Men’s basketball associate head coaches Dwayne Killings and Justin Gainey will be doing more than just helping the Golden Eagles win games this season.
Both Killings and Gainey are members of “Coaches For Action,” a group of 21 BIG EAST coaches seeking to bring awareness to social injustices in the country.
We are Coaches For Action. Join us as we take action in efforts to eliminate the prejudice, discrimination, and oppression that impact our student-athletes, fans, and communities. pic.twitter.com/usWk3AJnI2
— Coaches For Action (@coaches4action) June 22, 2020
The group has identified three main goals.
CFA hopes to educate players, coaches, and people living within the BIG EAST communities on the importance of voting in local and national elections. In order to help with the voting process, the 21 coaches are hoping to have each school in the conference host a voter registration drive.
The group is also aiming to create a scholarship fund for first-generation minority students. The students who receive the scholarship must be planning on attending a school within the conference and they must have a GPA of at least 3.0.
The final initiative is to place Black Lives Matter patches on all home and away jerseys. Coaches would also wear a Black Lives Matter pin.
Killings led the call to action by first recruiting assistant coaches Kyle Neptune and Kimani Young. Neptune will be entering his eighth season with Villanova and Young will be entering his third season with Connecticut. The group consists of at least one assistant coach from every team in the BIG EAST.
Head coach Steve Wojciechowski has already expressed his support for CFA. Wojciechowski had also previously shown support for the Black Lives Matter movement in Instagram posts on May 27 and May 29.
Killings, Neptune, Young, and Providence assistant coach Ivan Thomas had a video call with Adam Finkelstein Monday evening to discuss the mission of the group. The coaches talked about some of their personal feelings, responses to the group, and the direction in which “Coaches For Action” is headed.
The group plans on moving forward with its three central goals and will be active on campus once students return in the fall. The first order of business is getting the Black Lives Matter patches on all uniforms across the BIG EAST.
Coaches For Action can be found on both Instagram and Twitter. Those who would like to get involved with the cause can do so here.
This story was written by Nick Galle. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @thenickgalle.
