New Men’s Basketball Head Coach Leads First Home Game of the Season
Centenary Men’s Basketball had their opening home game against ETBU on Friday November, 14. The game was new Head Coach Anglin’s first match at the Gold Dome and had a large home crowd turnout. The young team fell 67-73 after coming back from an 11-point deficit at the half. This comes after losing to Berry and Pfeiffer at Viking Tip-Off Classic and against D1 school Tulane in an exhibition match.
Prior to becoming Head Coach at Centenary, Coach J.A. Anglin coached at Bossier Parish Community College where he faced off against nationally ranked teams. During his time at Bossier Parish Community College, Anglin said, “I got a lot of good experience coaching against great coaches and great players.” Under his leadership as Head Coach, the Cavaliers had five solid seasons and Anglin is third all-time in program history wins.
Coming to Centenary was more than just a job decision for Anglin. Coach Anglin was born and raised in the area and called himself a “locker room kid.” His dad was an orthopedist in the community that worked for many local high school teams. This exposed him both to the local sports community and he says he would not be where he is today if it were not for this upbringing. Anglin added, “I've got, you know, just a lot of great memories growing up and going to the Gold Dome and watching games and then playing.”
Off the court, Centenary was a community he wanted to be a part of and help represent. When the position for Men’s Basketball Head Coach opened, Anglin said he had many people in his life encourage him to try for the position. Anglin said he specifically loves the small community feel within the big city. Anglin said, “I just really want people to know how great this place is because it's really a special place.”
While the program is coming off of a 6-19 losing record last year, Anglin has a deep belief that Centenary is a winning program. On why he took the job, Anglin added, “I think it's one of the top three jobs in our league. I ultimately wanted to be at a place where I could compete for championships.” Anglin believes Centenary is the place where this is possible.
Being a young team, seven out of the 22 players have played for the program before and only two are seniors. Quentin Beverly is a senior at Centenary that has been with the program for all four years of his college career. With seniority, Beverly explained, comes a whole list of leadership responsibilities. Beverly expressed, “it’s not just about being sure guys follow our common goals but being able to show guys what winning qualities look like, eliminating bad habits, and holding them accountable for things that they might not be aware of.”
Beverly expressed his wish that more students knew how hard the team worked. “We put our all into our craft, and we really want y'all to show to our games, you know, show us some love, 'cause it helps. It really does help.” Freshman Bryce Evans is one of three freshmen that the team has started, and he had something similar to say. “I hope people keep coming to games as we are looking to bounce back from last season and get back to the winning ways of the program.”