Head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin has had a major impact on the women’s basketball program at Ole Miss. The success she and her team have achieved over the past couple of seasons means a lot for the university. And for McPhee-McCuin, it just means a little more.
McPhee-McCuin, known to many as “Coach Yo,” is the first Black female head coach in women’s basketball history that Ole Miss has had the privilege of hiring.
“(Keith Carter) is open-minded and he’s wanted this change, and I guess found a fit in me and it’s completely supported me. I take it seriously because I want to open up the door of opportunities for other people that look like me. I don’t take that lightly,” she said in an interview with Andscape.
She has turned the Ole Miss women’s basketball program around in just a few short years. Coach McPhee-McCuin signed with Ole Miss in April of 2018, and after some rebuilding years, she has brought this program back.
Before she took the job at Ole Miss, the women’s basketball team had not made the NCAA tournament since 2007, and now she is primed to lead her squad to back to back March Madness appearances.
Last season she coached the Rebels to a seven seed in March Madness, and her team is near the top of the SEC again this season.
In a state that has a history of racial oppression, and at a university that resisted racial integration when James Meredith became the first Black student to enroll in 1962, McPhee-McCuinwas very aware of what she was walking into.
“I think that one thing I have realized here in just a short amount of time is that no one is running from the history of civil relations or whatever the case may be in the state of Mississippi,” she said to Andscape. “The one thing I know is that Ole Miss and the city of Oxford is intentional and has been intentional about changing that objective. They are loving people. It’s a great place. They’re very inviting. They love everything Ole Miss.”
McPhee-McCuin’s journey to Ole Miss is inspiring.
“…A little girl from the Bahamas who migrated to the United States and is now living the American dream,” McPhee-McCuin said to Rebel Walk. “I think that, for a lot of people, that’s just inspiring within itself. I just try to speak from the heart, try not to talk about things that I’m not willing to do myself, and be pretty authentic. I share failures and accomplishments. I share both, and I think that’s what allows people to humanize me. … I’m relatable. If I don’t mean it, I don’t say it.”
She has broken down any barrier in her way, and because of this, Athletic Director Keith Carter awarded her with a contract extension that goes through 2026. Ole Miss has found its coach of the future; a trailblazing winner will be at the helm of the Ole Miss women’s basketball program for a long time.
