Olivia Gaines seizes her moment at North Carolina Central 

NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL ATHLETICS

Olivia Gaines, who coached Allen University to a 36-19 record over two seasons, is North Carolina Central's new women's basketball coach.

Olivia Gaines is getting a second chance at redemption.

After leading the SIAC’s Allen University to a 36-19 overall record in two seasons and 29-14 in conference play, Gaines was fired in March.

According to WIS News, the university released an email stating, “The priority remains providing a positive and competitive environment for our student athletes both on and off the court.”

Take that for what it’s worth.

Gaines was officially introduced to Eagleland last week. She sounded ready to lead a program that has never won a MEAC regular season title or advanced to a tournament final. North Carolina Central’s last conference championship was in 2007 as a Division II member of the CIAA.

“North Carolina Central is where I really wanna be,” said Gaines, who played under South Carolina coach Dawn Staley. “I think I can do really, really well here. …You guys all believed in me. You believed in the vision. …I want to change it back to a winning program.”

Gaines is the third former D2 coach to lead the Eagles in the Division I era. Former coach Joli Robinson, who coached at NCCU for 16 seasons (1996-2012), led the transition before getting the boot in a no-win situation.
NCCU was in a five-year transition period with no conference home. Those seasons for women’s and men’s basketball were brutal.

Vanessa Taylor was hired in 2012. Taylor had a successful track record at Johnson C. Smith, including a CIAA Tournament championship, but her selection had its share of critics. Some people wanted an alumna with a DI background.

Taylor’s coaching philosophy of recruiting only high school student-athletes wasn’t popular either, particularly as the transfer recruiting process was becoming more popular. Her contract was not renewed after a 33-113 record.
Next came Trisha Stafford-Odom in 2017 from D2 Concordia University Irvine.

Bad. BAD. B-A-D hire in so many ways on so many levels that had little to do with basketball. Stafford-Odom was fired in 2023. She compiled a 55-108 record.

Associate head coach Terrence Baxter was named interim and after a decent season in which the Eagles finished above .500, was named permanent. It was downhill from there. Baxter went 18-41 the last two seasons.

Gaines is looking for quick results.

“I don’t want to take a long time to win basketball games, I really don’t,” she said. “I don’t want to get too big, but I’m just telling y’all the truth. I’m just not used to losing as a player or as a coach, so I’m going to stand on business – be all gas and no brakes.”

NCCU hasn’t been running on high octane in a long time. Some of it was coaching but it also was a lack of funding. Baseball had more scholarships than women’s basketball before it was eliminated as a sponsored sport.
Gaines knows NCCU doesn’t have the NIL funds to compete for certain players, but there are plenty of fish to be caught with the right bait.

“Especially in the state of North Carolina, anything that we can get in our tax bracket, I want to get,” she said. “…I’m going to aim to get kids who actually want to be here.”

Bonitta Best is sports editor at The Triangle Tribune in Durham.

Comments