Cy Alexander, the former head men’s basketball coach at Tennessee State, has returned to the Nashville school to be a special assistant to the head coach he gave his first opportunity in the coaching profession.
Alexander, who had a successful 16-year run at South Carolina State (1987-2003) winning five MEAC Tournament titles and NCAA trips before taking over at TSU for six years (2003-2008), has been away from the court the past four years after stepping down as head coach after four years at North Carolina A&T in 2016.
When Alexander was looking to get back in the business one of the places he looked was at TSU where his former assistant Brian “Penny” Collins was now the head coach.
“Coach Cy gave me my start in coaching and I will always remember that,” said Collins, who starred at Belmont in Nashville, embarked on a brief pro career overseas before catching the eye of Alexander. He spent two years as a grad assistant and director of basketball operations at TSU.
“I remain forever grateful to him,” said Collins. “We always stayed in touch and once his assignment was done at N.C. A&T, I heard he was trying to figure out his next move. I learned he was stoking some fires (UNC Greensboro, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, High Point), but I let him know if things didn’t work out, you can always come home (back to TSU). And so he did.”
Alexander, who in 2018 penned a book – Beyond The Backboard, My Unique HBCU Experience in the Shadows of Big-Time College Basketball – about his over three decades in the HBCU coaching fraternity, was recently hired as a special assistant to Collins, marking a homecoming of sorts for Alexander. Collins considers him a role model.
“I have always been inspired by Coach Cy, how he treated his wife and family, how he balanced family life and coaching. And, believe me, what may seem to be unimportant things, even the way he dressed, the car he drove, having a nice house. He set a standard for a young African American coach. I wanted to emulate him from day one, and that’s what inspired me to want to stay in the business of coaching.
“And now, some 14 years after we first met and worked together, I got a chance to return to TSU to sit in the same seat he occupied,” said Collins. “And it’s my good fortune and delight to have him back.”