jacques Taylor, a native of Dallas, is an award-winning journalist who has covered the Dallas Cowboys and the NFL for 25 years and is president of JJT Media Group.
Deshaun Watson can’t decide between accountability and innocence
The Browns quarterback has been suspended 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, but questions remain about whether he understands the severity of his actions
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was penalized in connection with allegations that he engaged in sexual misconduct and sexually assaulted women during massage sessions. Nick Cammett/Getty Images
Seventeen months and 24 accusers later, Watson has received what on the surface appears to be a considerable sentence. On Thursday, the NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed that Watson, quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, would be suspended for 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. The penalty is in connection with allegations that Watson engaged in sexual misconduct and sexually assaulted women during massage sessions.
After reading Watson’s statement on Thursday and listening to his remarks, I’m convinced that the suspension should have been longer — 15 games. That would likely have compelled Cleveland to shelve Watson for the season. He needs time to think about all that has transpired since March 2021.
In a statement released Thursday, Watson said, “I apologize once again for any pain this situation has caused. I take accountability for the decisions I made.”
That’s fine.
But when he met with reporters Thursday, Watson struck a more defiant tone.
“I’ve always stood on my innocence and always said I’ve never assaulted anyone or disrespected anyone,” he said. “I’m going to continue to stand on my innocence.”
Which is it? Accountability for poor decisions? Or innocence?
The Cleveland Browns traded for quarterback Deshaun Watson in March, signing him to fully-guaranteed five-year contract worth $230 million.
Juan Moore/Getty Images
Two weeks ago, judge Sue L. Robinson found that Watson committed four instances of “non-violent sexual assault.” She found Watson’s conduct to be “egregious” and “predatory” and levied a six-game suspension. The NFL correctly appealed the decision. If a price can be placed on bad behavior toward women, six games was too low a price.
Yes, Watson is not facing legal action. Two grand juries in Texas declined to indict him earlier this year.
But the larger question — one that occurred to me as I listened to Watson address reporters – is does he really believe that he is not culpable, that he did nothing wrong, that everything was consensual, that he is being victimized, targeted, and exploited.
It’s hard to believe that everyone is making it up. This is what it boils down to: Either you believe women, or you do not. I do.
I wanted to believe Watson when he initially and adamantly professed his innocence.
In March 2021, I suggested in a column that Watson may have been a victim of Houston Texans payback. Before then, Watson was becoming an emerging face of the NFL. He was a franchise quarterback and, for all we knew, a paragon of virtue. (I took the “paragon of virtue” part with a grain of salt because, who really knows.)
But Watson had taken a principled stand against the Texans, saying that he had been promised to be included in personnel decisions and was not. He then demanded a trade and vowed never to play for the Texans. It was at that point that more that 20 women came forward, using one attorney, to accuse Watson of sexual assault and misconduct in connection with regular massages.
It was as if the franchise had been protecting Watson and withdrew its protection once Watson said he no longer wanted to play for the organization. One does not excuse the other: Watson could have engaged in abhorrent behavior and the Texans could have turned a blind eye until he bit the hand that fed him.
In any event, the Cleveland Browns, supposedly after doing their due diligence, signed Watson to a fully-guaranteed, five-year contract worth $230 million after acquiring him from the Texans in a trade in March 2022. In the intervening months, more allegations emerged. There were 24 plaintiffs, the league interviewed 12. Of those 12, five were presented to the hearing officer. One was rejected. The stories of four women were presented by NFL investigators and the narratives were graphic, convincing, and similar.
I’m more convinced than I was in March 2021 that Watson may have crossed several lines.
The most significant part of Thursday’s settlement between the league and the NFLPA is not the suspension — Watson will play football again — but the order to receive counseling. Under the agreement, Watson will undergo a mandatory professional evaluation by behavioral experts.
Will Watson embrace this opportunity to emerge from this scandal as a better person? He said that he wants to.
“My focus going forward is on working to become the best version of myself on and off the field,” he said in a statement. If that’s true, Watson should embrace therapy and explore his mental health in a way that perhaps he never has.
Just as important is how Watson’s inner circle responds to the turn of events. Watson is a wealthy young man. He is entering the first year of his new contract. Many of those who surround star athletes don’t really care about them — not enough to tell them the truth.
It’s hard to believe that everyone is making it up. This is what it boils down to: Either you believe women, or you do not. I do.
This is no small thing as I wonder whether this punishment will be sufficient to scare Watson straight — especially when he doesn’t seem to believe he did anything wrong.
Will Watson’s inner circle remain in lockstep and also insist on his innocence? Or will someone step up and tell him the truth?
Based on what I’ve heard so far, I just don’t think he gets it.
William C. Rhoden, the former award-winning sports columnist for The New York Times and author of Forty Million Dollar Slaves, is a writer-at-large for Andscape.
The Little League World Series, which runs from Aug. 17-Aug. 28 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, celebrates its 75th anniversary this year as the crowning event for an organization that has prohibited racial discrimination since its founding.
Black boys were playing in Little League years before Jackie Robinson integrated Major League Baseball in 1947 or the U.S. Supreme Court declared school segregation in public schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
But in 1955, Little League Baseball found itself in a civil war when white teams in South Carolina, Florida, and Texas refused to take the field against Black teams as part of a massive resistance to the Brown decision. Southern politicians feared that if Little League tournaments and other sports were integrated, so, too, would schools, swimming pools, movie theaters, and lunch counters.
“The South stands at Armageddon. The battle is joined. We cannot make the slightest concession to the enemy in this dark and lamentable hour of struggle,” Georgia Gov. Marvin Griffin said. “There is no more difference in compromising the integrity of race on the playing field than in doing so in the classroom. One break in the dike and the relentless seas will rush in and destroy us.”
In South Carolina, white teams withdrew from district and state tournaments rather than share a ballfield with the Cannon Street YMCA all-stars, a Black team from Charleston. The Cannon Street team won those tournaments by forfeit but was declared ineligible for the regional tournament because Little League Baseball’s rules said a team could only advance to that level by winning on the field.
In Florida, a Black team, the Pensacola Jaycees, advanced to the state tournament after white teams refused to play them. A white team from Orlando agreed to play the Pensacola team in the state tournament. The Orlando team won.
Sam Lacy, the sports editor of the Baltimore Afro-American who had lobbied for the integration of Major League Baseball, wrote that the fact the game was played was more meaningful than who won. The Pensacola team lost on the field, he said, but won “on the scoreboard of human relations.”
Portrait of former Baltimore Afro-American sports editor Sam Lacy, circa 1960.
Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images
He compared what happened in Florida to what happened in South Carolina. “After it was pointed out that the admittance of the colored boys was entirely legal, the South Carolinians declared they’d have none of it,” Lacy said.
If things were left to children, Lacy said, there would be no color line. He said he believed that “the South’s hostility toward integration is kept alive solely by adult leaders.”
Lacy decided to test that idea in Williamsport that year. He drove 200 miles to the Little League World Series to ask white 11- and 12-year-old ballplayers and their fathers whether white boys should share the same baseball field with Black boys.
Among the adults he interviewed was Sam Despine Sr., who managed the Alexandria, Louisiana, team, where his son Sam Jr., was the star pitcher. The Alexandria team had defeated a Black team from Texas in the regional tournament. The father said his team played the game because Little League’s rule said it had to. Sam Jr. said it made no difference to him whether he played against Black or white boys.
Lacy also interviewed Robert Salter of Auburn, Alabama, whose two sons were scheduled to play an integrated team from Delaware Township, New Jersey.
Salter said he didn’t want his sons playing against a team with Black players. Integration, he added, would happen when the country was ready for it. “We don’t like the idea of being told we’ve got to do something,” he said.
Lacy asked Salter if Black people had not been waiting for white people to grant them equal rights for a century.
Salter ignored the question, Lacy said.
“You know, there are people in your race,” Salter said, “that you don’t want anything to do with yourself. Well, we feel that way in the South.”
Lacy said that every group has people like that.
“You’re right about that,” Salter said. “But in the South we don’t have many of that kind in our race and they predominate among the colored people.”
Lacy then asked Salter if Black boys should be allowed to play with white boys in Little League Baseball.
“Let ’em play among themselves. That’s the way it should be. Sure, there’s a lot of agitation about this thing, but that doesn’t help matters any,” Salter said. “It just serves to make things worse.”
Lacy then asked Salter’s sons, identical twins George and Frank, what they thought about playing against Black boys.
“It didn’t make any difference to me,” one of them told Lacy (who admitted he could not tell the brothers apart).
“To me, either,” the other said.
Lacy, who was then 51, had grown up in Washington attending games with his father at Griffith Stadium. Lacy watched white major league teams play on some days and Black teams on others. He said he saw many Black players who were good enough to play in the majors but were denied their opportunity because of the color line.
As a sportswriter, he fought for the inclusion of Blacks in the majors for a decade before the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson. Lacy would later receive the BBWAA Career Excellence Award from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for his contributions to racial equality.
Segregation kept him from working for mainstream newspapers and from having a press card that would have allowed him in press boxes, clubhouses, and dugouts. But working for the Afro-American allowed him to criticize bigotry and racism.
Lacy would not have been able to do that if he had worked for most white-owned newspapers, where journalists, even in the North, rarely addressed racism for fear of alienating readers and advertisers.
That is, until the horrific slaying of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi, on Aug. 28, 1955, shortly after the conclusion of the Little League World Series.
Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff wrote in their Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation, that the September 1955 trial of the men charged in Till’s slaying brought an unprecedented number of Northern reporters into the Mississippi courtroom. Their readers were horrified by the details of Till’s lynching and the exoneration of the men who later admitted to killing the boy.
Lacy’s Little League column appeared in the Afro-American on Aug. 30, two days after Till was killed and a day before his body was found.
Chris Lamb, chairman of the Journalism and Public Relations Department at Indiana University-Indianapolis, is the author of Stolen Dreams: The 1955 Cannon Street All-Stars and Little League Baseball’s Civil War (University of Nebraska) and several other books on sports, race, and the media. He can be reached by email at lambch@iupui.edu and on Twitter @16campaignbites.
Isabelle Harrison’s unwavering personality stands out for the Dallas Wings and WNBA
One of 12 siblings, Harrison has overcome injury, the loss of a sister and an autoimmune disorder to become one of the league’s most intriguing figures
Over the course of the season, Dallas Wings forward Isabelle Harrison has rotated from starting to being a first option off the bench to anchoring the rotation. Cooper Neill/NBAE via Getty Images
In early 2015, just months before being taken No. 12 overall in the WNBA draft, Harrison tore her ACL during her senior season at the University of Tennessee. The injury forced her to miss her rookie season.
Harrison was diagnosed with an undisclosed autoimmune condition which led to her having to sit out the entire 2018 WNBA season. That same year, she lost her sister after a battle with lupus.
Ankle injuries she endured during the WNBA’s 2020 bubble season led to an early exit out of Bradenton, Florida, forcing Harrison, a forward, to miss the Dallas Wings’ final nine games.
As Harrison says: “I have been through a lot of s—.”
“I’m happy that I had that adversity,” she added. “It changes you into a different person, not only on the court, but off. You become resilient to a lot of stuff.”
This year, though, Harrison’s adversity took on a different form.
Dallas will begin its playoff run Thursday in Game 1 of the first round versus the No. 3 Connecticut Sun. As part of a packed Wings frontcourt contingent all vying for minutes, Harrison’s role for Dallas has been in constant flux. Over the course of the season she’s rotated from starting to being a first option off the bench to anchoring the rotation.
“It’s been a high and low season for me,” Harrison said. “A lot of changes that I’ve faced this year, but I’m not going to let that take away from the goal that we have.”
As she does with each challenge that she’s faced during her career, Harrison has sought to find the lesson in the hardship. This year, that has been a lesson in understanding her worth and doubling down on that value.
“At the end of the day, I’m just glad that I’m able to remain the person that I am, stick with what I know and only get better,” she said.
Isabelle Harrison is one of 10 children in her family to play collegiate athletics.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
For many families, having one child receive a scholarship to play college athletics is a remarkable achievement – a goal only attainable for the most gifted high school athletes in the country. It’s mind-blowing, then, to learn that Harrison’s mother Ida, who has been a nurse for more than 30 years, and her father Dennis, a former NFL Pro Bowl defensive end, have had 10 kids play college athletics.
“I joke with my parents all the time, ‘if we hadn’t gotten a scholarship, what were y’all about to do to send us to college?’ ” said Harrison, the 10th of 12 children. “They just laughed and said, ‘Well, y’all figured out a way.’ Athletics was our way.”
For Harrison, family has been the backbone of her career. It’s, in part, where a strong work ethic was instilled in her by her parents, who taught her to get her work done in the classroom before the court. More importantly, family has been her support system on and off the court.
When Harrison traveled overseas following the end of the WNBA season to countries such as South Korea or Poland, she’d often find herself trapped in the monotonous cycle of the pro ball lifestyle: practice, home, game, home, repeat. Though she was many miles away from friends and family, there was always one sibling who made her overseas stays feel closer to home.
Harrison’s big sister Danielle was her biggest supporter on the court. Whenever Harrison was overseas, her sister would keep track of her schedule, traversing the drastically different time zones to watch her sister play via stream.
“She would have my little niece watch me and that inspired my niece to continue to play,” said Harrison, who visited her sister at her home in Memphis, Tennessee, during the summers. “Not only was it helping her daughter, but it was also helping me because I knew somebody had their eyes on me.”
Her sister died in 2018 from lupus, an autoimmune disease that has afflicted multiple members of Harrison’s family.
“Her middle name was Joy, so we always said how joyful we would become when she was around us,” Harrison said. “Losing her was a lot, not just for me but my whole family.”
Two other members of Harrison’s family have lupus: a sister who lives near her in Texas and a brother, Daniel, in Indiana. Because of complications of the disease, her brother needs a new kidney.
“I joke with my parents all the time, ‘if we hadn’t gotten a scholarship, what were y’all about to do to send us to college?’ They just laughed and said, ‘Well, y’all figured out a way.’ Athletics was our way.”
— Isabelle Harrison
Harrison said that her brother, who has had lupus longer than anyone else in her family, is on dialysis.
“He still has a smile on his face, amazing energy, while going through that,” Harrison said. “I talk about being resilient and I definitely learned that through my family.”
Following Danielle Harrison’s death, each member of Harrison’s family received a necklace that carries her ashes. Harrison brings the necklace with her on every Wings road trip. Just like when she was abroad, Harrison will always have that connection to her sister anytime she is away from home.
“That’s a reminder for me to just remember what she means to me and she’s supporting me through everything,” Harrison said.
Isabelle Harrison, a Jordan Brand athlete, has established herself as one of the top figures in the WNBA when it comes to pregame outfits.
Quinn Harris/Getty Images
Harrison believes that the path to becoming a mainstay in the WNBA doesn’t come overnight. The best players make gains outside of the standard team practice. Pushing for consistency trumps the quest for a breakout moment. She learned that from coach Pat Summitt at the University of Tennessee.
In her sixth season, Harrison has learned more about what it takes to maintain longevity at the pro level: taking care of her body, improving her diet, getting sleep. She’s seen that when done consistently, it has made an impact on her daily during the season. That self-care extends to mental wellness and being able to cultivate passions away from basketball.
“I’ve always said I’m more than just dribbling a ball,” Harrison said. “I don’t like just tying my whole identity to that.”
For Harrison, that second passion is fashion. Harrison has established herself as one of the top figures in the WNBA when it comes to the pregame walk-in, drumming up engagement on WNBA Twitter whenever the Wings post player entrances before tipoff.
For the Wings’ season opener on May 7, Harrison arrived at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, dressed in a custom Jordan Brand Chicago Bulls jersey dress. The Wings posted Harrison’s entrance on social media and it went viral, receiving more than 29,000 likes on Twitter. The entrance was an important one to Harrison, who had been announced as the newest Jordan Brand athlete just a few days earlier – her first shoe deal.
At a time when brands are finally emerging (albeit still slowly) with more partnership opportunities for WNBA athletes, Harrison has positioned herself to take full advantage.
“I want that for more players in the W because we are supermarketable,” she said. “We have the most diversity of any league, so it doesn’t make any sense why those deals aren’t happening for us.”
One of the reasons Harrison chose not to play a season overseas was so she could capitalize on opportunities that instead could help her grow her personal brand. Had she not done so, she said, the deal with Jordan Brand likely never would have come to fruition. Harrison also interned with the Dallas Mavericks.
Dallas Wings coach Vickie Johnson has been a part of the WNBA for more than 20 years and has seen the growth of the league in every aspect of the game, including off-court opportunities for its players. She said she hopes to see the expansion of those opportunities continue but also cautioned players to not let brand building get in the way of basketball.
“Hopefully they have great agents to manage that or their team to be able to say build your brand but make sure you’re doing what you have to do on the basketball court,” Johnson said. “Don’t let your building your brand affect your game and what you have to do for your team to have your team be successful.”
For Harrison, it’s all about balance.
“I’m at a space now, with opportunities off the court, that I’m able to show [my life and career are bigger than just basketball],”said Harrison, who will be a free agent this offseason. “Basketball is always going to be my first love, no matter what. I’m slowly just trying to find that balance.”
Isabelle Harrison will be a free agent in the offseason.
Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images
On the court, Harrison entered the 2022 WNBA season with lots of momentum from 2021, which included a standout performance during Athletes Unlimited’s inaugural season last winter. Harrison was ready to take the next step up in her playing career, but her role for this year’s Wings team has been a “little different” than expected.
Harrison began the season strong, averaging 10.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists through her first 15 games, closely matching her 2021 averages as she split time in the Dallas frontcourt with teammates Satou Sabally, Awak Kuier, Kayla Thornton and Teaira McCowan. When Sabally was still overseas or battling injuries, Harrison was slotted into the starting lineup.
But at the beginning of July, Harrison, who was averaging 22.8 minutes, saw her playing time shrink and by mid-July had been moved out of the starting lineup in place of McCowan.
McCowan has been stellar for the Wings since the switch, averaging 15.9 points and 9.8 rebounds since the beginning of July. This week, McCowan was named the league’s player of the month for August for the Western Conference. Kuier has also seen more minutes. Sabally has been sidelined with an ankle injury since July 12.
Harrison, meanwhile, posted her lowest minutes per game average since her rookie season. In mid June, following a loss to Seattle, Johnson said in a presser that she needed more offensive consistency from Harrison, who scored four points following a 19-point showing the game prior. Harrison went on to score in double figures in four of Dallas’ next six games.
Johnson said Harrison’s decline in playing time came largely as a result of the presence of McCowan and the limited minutes she has at her disposal.
“It’s hard,” said Johnson, who was named the WNBA coach of the month for August..
Despite Harrison being moved to the bench and her decreased usage on the floor, her confidence on the court hasn’t wavered.
“I know I’m a hard worker … I know that what’s happening right now is for a reason and I know it’s only going to make me that much better of a player.”
Harrison has been a strong spark for the Wings off the bench. In her last 15 games, while averaging 12.5 minutes, she’s averaging 6.6 points and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 52.4% from the field.
“With the ups and downs, you just got to control what you can control,” Harrison said.
In past seasons where she might have felt overlooked, Harrison has chosen to remain silent, adding that, for much of her career, she felt like she had her head down and was just focused on putting work in in the gym or simply being able to stay in the gym. This season has been different.
“At some point, you’ve got to advocate for yourself and I don’t see anything wrong with that,” Harrison said.
On multiple occasions this season, Harrison publicly hinted at frustrations with her role. In July, Harrison posted a TikTok video in which the text overlaying the screen read “When coach only calls plays for the guards,” along with the caption “like damnnnn i dont want to just rebound,” per Just Women’s Sports. A few days earlier, after playing just eight minutes in a game a day before, Harrison responded to a tweet in which the user asked why Harrison was getting pulled out of games. Harrison responded, “When you find out, lemme know.” Both social media posts were later deleted.
Harrison watched as players before her opted to speak up for themselves which, in part, inspired her to do the same. She believes in herself and is confident that she can produce on the court when given the opportunity to do so. In short, for Harrison it’s about knowing your worth.
“For me, this is your career. This is what you want to be known for. You don’t want to be passive when it comes to that,” Harrison said.
Johnson and Harrison have spoken about her playing time. Johnson knows that while Harrison supported the team’s best interest, she also understands Harrison is a competitor who wants to play a sizable role in her team’s success.
“At some point, you’ve got to advocate for yourself and I don’t see anything wrong with that.”
— Isabelle Harrison
Johnson emphasized that for the minutes her players do get, they make the most of their time on the floor. That extends to Harrison, who will be an important piece for the Wings as they prepare for their second-straight playoff appearance.
“When I call your number, just come in and perform and do what you do,” said Johnson, who coached Harrison in 2017 with the San Antonio Stars. “Defensively, offensively, rebound the basketball, get out in transition, make your free throws. Play with a high energy and a focus. Just what [Harrison] does.”
Sean Hurd is a writer for Andscape who primarily covers women’s basketball. His athletic peak came at the age of 10 when he was named camper of the week at a Josh Childress basketball camp.
