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Coppin State women’s basketball head coach Jermaine Woods tells why he loves the ladies game and MEAC competition

Coppin State women’s basketball head coach Jermaine Woods discussed the team’s recent success, including a non-conference season with the most wins in program history and a 3.63 team GPA. Woods highlighted the importance of recruiting and the support from Coppin State’s administration, particularly President Dr. Jenkins. He emphasized the competitive MEAC conference and the team’s upcoming games, including a significant match against Morgan. Woods also touched on the evolving landscape of college sports, particularly the impact of NIL and collective deals, and his philosophy of building a cohesive team both on and off the court.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Coppin State, women’s basketball, MEAC competition, non-conference wins, injury challenges, women’s game evolution, starification, recruiting strategy, NIL, collective deals, team GPA, coaching philosophy, player development, conference schedule, Morgan game

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Jermaine Woods

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Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. I will tell you. We’re doing the Maryland crab cake tour, and we’re doing a cup of soup or bowl. We’re going to be feeding some local food pantries in two weeks, Super Bowl week. We’re getting out starting to cost us. We’re going to be, I’m wearing my Coco shirt. We’ll get to that in a minute. We’ll be there on Wednesday. Uh, we’re gonna be a fates on Tuesday, all during Super Bowl week. It is a cup of soup or bowl. Be featuring charities, community organizations, lots of good stuff we’re doing around here. And I tell you what this is, this is gonna be good. We got ravens, Lukes and Owings, Mills, we got all that going on, big stuff, Buffalo. But our partnership with COVID state, we’ve talked a lot about this year. It on the air. It was sports. We ran games and all of that. And Dr Jenkins and I got together to talk more about the people at Coppin State, students at Coppin State, the alumni Coppin State, the business of Coppin State and its importance and significance as an HBCU here in Baltimore on the west side. And they got a really good women’s basketball program right now. And, you know, Stu and I go way back to, I mean, we’re going back to, like, you know, Fang and the 98 team and all of that, and I have a lot of fun with that. And we’ve talked women’s basketball here plenty, and I got a chance about the angel Reese last year, you know, in a packed house and all of that stuff going on as LSU rolled in. But it’s first time I’ve had a chance to have Coach Woods on a little while. Train woods, his leading his Lady Eagles, and I got my Eagles up. Is my Eagles belt buckle just I’m on board. Are you coach? What’s going on? Man, this is weird. You got a little bit of a break. We got this big ravens game coming up this week and whatnot. Then you got Morgan. And I’m not hazing anybody wearing my Cocos, because everybody east side, west side, Coppin and Morgan, everybody come to Cocos, but they’re right off the Morgan campus. And I know how much fun this rivalry can be on the men’s and women’s side, even on the student side, just all the way around. Yeah, for the city, you’re getting ready for that. But man, you’re really getting things are moving in the ladies program and the me act for you right now. You really put together a heck of a team and some great players this year, right? Yeah,

Jermaine Woods  02:07

thank you, man. I really appreciate that, man. And we great non conference season most wins in non conference history. So that was, that was a plus. So now we just trying to roll in conference. Just drop two to Morgan and Howard. I mean, I’m Morgan Norfolk and Howard, but we play pretty well. Have some injury things going on, a few things going on in the background that people don’t know about. We won’t discuss it, but, you know, we’ll be back for strength, and everybody be their mind to be right for the 25th but thank you for having me on. I really appreciate it.

Nestor Aparicio  02:37

Well, listen, women’s basketball, just seeing a little bit about me in the 1980s I worked at the Baltimore Sun. I was reporter there, very young reporter. I covered the skip jacks. And there’s a whole documentary, and there’s a little piece of it where you can see I covered women’s or then was girls college basketball. And I’m talking late 80s, when greenbergs Run in Mount Hebron, and they’re unbelievable, breezy bishops running Western just, I mean, Dana Johnson’s killing it, going down to Tennessee and and there was placement for women Title Nine, kind of coming on whatever, to get to have roles, to play ball, but not to think there was going to be a league, a WNBA, a LeBron James of the ladies game, a Larry Bird of the ladies we got put it wherever you want. But I would think that a conversation you and I would have had five years ago, 10 years ago, even then, when there have been stars of the game, and there, there have been lady stars the last 30 years, if you’ve been paying attention and filling out a bracket. But what’s happened here in the starification and in recent times. It’s really a it’s a bright spot in American sports, I think. And you’re on the front end of it, coaching the ladies,

Jermaine Woods  03:48

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yeah, man, is amazing. I’ve been doing it, I think 13 years. I believe it’s my 30 years ahead. Coach, something like that. I stopped counting at five, because as a coach, you age two years every year. I’m telling you that right now, so I stopped counting. But if you would have told me my first year at Virginia Tech, that the woman’s game would be where it is now, I would have told you you were a liar. Uh, we just we didn’t forecast it, and shame on us and for not forecasting it and not seeing this. And I think it came so fast that people weren’t ready. Like the WB wasn’t ready. They weren’t ready for the hit. The angel Reese, the Caitlin Clark, now, the juju Watkins, the page back is the is you can just keep going on and on. And these young women are phenomenal. And we’ve had that before. We’ve had better players, or players just as good in a woman’s game. But now the partnerships are starting to come the broadcast and the radio show, the TV rights, the money’s coming in, they’re putting into the women’s game. And it hasn’t been disappointed. This would be the first year that the NCAA is allowing the woman to make money. And the blocks of the tournament. How about that? You know, the man get, I think 1.2 million per block. I’m not sure how much we get, but hopefully we get there and get to make a couple of dollars for the university. I’m. But you know, kudos to these young women and past, present and future who are shaping this game. I’m just glad to be a small part of it. Let’s

Nestor Aparicio  05:07

start at the beginning. I mean, you played ball, you’re a good, good ball player and a good d3 player, and you have a pathway in life to do something and listen. I mean, I coach Bino ranso When he was a boy, only team I ever coached in my life. Vino was my the kid that could score 32 Well, yeah, I mean, so, you know, like I, you know my background with basketball, loving basketball, and the difference between men’s and women’s and I Bobby Nick, one of my dear friends, late, great in my audience. All knew Bobby Nick he I met him coaching wild Lake girls basketball, 1987 88 and when he brought me over, I’m Reporter kid with the notebook, and he told me, we’re doing triangle. We’re running, yeah, we’re running Dean Smith. And this is 1987 88 and it was ultra competitive. And obviously there were scholarships everywhere at that point, and that what, like, that’s where I came at it. And at that point I loved girls basketball. I went gym to gym, place to place. I knew everybody locally. I, you know, like, name dropped all the people of that era. But between there and now, man, the n, i L, I don’t understand it and all of that, and why people get into coaching. And I saw the Lara nega thing a couple of weeks ago as well. And I’ve seen even, you know, I remember, you know, I always kid some some old coaches about hazing and having fun back at Towson. And I even talk about Fang and all of that, but where the game is and where the ladies game is. And for you to say, I want to be a women’s coach. I’m going to go in that lane. Give me that moment for you when you went from player to coach to hey, I kind of like working with the ladies, and I think for me, it was a much more beautiful game, always right below the basket, shooting, passing, more teamwork, more all of that. Then when the men’s game really became very acrobatic and very individualistic.

Jermaine Woods  07:05

It’s funny, you named Bino, right? Um, so I was making long story short, I taught math in Norfolk Public Schools for eight years. That’s not

Nestor Aparicio  07:13

a small thing. Let me Yeah, come on, you. So you went to school to be at you are a school teacher. That’s your way. So, so I

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Jermaine Woods  07:19

went to school in business management, right? And so I went to a JV game, right? I went to a JV game, uh, watch my cousin play at Booker T Washington High School. Never forget my former assistant principal, Cynthia Washington, was the principal, then at Booker T Washington High School, the ad first Booker T Washington High School, Norfolk Virginia Park Avenue, right by Norfolk State. And the ad at that time was my former PE teacher for middle school, so I’m watching the JV game, and the kids not listening to the coach, it’s boys JV, and they keep looking at me because I’m from the neighborhood. They all know me. My cousins play. They all know me. Respect me not, kid you not. Week later, I get a call you on Christmas break come coach the JV team, but you gotta teach math. Never taught math in my life. Never thought about teaching math. I got a business degree. I had to go back to school to get the teacher part of it, and so taught math to coach JB boys basketball. How about that? I end up being in my second year, had the highest SOL scores in the state of Virginia. Think Governor Wilder was a governor then, and he came to mind. Come on, yeah, you’re too much. Oh yeah, I’m going around students Standards of Learning tests. So in Virginia, you have a standard learning test that you have to pass in order to graduate, have enough accreditation in order to graduate. So you got Standards of Learning tests. And I was algebra one teacher, and so I crushed it this without a math degree, I would still

Nestor Aparicio  08:42

fail your algebra one class right now, if I came, if you add variables, I’m done, teacher, I relate

Jermaine Woods  08:49

it to you. That’s what I was good at. I was good at taking it from the book to the board to the students. And that was my that was my thing. So I did that from algebra one to AP, calculus, everything but geometry for eight years between Booker T and Morris, true story.

Nestor Aparicio  09:04

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And you did that just so you would have the ability to coach these kids. It make

Jermaine Woods  09:08

a couple dollars. It was like, it was like 150 bucks a day. This seems like

Nestor Aparicio  09:12

the white shadow. Now, I’m a maybe a little older than you back. Is that what this was? Yeah, it’s kind of man.

Jermaine Woods  09:17

It was just I want I was making, I was 22 years old, making 150 bucks, 140 whatever it was. 40 whatever it was a day. I thought I had a lot of money. I’m coaching basketball. I’m I’m living a dream. Then I get an opportunity right in my hometown. I’m home. My mom bought. My mom actually got a house across the street from Booker T when I my last two years, I lived across the street from in Norfolk, from Booker T so I can walk to work. I live my mom

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Nestor Aparicio  09:42

high water area. I mean, I’m friends with Coach Tomlin, and you know this, that whole area down there, from the days of Alonzo morning and all it just, you know, Iverson, just, you know, just great athletes. Just great athletes.

Jermaine Woods  09:55

Great tradition with all sports, even baseball, right? Programs. Get kids getting out and playing ball. Yeah, whatever ball, whatever ball. No question. So then I start coaching for JV. And I went to more I worked with Jack Baker, who’s a legend in Norfolk. Then I went to AAU with Frankie Gibert. Wave basketball club. True story I coach. It’s still boys I coach. Wave basketball club. I beat the Boo Williams 16 team. Next time I’m coaching with boo, I got my own team. Boo. SB team. My guards are briante Weber and Trey Freeman. Briante Weber’s in the Hall of Fame at VCU just got inducted. And Trey Freeman in the Hall of Famer, owe dominion. Those are my guards on the B team. Nothing makes coaches smarter than good players. There you go. There you go. That’s how I know vino. So I know vino from recruiting my kids. Okay, that’s why I know beno. Was that Xavier then I want to say, yeah. So that’s why I know vino. So I had a decision to make couple

Nestor Aparicio  10:51

years. It really, everybody knows everybody. It’s, you know, men, women, boys, girls, everybody. And I, especially now I guess n, i L and like all that and programs coming in together. It’s, yeah, y’all have to work together. We

Jermaine Woods  11:05

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all have to work the man and woman’s game is different. You know, we don’t really know each other. I didn’t really know how to women’s coaches, um, until I got a player named Jeanette Hicks who who ended up going to Virginia Tech. I got a phone call from Virginia Tech. You want to be you want? You want to sit in the office and watch TV all day and and kick your feet up? Well, I was doing in school suspension and more then I did it already. They said, Well, you don’t make this amount of money doing it. I say, Sign me up. And so I end up turning down James Madison and UNC Wilmington for direct operation job on the man side, and taking a job at Virginia Tech with Dennis Wolf and being an assistant coach, and my pleasure Jeanette Hicks ended up going to Virginia Tech. I never coached her there because I went to Old Dominion when she got there, but that’s how I got in the women’s man just about who you know and who you’re coaching. And like you said, Good players make good coaches. And I wouldn’t change it for the world. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, the best decision I’ve ever made. Why

Nestor Aparicio  11:59

do you love coaching the women? Give me, give me, give me a little insight into this when you made that transition. Um, and what is different about it, other than just obviously, the obvious gender issue, but just in a in a relatability, I have a hard time relating to 18 year olds of any kind at this point, as I’m getting older, I haven’t read up. I’m trying to read up on the Gen Z manual, so I’m not offending these kids, yeah, today, but I mean, it’s a different world. I mean young people just different,

Jermaine Woods  12:27

just young people in general, different. But it’s a big difference between coaching the man and coaching women, for sure, personalities different. You know, I coach at I coach really. I got 21 division one players. I coached men. So I coached the elite men, but boys, right? Going into men and being with the women, just gave me a different shot of basketball the game. The game is more pure. Now. I love watching men’s basketball, though, NBA down. I watch it all right, because I think some of the best shot makers are in the NBA, they make content the shots all day. So I want to see what they do and what they run. But just coaching women gave me a new perspective of like reaching people and being patient and understanding different perspectives and what they come from and the things that they have going on. I was a single My mom was a single mom, single parent, family, while I’m in three kids. So you know, just understanding how strong women are and what I’m learning from them. Like they think I’m teaching them, they’re teaching me, you know, how to be a better father. I have two girls, so, oh, dear girls, 20 and 14,

Nestor Aparicio  13:32

so in the same range. So they’re like your daughters these, yeah,

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Jermaine Woods  13:36

exactly six year old son as well, and a seven year old son. And I tell these young women all the time, my team, I just seen it all, you can’t get anything past me. I raise kids holding you in your age. And so, you know, just watching them play in like you said, they not that. They not as athletic as the as men are, right? Just because it is body makeup, body structure. And so they have to put most play below the room. We have some playing above the brim now, right? And they have to be more skilled at some things. You have to have a certain kind of skill. And it’s just a joy to watch them grow and develop, and they come in one play and leave another player. And that’s the joy, man. And we have a player like that, I know we get into that later, later. Layla, so just watching them grow and develop and mature into girls to women. Is very fulfilling for me that I get to be a part of that. And I think that’s the biggest thing for me, is having good people, good students and good athletes. And we just got our GPA back, we have a 3.63 team GPA, 3.63 everybody has 3.0 and buff five, four point zeros. So I’m not only coaching athletes, I’m coaching students, and I think that’s my biggest accomplishment, and 3.6 highest in compensating most basketball history.

Nestor Aparicio  14:49

Man, you’re beating these big d1 schools, and your first thing you’re bragging on to GPA. So Lady Eagles, we got head coach Jermaine woods here talking ladies basketball. And I, I think more. In anything. We’ll get to your players. Last thing for you, I just went through the resume a little bit, and I see ODU. I see Old Dominion, and I’m an old newspaper head from the 80s, right? So back then, there was Tennessee, Connecticut. Old Dominion always had Louisiana Tech, right? There were a couple of these programs that you even knew what colors their jerseys were, baby blue look like Houston Oilers because their bet, but ODU was, like, og like, really, like a UCLA of women’s basketball in some way. And you wound up there. Give me the track on that a little bit. And then we’re going to talk about how and why you got the cop. And then we’re going to get right into the cop and stuff here.

Jermaine Woods  15:42

Yeah, so Old Dominion. I thought I was going to get a job out of high school to go to Old Dominion, but I didn’t have enough experience at the time, so Virginia Tech took a chance to me, which I’m grateful for. But I’m from Norfolk, so I always wanted to go home. And at my time at Virginia Tech, I was privileged enough to be able to recruit a few top 50, top 25 top 100 players. So I got, I got known as one of the best recruiters around. And so Coach Karen bafou, who actually worked for Wendy Larry, when she as an assistant, was the head coach at Old Dominion, and she called me and want me to recruit a coordinator. So it’s my it was my first chance to get to be a recruiting coordinator, and I wanted the opportunity. And so that’s why I got the Old Dominion. Karen befor gave me a shot to be recruited coordinator, and we brought some top 100 players to Old Dominion as well. So just going back home and being back in the area was very important for me. So, you know, I really enjoyed my time at Old Dominion. But the legacy there, when you walk in the building, it’s like pressure, man like, like, the expectations are through the roof at Old Dominion,

Nestor Aparicio  16:41

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they feel much about how old school I am with basketballs. I mean, when I think of it, it’s a rich thing, and I look down being an ODU would have been different than being Xavier or just being anywhere like

Jermaine Woods  16:52

Right? No doubt about it, a lot of expectations at Old Dominion for women’s basketball. But times have changed because the budgets have changed. Right? Budgets change. You can’t keep up, you know, you still, oh, no

Nestor Aparicio  17:07

question, you’re trying to keep up with Tennessee and Connecticut. And then the N i L comes along. So let me ask you this, because I gotta, I’m taking notes over here. We’re gonna get to layland and the team and Morgan next week, beating them and and all that, the notion that Coppin, the name Coppin State, and what COVID state represents here, I always say, and I joke around, and I got to catch up with Fang sometime, because his name’s right on the court, yeah. But, you know, I used to be the guy at the paper when they would upset some team, or play a team to the wire, and Fang and be pissed out of Kansas State. And, you know, in December money game, and I’d have to be getting a quote. You only call me when we don’t win, you know. So, you know. So that’s pretty good Fang. So, so fat, so Fang and I got so in 98 you know, I, I always had Fang on, and honored Fang was one of my nice guy award winners with a smiley face back in the day. So I’ll share some of that. But in 98 when they won the big banana and they broke through in March Madness, the words cop and state probably like UMBC. Now, after the Virginia thing couple years ago, in basketball spaces and outside of basketball spaces, and Dr Jenkins would be online with this, people that know basketball who are our age, cop and states like Chaminade, it’s like mentioning the white shadow, or mentioning, you know, mentioning things of that era, that COVID state winning that basketball game. I don’t know how old you were in 1998 I don’t you know, I can go do the math on you, but graduate, I graduate night and from high school. Well, so you’re a junior in high school in Norfolk, and this COVID State wins in your brackets. And you’re like, where’s that? Probably right. I remember,

Jermaine Woods  18:41

I remember like it yesterday, for sure. I remember that, yeah, I remember that like it was yesterday, man. And just glad to, just glad to be able to be a part of that tradition and bring some of it back right on the woman’s side, right? And, but there’s a basketball

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Nestor Aparicio  18:54

brand with COVID state, I think, you know, just in a general sense, period,

Jermaine Woods  18:58

yeah, it kind of, it is, and that’s what we need to get back to, right? And, and you mentioned Doctor Jenkins, it wouldn’t be possible. And I’m not just saying this because he’s the lead. He’s the boss. He invests in athletics, man, like I I have what I need, right? I have what I need. I get to go recruit, I get to go get players. And so he wants athletics to be great, because he understands that athletics drives institutions, it drives enrollment, it pushes the university forward. And so his investment has allowed me to go recruit players that are that that usually wouldn’t come to COVID state, because after the fame Mitchell Arrow, COVID state hit a little went down a little bit, right? And the women’s basketball team was was really good, and then he went down a little bit. And then we’re just trying to get back to that man and and honor the things that fame did in the teams before us.

Nestor Aparicio  19:47

Well, you’re winning ball games, and you got good kids there. Let’s start with this. Coppin recruited you, and you’ve mentioned, I was a good recruiter. That’s my thing. You know, that’s what God, it’s where you, you earn your bones, and then you, you know, Coach. And work, and the whole executive part of all of this that goes on, the financial part of it, the business part, the parents going in, the homes, families, all of this, you’re nodding your head, um, tell me about that in the modern era, and what that’s about, and how people, it’s about people, and recruiting people. And you got recruited here to recruit others. Give me your your philosophy on recruiting. I

Jermaine Woods  20:24

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mean, you gotta win. I want to win the family. Uh, whoever that may be, whether the single parent, two parent, sisters, brothers, I always focus on the family. Um, I never the these generation and student athletes. They tell their parents everything, alright? So whatever you say to a parent, whatever you do if you feel like if you if the kid feel mistreating, if you’re not treating them fairly, they’re going to tell their parent. So to me, the most important people, other than the student athlete, is the parents. So I want to show the parents that I really care about your student. I want you to be a part of this family, not just the student athlete, but you as well. So now, when they get that call about being mistreated, like that same coach that we visited with, not the one that sat down at dinner and lunch with us, you we gotta talk about this a little bit more. So I think that’s what helped me, is that I allow the parents to be a part of the program, as far as me communicating with them and understanding their feelings and their thoughts. And so now when one of my players is a little angry or or doesn’t have their way, I might get a call from the parent letting me know so I can address it without them knowing. And I think that’s helped me, especially with young women of you know how to mold them and get them in the right direction. But you know, it’s different man going into the houses now from when I first started. You know, the first thing now is, you know how much money you have, you know, do you have a collective so nil? The collective are two different things. Teach

Nestor Aparicio  21:44

me, literally, by the way, head coach at Jermaine woods here, he’s the head coach of the Lady Eagles, the women’s team, is on a little bit of a hiatus here for a week, getting ready for this big Morgan game. We’ll talk about that on the 25th and we’re going to get back to Ravens. And we had Orio base, but we got a whole lot of stuff going on here, but everybody knows about our partnership with cop. Partnership with COVID. And a great appreciation. Hey, thanks for taking time and doing this too, because getting onto your team, and the last couple of years of you, three years of doing this and putting this thing together, I don’t want to be interrupted, so keep going, but I want to reset for our radio audience. Yeah, no. Thank

Jermaine Woods  22:15

you. I appreciate you having me again, man. And thank you for the audience listening in, and thank you for your partnership, and anytime we can share, like the women’s basketball, I’m game and I’m an open book. I don’t answer any question anytime. Like Steven tell you that, uh, NL a collective. So NRL is name, image and likeness. That’s what you that’s you get. You get your own name, image and likeness. That mean companies come to you, they want to sponsor you. The school has nothing to do with that. So if all, if you want to sponsor a student athlete on my team, that will be between you the student athlete, and they gotta report that to the university. And you may say, hey, hey, Layla, you gotta do three posts a week. I’ll pay you $1,000 a month. You post our business three months a week. That’s nim. That’s what it is. Collective is what the university, the athletic program gives the student athletes. So for instance, you have some schools that have 6 million collected 6 million the man size, $6 million collectives. Think about that. You have 13 scholarships. You got $6 million these student athletes are getting that money right then, from the from the athletic program. It’s no name engine like this. You don’t have to tweet, post anything. That’s what the school is allowed to give you. Is

Nestor Aparicio  23:24

it 10 million for the first player and 100 grand a piece for the next 11? How does that work?

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Jermaine Woods  23:30

Yeah, it’s it’s up to the coach. You get to negotiate with the athlete. So it’s a payroll that the coach doles out that it’s a, I couldn’t have said it better. You just, you just cracked the code, man, it’s the payroll.

Nestor Aparicio  23:43

I’ll be honest with you, and for anybody listen and they know this, I have moved my heart and thoughts in lots of places to talk to people, to be educated on this. I have not sought out and i l i have not done long segments on it, to be honest with you. It’s made me a little squeamish until it gets together. I was at a thing a year ago, a connects event that Gary Williams spoke at, and he spoke, and I keep hearing in the 70 something year old him. I respect Gary immensely. I’ve known Gary forever, but he’s like, eventually somebody’s going to put some guard rails in on this, and there’s going to be some. And I’m like, I’m looking over my shoulder, thinking, where to where are the police coming? And I don’t know where that I mean, it is going to be the wild wild west until it’s not or until Congress gets involved, lord knows with what’s going on next week down there. I, you know, I just feel like it is, it is what it is, and it’s, it’s incomprehensible for somebody like me, until I start to comprehend it and then say I’m obviously involved in it as COVID partner, and trying to express it or understand it at a smaller level, but trying to understand that the Maryland or even the Notre Dame Ohio State level this week, when there’s a football game going on this week, as all of this changes, who’s making what? How are they making? Like I. I it’s almost like La, la, la. I don’t want to hear I don’t feel like I’m ready to understand it yet. I’m just still trying to figure who’s going to win the football game, and maybe have a little bit of fun with it while I have some nachos and a beer on a Monday night watching the game. There you go. But from your perspective, it has been remarkable how you have to go from being a coach to a business owner. Very, very quickly, all of you in every sport, in every way, because of the it’s been a paradigm shift. I mean, yeah, and we don’t

Jermaine Woods  25:31

have a choice. Either you get with it or you get out. It’s no it’s no choice. And you see, a lot of the older coaches are getting out because this not going to change. This is here to stay. We have to change it. We have to adjust. And a lot of a lot of people can’t handle it. Man, and it’s at my level, like you just said, it’s not as intense as a Maryland level, but like a like a Layla and she had another year. Man, like, I probably wouldn’t be able to keep her, you know, like somebody come and say, Oh, we got 100,000 what I’m gonna say? Like, what? What do I say? Right? I can’t give her 100,000 you know. So that’s the hard part about it. You get good players. Like, if I vice versa, if I were going to bigger school and I watched this Leila Lawrence kid, I’m watching every game, and I’m going to get her one of the season over with as a recruiter. I’m not worried about Jermaine woods and COVID state. I want her to come to my program. Here you go. That’s what they do at the other levels. And if I was at a bigger school as an assistant or head coach, I would do the same thing. They’re not recruiting high school, they’re recruiting COVID state best players, or Norfolk State, or whoever.

Nestor Aparicio  26:34

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That is what the portal is, that’s

Jermaine Woods  26:36

what it is, that’s what it is. And so you go down to roster, you see second nation double doubles. Oh, let me watch this kid. Oh, I got 150k for I have what I I’m just in

Nestor Aparicio  26:48

a different level, like I, you know, I don’t mean to be to get off my porch guy, because I’m seeing all the gambling ads come at me now. And, you know, and I promote the lottery, and, you know, I’m not a sports gambler. Would have got me thrown out of the media. I joke with Mike Flynn last week if I was asking you how Dilfer looked at practice. So I could gamble, like, 25 years ago, it would have been all over with there’s the part of this where I’m watching the preseason, and Coach Loxley, he’s got players down on the field, and it was a little bit like a professional wrestling interview. Was like, I’m paying these guys cash money, and I’m like, Oh my God. Like, you could like it. He did he say that, you know, and, and I’m trying to get used to it in the way that you’re just being real about your own players, because you have, let’s be honest. Layla Lawrence, let’s get into her. Let’s get into your roster and get ready for Morgan next week. Because I tell everybody, go get crab cage over cop and, you know, Coppin and Morgan both invited at Cocos, right around the corner there. We got pretty good. See, even Coppin knows back Cocos. But so we’re gonna be doing the show over there, the couple Super Bowl, our charity event Super Bowl week. That’s three weeks from now. It’s on the Wednesday of that week we’re doing so Layla and you’re involved, so give me the last three years of your life and getting this team to where you are right now, which is, I’ll give you a chance to brag about team. You’re a pretty good position here. Maybe get me a MEAC championship shirt. Yeah,

Jermaine Woods  28:03

yeah, win a pretty good position, man. And it’s been, it’s been from the ground up like every killing the roster I recruited with my staff. And it’s been from eight wins to 12 wins to now we already 11 wins. So it’s been, it’s been getting the right players and the right people. And I think this year we have that mix. And it took, like, my third year as a head coach at this level, so it took me time to figure out, you know, that you’re not only a coach, like you said, you’re kind of like the CEO of the team. You gotta run everything. And I think managing people is the hardest part. The coaching is the easy part. Managing people is the hardest part. So you gotta put the right pieces in place, whether it’s your staff, your players, and put the right people together in order to build something special. And we’ve done that so far, and I’m proud of them, man, I can’t lie to you. Like what we did in non conference was amazing. With two and two in conference, we lost two road games to the top two teams. Not a bad thing. We got to get them when they come home. And I like, I like our chances of being in a championship game in the New York tournament, once we get back fully healthy and get our pieces right. I really like it, and it’s been real man, but it’s been I’ve had support from Doctor Jenkins. I have support from Derek Carter, who’s our athletic director, and with the support of athletic athletic director and the president, I get to go to Texas and get a layland Right. You know, she from Texas. How we get to Texas? Kid to to Baltimore? You gotta be able to reach there. And so they supported me tremendously in my efforts. But when you get that support, you better win. So it looks like we’ve it looks like it’s paying off, right? And I think that’s the that’s the great thing. So definitely proud of part of what we accomplish, and definitely proud of Layla, if you

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Nestor Aparicio  29:46

haven’t been at the COVID state sports com to see what’s going on, results, all the things happening the baseball team and Sherm, I had roughing on a couple weeks ago from down at the we talked about the program in general, just everything that’s going on. But it happened. Like, literally, I booked him on right before Arizona State, and I think he came over the day after, and it was like, wow. And then the maybe it was a George Washington. You were just one two big ones that week, or whatever it was, like, second week of December. Run me through your schedule. Because, man, you played the number one team in the country, playing Maryland. I mean, last year, you bring age recent so, I mean, I was over there that night, and the place was on fire all night long. And the thing I noticed, and I took pictures, and I had a good time with and did some social and, you know, digital Gary digital Williams and I are old boxing buds from down on the court and whatnot. So anytime I’m over there, I’m mugging with him. But that was a real happening, and a real on the map thing that any building she walked into, and then the Caitlin Clark thing takes off, and the WNBA thing took off in that I guess it’s been, my God, it’s only been 5657 weeks since we did that, right? It was Christmas of last year. Yeah, you had that event there. From the minute I walked in and I got there early because I wanted to avoid the traffic Park madam, and go in park my car, walk in, and I want to be there early and vibe it all out and and I watched all these young girls come into the building with signs of encouragement, and they all look like ball players. They didn’t, you know what I mean, it looked a little Taylor Swift and a little, you know, Michael Jordan. And, yeah, I don’t know what the heck it was, but it was really neat. And I saw that. And then I see your schedule. I see the mean, they were the they were the champs, and you brought them in, and then you bring in, right? And then you play these road games, and then you find Arizona state coming in. You’ve managed to massage this thing to make it interesting and to get your players better, get your players ready for conference play, which is as old as you know, I guess. Bobby Knight, right?

Jermaine Woods  31:48

Yeah, Bobby Knight, man, you something else? Man, it’s the non conference schedule is challenging, right? But we have to do it for budget constraints, right? And so we have to bring a certain amount of number in order to facilitate our budget. And, you know, add to it. So I will say this, the number I have to get now is not when I first got here. So kudos to the administration again for that. But going to play, bringing Andrew Reece was the start of something you which you you might know you don’t know. Don steely coming here next year with her team, next January, Martin Luther King Junior Day weekend. How about

Nestor Aparicio  32:23

that? Right? It’s a year like from this weekend,

Jermaine Woods  32:28

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yeah. So she’s coming. So that’s already, already in the world.

Nestor Aparicio  32:30

It’s like the World Cup coming down,

Jermaine Woods  32:33

right? Yeah. So everybody you know what, what we did with LSU, and the things that coach Markey and her staff said about us, now we get to bring Don back to Baltimore. How about that with her team? And you know, I’m, I’m rooting for them to win the national championship. So to bring another national champion back to Baltimore and get to see you there with another national championship for you to win the National Championship tournament, right? Me too. Let’s get to the tournament. We gotta get there first, right? Get to the tournament. So, but no playing North Carolina, South Carolina. I mean, you see our schedule, they, they’re, they’re guaranteed. They call it guaranteed games, right? We get a certain amount of money for them. If Fang were here, he said, we call a money game, yeah, we call it money games, yeah. So we won. Like, GW was a money game. We got paid to go to GW, and then one, yeah, we get 20 Arizona state money game, you know, we won. So

Nestor Aparicio  33:18

broadcast right here on wnst and Baltimore, positive, because we broadcast the games.

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Jermaine Woods  33:21

There you go. So you get a couple of those money game wins that make your schedule look a little easier, you know. And so that those two wins were great. Kent State win was good. They were tournament team last year. So we fluck a few wins in man and and did a few things, but we’re going to do the same thing next year. We’re going to play four money games because we are going to make a lot of revenue off, we didn’t know the revenue and make off of LSU, but, you know, that thing was a like, bringing in, like, gold stars in town, you know, they, they, they travel with the crowd. So, you know, we’re bringing down in town to give me a chance to not play so many money games, but still do a competitive schedule. So just, just excited about it, man. Just, I like those games, though. Like going to see the history of those buildings, like playing the Carmichael was amazing. Like, you get the it’s beautiful. You get showing stuff everywhere. You get to, like, taking a young woman, they never seen those things before. So we go out to Arizona State next year. Some people never been out of to Arizona before. We get to see that. So Arizona

Nestor Aparicio  34:18

state’s building is beautiful. Man, right next to Sun Devil. It’s a bit, it’s a big circle, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, if you get to play the Purdue ladies, take them to Mackey, take him to some cool buildings. You know what I mean? Yeah, I’m an old college basketball head, so I’m all that, you know. So by the way, head coach, Jermaine woods, last thing for you, just on the schedule, and what’s coming up for everybody? Kind of a little bit of a weird downtime here. I thought, Why? Why off? Why? Now? Why down? It’s kind of the middle. It’s kind of the bye week, sort of for you guys a little bit before you get ready for Morgan. But home games coming up. The games are on the radio too, Delaware, state on the the first of February, and then I see a rough and sort of back load of this thing with Norfolk and Howard and Umes at the end. Morgan. You guys play Morgan. They end the whole thing on March 6. That’s always quite the scene over at Coppin. But you know, get ready for these games. And what tell everybody about your conference a little bit and what you need to get through. Because they can look up see 11 and nine, they can see you’ve won some big games. See, you played the number one team in the country, but also seen as a competitive conference. Yeah, we

Jermaine Woods  35:19

have a very competitive conference like Norfolk, State is number eight in the country. In the main major poll, top 25 they’re number eight in the country. We’re receiving top 25 mid major votes. Harbor has been a championship game four years in a row. Like our conference, we got good coaches, man, and good players in our conference. So, you know, our conference is on the rise. We only have eight teams, so we have two weekend where we don’t play, you know? So it’s kind of like throwing it off a little bit. But we needed this time off. We have a couple injuries that we need the rest, that they played through, and we need them to heal properly. So this came in a perfect, perfect time frame. Surprise,

Nestor Aparicio  35:54

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how early the season starts these days. And I feel that when the men get going and it becomes obvious, I’m like, man, it was just Halloween. Like, what, you know, like, yeah,

Jermaine Woods  36:02

it’s November to March. It’s a long, it’s a long season. Man, like, it’s, it’s a, it’s a long season. So these, these down times, are not ideal, but for us, with our limited roster, they work. They work for us. Like, Layla is in Texas right now, uh, she had definite family, so she had to, she’s in Texas, you know, praying for her and her family. But, you know, some big news came out by her today. So she

Nestor Aparicio  36:24

is here because she she named the Becky Hammond mid major player of the year watch list. About that happened on Martin Luther King Day actually, on the reigning me act Defensive Player of the Year. You look like a guy that’s going to coach defense. You look scrappy. I’m just being honest. You know, coaching team, look at you, right? You’re like, you look at

Jermaine Woods  36:41

the smile. I’m a defensive guy, man. I’m a defensive guy. You can’t tell the last two games, we’re getting beat off the dribble a lot. But you know, we are a defensive team. So how about that, though? Coppin State University women’s basketball player, is named to the mid major the the national mid major watch list. Becky Hammond, watch list player. That is amazing. What a great job by Leland,

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Nestor Aparicio  37:03

you discover Layla and and, and I’ll get Layla on when, when she gets a little bit time. I know she’s had a rough week, let her go play ball and win a championship here, but, but, but in bringing people in who may not even know what COVID state is, or may know very little about it from outside the region, I’ve been amazed that I’ve been doing this 15 years, and, you know, all the years. Steve Kramer, thank you, Steve, for helping us out and roughing it. Everybody, you know, everybody across the board. But I’m amazed that I look at the baseball kids from Hawaii Come get some Florida just like that. I wouldn’t have thought about it that way. I always thought, well, Fango get some kids from Philly to come down. You know what? I mean, it felt more regional to me. But it’s not really that way at all.

Jermaine Woods  37:45

Yeah, it’s, you know, it’s like, like we talked about before, my background came from recruiting. So I know a lot of people, and so I, you know, you call the people that you leaned on, but you at the beat, the power four level, and they look out for me. They put me in the right direction. I spent a lot of time in Texas, you know, I’m in Texas to get her to come to Baltimore, right? And once she came to Baltimore, once, once I get you on campus and get you in front of see what we do when we go, when I do anything, you meet the president, athletic director and administration, because we are a big family small school, you gotta show that you are a family or why you at a small school. Why come to a small school if you don’t have access to the president, there’s no reason to come there, and he is accessible. Uh, AV has an open door policy, and so we get these young women and parents on campus. They meet those people, and not just me, and we get to sell it in Baltimore. People are people talk about Baltimore. Before I came to Baltimore, I thought Baltimore, I didn’t know I’m like Baltimore. I live on the harbor. I love it. I park my car. Walk everywhere. I think it’s an amazing place to be. I love living in Baltimore. I love where I live. And once I get them on campus and in Baltimore, they fall in love. We only lost one recruit,

Nestor Aparicio  38:57

too. Everybody says that Derek, you know when, when it comes to bring and I feel the same way when I come over, it’s always like, I feel like, hey, when do I get to come back? Not I’m in a hurry to leave? For sure. Yeah, for sure.

Jermaine Woods  39:09

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And when you’re on copper’s campus, I know it’s on North Ave. You don’t know that, though. I’m telling you, we got a beautiful campus. It’s like a hitting gym. And the parents like, Oh my goodness. So the bar is so low for them, like when they come, they can’t believe it’s there. And my our kids live downtown by the Oreo Stadium in Redwood, like they live in luxury apartments. So just like we got, we got a great gym. So it’s once we just gotta get them there. Once we get them there, you know, again, in three years, we’ve lost two, two recruits to other schools, and so we’ve been successful with recruiting. That’s and that’s the big part of it, all

Nestor Aparicio  39:42

right, God see Lady Eagles play head coach. I gotta get you back to the ladies man. Jermaine Woods is here. My thanks to you. I kept you too long. Apologies, but it was having fun. I don’t get to talk college basketball as much as I know we I don’t understand enough about it to feel confident. It that I know what I’m talking about in the modern era, because I’m just, I’m not, I’ve been trying to chase Beano around so he can come on explain it to me on the men’s side too. Because I think the more of it input that I get as to what’s really happening. Because I just know it’s tremendously different than it was the first 50 years of my life. And and you know, 45 of yours probably or 40 you

Jermaine Woods  40:19

have, you’re 40, all about 43 at the 43 going on, 55 man, coaching, coaching, basketball ages you. Man, I’m telling you, look good. Man, by the way, so you know, thank you for having me on. Man, really appreciate it. And you say you don’t know, but you’re a great listener. You catch on fast, because you gave me some things. Imma use that payroll line. I’m using that, man, like I’m using that payroll line. Listen

Nestor Aparicio  40:40

underneath of the interview here on Baltimore positive. There’ll just be a whole transcript. You can clip whatever you want. You put on a coffee mug if you want. You know Jermaine Boyce is here. He’s head coach lady. He goes, good luck to you. Me Act this year and I will see you. I’m going to come over to you guys play. I think we’ll be out there March 6 for the double header, because it’s always a lot of fun to get the Morgan folks all right? And the bands, oh my goodness, it’s fun time. Come on out to cop and and enjoy. And if you can’t, you can always tune in to wnsda in 1570 All right, football, baseball, playoffs, Super Bowl, all this stuff’s going on. Lamar, Josh, all that we’re wnsta in 1570 Towson, Baltimore, we never stop talking COVID state and Baltimore positive. Hang in there with us.

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