I don't know if I'm an influencer but I look at myself as somebody who cares about HBCU golf. I care about young people and where their legacies take them. 

My dad was the biggest inspiration in life, but my uncle was my inspiration for golf. There really weren't any African-American golfers that I looked up to; however, Tiger Woods definitely had some influence. 

I was playing baseball but then golf kinda found me in the Marine Corps. My uncle had tried to get me involved in the game as a young person but I only really started after seeing all my bosses in the Marines playing golf. 

It was never my intent to be in the military. My buddy talked me into going into it, and I was the only one to stay. I always had a mentality of never quitting something, so I think after I got over the hump of ten years, I said, I'm gonna just stay. I went from the enlisted ranks to being a warrant officer ranks. My path was vastly different than the average person. I spent 24 years in the Marines and spent my last six and a half years in Okinawa, Japan. 

I became the third African-American to represent the Marine Corps golf team. I’m a self-taught player. I thought I was going to turn pro until I found this beautiful young lady who came into my life and changed the trajectory of what I was going to do. 

I bring in international players, both black and white. Historically Black Colleges and Universities were formed for African-Americans because they didn’t have opportunities to go elsewhere. For me, it's historic simply because now I have players on my platform from all over the world.

Back in 2013-14, I had around four months to start the golf program. I had four golfers and a football player. That was the beginning of Miles College golf. Our program has grown tremendously. 

It was kind of a struggle getting players to think about coming to Birmingham, Alabama. Once they got there, they saw just how nice Alabama really was. 

I tell the players this program is only going to be as good as they allow themselves to be. It’s a partnership. My job as a coach is to help them see themselves as players capable of doing that. I've put in a lot of hard work as a coach, gaining the trust of players that come play for me and getting young men to buy into the program.

The program becomes successful because they see themselves as a part of the legacy

I've been all around the world so my platform is different. My platform is based on a global perspective. I got black, I got white, I got international. By bringing all of these student athletes together, what it does is allow them to learn about different cultures. I lived in Japan for six and a half years. That culture is totally different to the US. So how do you learn to navigate in that space? 

It’s our program, not just my program. At times it becomes my program simply because if you're not following the culture that's been established here, then yeah, it becomes my program. But I like them to take ownership of the program. The program becomes successful because they see themselves as a part of the legacy. 

My platform is not built around championships. It's built around coming to a historically black college, learning about African-American history, experience and being in an environment where you find that everybody has a different path. Understanding that path will allow you to be a better person and be able to function within the world in which we live, which is vastly changing. It’s about how you adapt.

I think there's a need for historically black colleges in golf to integrate and bring in others from different cultures to understand the African-American community. You learn how to work within that space. You learn how to communicate. 

I always set targets. I actually start off with mottos, such as 'Preparation. Preparation. Preparation'. That's on our championship ring from last season. Inside the ring it says 'Accountability, Dependability and Trust = Team'. I tell the guys that if I can't count on them, can't depend on them, can’t trust them then I don't need them. There's got to be a personal relationship with one another in order to be able to accomplish something.

My primary goal is how do I help the young people find themselves?

You're always striving to get to the NCAA regionals to be able to compete. I tell my guys, all we're trying to do is get into the five spot. If we get to the five spot it's a win because that gets you to the NCAA National Championship. And from there, you never know what might happen. We could potentially surprise people and have a special week.  

I'll be honest with you: I don't care about the trophy. The trophy is just an added bonus. That's not even my primary goal. My primary goal is how do I help the young people find themselves? Four years in college is very short. How do you find yourself functioning in the world? How do you find yourself being successful if you can't communicate with whoever in the world? That's where I think my platform helps the young people that I bring into the golf team. 

I'm very calculated about who I want and what I want it to look like. It doesn't have to be just black. It's got to be a combination of all of that. Our golf programs historically are not well funded, but the coaches that we have within these HBCU do an amazing job with the resources that they have. More and more HBCU golf programs are starting to come on board because I think the institutions see the value in golf.