Antwain Banks building JC Smith basketball ‘brick by brick’

HERBERT L. WHITE | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Johnson C. Smith basketball coach Antwain Banks, who led the Golden Bulls to a 15-13 season in an interim role last season, was surprised by the result despite a short window to build a roster. “I had a lot to do coming into the door in a short amount of time,” he said.

Antwain Banks was as surprised by his first season as Johnson C. Smith interim basketball coach as anyone.

Banks, who was promoted last month to permanent coach, led the Golden Bulls to a 15-13 record on an interim basis. Among those wins was a victory in the CIAA tournament – the program’s first since 2020. In an interview with The Post, Banks discussed succeeding CIAA Hall of Fame coach Steve Joyner, constructing a roster on the fly and fashioning a winning campaign. 

The entire interview is on the Sports Charlotte podcast at Apple Podcasts, Queen City Podcast Network and Spotify.

Responses are edited for brevity and clarity.

Building a winning record as interim coach:
I had a lot to do coming into the door in a short amount of time. I had to get acclimated with the roster. First of all, I had to figure out what roster I actually had when I got here. 

There were some guys in the portal, lost a young man (guard Ezekiel Cannedy) that was all league, Division II Black college All-American. So, going into it thinking I was going to have one roster and actually getting here realizing that the roster was going to be a little different, so I had to change the plan as far as what do I have? What can they do, and then, how can we fit that into style of play? It's a testament to these young men. 

Characteristics he looks for in players:
At the end of the day, we want winners, right? What does that look like? Being students of the game. Me, being from Indiana, I like to play with some read and reacting, guys that know how to play, guys that are a little selfless to where they don’t mind sharing the basketball. So, guys that are selfless, guys that are fundamentally sound, that can pass, dribble and shoot. That sounds so basic, right? 

But today you’ve got guys that are specialists, they do one great thing. We want interchangeable guys that can do multiple things, that can play multiple positions. Therefore, we can play a different couple different styles, depending on who we’re playing. But at the end of the day, we want the togetherness, we want the selfless, we want the playing for one another and then at the end of the day let the chips fall where they may.

On replacing Joyner and fan reaction:
Obviously coming into the situation, I’m embracing it. I thought I had a good understanding of what I was walking into, as far as the legend I was following. But you’re talking about 36 years – that’s a long time, and obviously a testament to coach for being able to be in that position as long as he was compared to the life span of a coach at an institution [which] isn’t long today. 

Then you’re in a situation as far as today, you talk about change. Are people comfortable with change today, you know, embracing the situation, the opportunity. First and foremost, I really wanted to come in and just put my head down at work and just let my body of work show who I was. 

Then, in the process of people and the fans getting to know me and the alumni getting to know me and have conversations, just being vulnerable enough to open up and not stand-offish, just coming in with my arms open for whoever is willing to accept me and give me a fair chance.

On putting his own stamp on the program:
I think just coming in establishing a culture, the foundation was already laid with coach. He had some great, great young men already in the program, and with coaching today, that’s half the battle. 

As far as outside the X’s and O's and the scheming and things like that, do you have good kids? We had great kids, and it made it easier for me to come in and to coach those guys and to really get on them and get them to be where I needed them to be in order for us to be successful.

The task of building a relevant program:
I think what comes with that is just continue to build. You know, we had some success. We’re able to build off of this past season and just continue to build on that. I don’t think we get ahead of the game to where we skip any steps. Obviously, the goal is for me to come here build a championship caliber program and I just think you do that step by step. 

[Football coach Maurice] Flowers was here year one, he had his bumps in the road he had to deal with. Year two, they made a bigger transition to where they able to have some success, and then year three, they’re able to really have some success and continue to grow. 

I don’t think that changes as far as with our program, as far as continuing to trust the process, continue to build brick by brick.

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