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It’s not every day you get to interview a college coach. A high-level one at that, having been named Coach of the Year in his region. To become a great coach, you must have patience, discipline, passion, adaptability, relatability, innovation, and be a visionary. You have to be able to think on the fly in pressure situations while keeping your composure under various circumstances.
Coaching isn’t for everyone, but the great ones stand out. Next in the Tremendous 24 series is the first and only collegiate coach I’ve interviewed, Clinton College Men’s Basketball Coach and the 2023 NCCAA Coach of the Year, Cory Sloan.
It’s March 2023, a month before I head to Atlanta for the life-changing event of the Black Sports Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a cold, numbing winter day; I was nervous—my first interview in 2023. I thoroughly reviewed my questions to ensure they aligned with how I wanted them. I didn’t want to mess up interviewing the nation's youngest four-year college head (27) at the time.
I got in my car and warmed it up before starting the interview, and then we got right into it. When we began the interview, Sloan had just finished practicing during the team's championship week. I felt even more pressure to produce a good interview, but his humble and laid-back nature made everything smooth sailing.
Sloan was born in Orlando, Florida, but raised in Greenville, South Carolina. He grew up in a two-parent household in Greenville with less than 60,000 residents before becoming one of the most populated cities in South Carolina. Sloan's love for basketball started at a young age when he described himself as a defensive-minded player.
“I didn’t really know too much how to play. I just ran and ran and ran…I got steals but could never finish layups on a fastbreak. Being that little kid speedster running, throwing it hard off the backboard. I’d say probably around sixth, seventh grade would probably be when I like fully dove into it.”
Sloan attended Eastside High School in Taylors, South Carolina, just outside Greenville. Growing up, he played for various AAU teams, from Celtics South to the SC Phenoms. During Sloan’s freshman year at Eastside, the school didn’t have a freshman team, which made it very difficult for a freshman to make the team.
Sloan’s court time increased the following year, and his team went 17-7 overall. Between his sophomore and junior seasons, Sloan had a freakish scene on the basketball court that involved popping his shoulder back in.
“I went up for a layup in AAU, came down, guy kind of got underneath me so I came down on my shoulder. I never really had too many injuries growing up…I had bruises, but I never really broke anything before… My shoulder popped out on the court. I didn’t really think twice about it. I didn’t really do much. I just popped it back in like you see out of a movie… My dad was an assistant coach at the time; he subbed me off looked at me like are you all good? “
Sloan’s shoulder would continue popping in and out, and he eventually saw a specialist who said he was born without a muscle in his right rotator cuff in a rare condition. Sloan’s condition caused him to do intense physical therapy and limited him in specific exercises.
“I tried to do physical therapy, and that physical therapy was brutal…I could never bench press, like arm bars, basically anything that was heavy strain on the shoulder I couldn’t do. Pushups I could do like five or ten at a time, maybe but it would just put heavy pressure on the shoulder. It was physically so weak that I couldn’t do it.”
Sloan still played in church leagues but refrained from playing anything serious basketball-wise due to physical limitations with his shoulder. After his injury, Sloan had to adapt himself as he still wanted to be around basketball but couldn’t play anymore. Sloan’s mom always emphasized having a plan, which is precisely what Sloan had.
Sloan became a student coach/manager at Winthrop University under Pat Kelcey at the Division I level. That experience was invaluable for Sloan, who put in blood, sweat, and tears during his time at the program, from traveling with the team to engaging in the practices, film, etc. He spoke openly and passionately about his time at Winthrop, mentioning some intriguing experiences, such as using Exos Tech to film practice.
In the first two years, the program lost in the Big South championship before ultimately winning it in his junior season, where Sloan got to experience March Madness upfront as a participant for the first time. During his junior season, Sloan did volunteer coaching at the high school level to gain more reps. This led him to garner an offer to coach at Northwestern High School in Rock Hill, South Carolina, to coach for the Northwestern Trojans, where he had to make a tough decision.
“My senior year, I got offered an official position at the high school, but the compliance director at Winthrop was basically like, you got to choose one or the other because this is going to be a conflict of interest… Just for sake of experience, I already done Winthrop for three years. I was like, let me try this high school stuff for a year.”
After managing and assistant video coordinating for Winthrop, where the team posted a record of 68-29 during his tenure, including three consecutive Big South title game appearances (winning in 2016-17) and an NCAA tournament bid in 2017, Sloan bet on himself.
It paid off.
Sloan started as the freshman head coach for two seasons before moving to JV for a year. Once the varsity head coach retired, Sloan became the associate head coach. During his five seasons at Northwestern, Sloan led the program to a 74-42 program record, which included back-to-back 20+ win seasons and the first regional championship in over twenty years in 2019.
After a historic coaching career at Northwestern, where he shifted the program, Sloan took his talents to the collegiate level in 2020 to coach the Clinton College Golden Bears. He started as an assistant coach and moved to associate before being named interim head coach in 2022, right before the season in a rapid change of events.
“I was like, man, I should probably be, at least, in contention for this head job…The high school didn’t even interview me. They said it would’ve been a waste of time because of my age…After that- COVID year, my man that I’ve known for a while [Dee Frazier] asked me if I wanted to basically coach in college again. I was like, man, I don’t have any job right now. I can’t sit here and say no…So I did Clinton for a year as just an assistant, halfway through, I got bumped to associate…I think it was about September 7, September 8, I got a call from him one night like, “Hey man, I just got a job offer from a DII, and I’m going to take that, so you’re going to be in charge of everything.”
It was a seamless transition for Sloan, leading the team to a 22-3 record in 2022-23, going undefeated (12-0) at home, and guiding the Clinton Golden Bears to the NCCAA Division I Conference Championship. It marked the 1st time in school history, doing so in the first season as a National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) member. They also garnered their first DII win in program history over Edward Waters 105-80.
Sloan did all that en route to being named the NCCAA Coach of the Year in 2023.
The Golden Bears reached the NCCAA national championship game but lost to Bethel 78-72. The following year, they went 18-11 overall, becoming the South Regional champions, defeating USCAA foe Mid-Atlantic Christian at home 95-72.
Despite all the obstacles, Sloan has put his stamp on the collegiate level. The year he won Coach of the Year, the Golden Bears finished the season scoring 106.2 ppg and grabbing 48.8 rebounds per game, ranking 1st in NCCAA Division 1. The Bears also finished 2nd in Field Goal % (52.1) and 1st in 3PT % (39.4).
The 2022-2023 season saw many records set for the Golden Bears, including the Most Points Scored (141 against Hosana Bible), the Most Field Goals Made (48 against FiveTowns College), the Most Field Goal Attempts (135 at UV Lynchburg), and the Most Free Throws Made (33 at UV Lynchburg).
Sloan coached multiple student-athletes who received All-Region awards from Cameron Shannon, getting a 1st Team All-Region and Jeremiah Anderson a 2nd Team All-Region selection. Shannon also received an All-American 3rd team for NCCAA D1.
Despite all his great success, I asked Sloan what made him want to get into coaching.
“I would have those kids over at my house sometimes to spend the night. My parents would be helping them out as much as they could. Helping out with life advice, helping them out with personal things, stuff like that…My mom was a preschool teacher and a social worker…Just trying to figure out a way to help people, but also doing it with passion…I love basketball; I love sports. I figured, you know coaching, I can have that be a way to help people.”
Sloan credited his offensive schemes, film breakdown insights from his time at Winthrop, where he soaked in knowledge as an assistant manager and video coordinator, and his defensive strategies from Northwestern. Before the games, Sloan distances himself to alleviate stress and calm his mind before going into battle.
Outside of basketball, Sloan enjoys playing video games, being outdoors, walking his dog, watching movies, and even having a shelf full of movies with old DVDs and Blu-ray. His top five NBA players of all time are Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Larry Bird, and Tim Duncan, in no specific order, with James as his GOAT pick.
For his all-time starting five, he put Steve Nash at the point, Jordan at the off-guard position, LeBron at the three, Bird at the four, and Shaquille O’Neal at center. Sloan hopes to coach at the Division I level one day if the opportunity arises, but he ultimately loves coaching at the collegiate level.
He advised younger aspiring coaches to get their work done early because they have more responsibilities from kids, bills, etc, as life continues. It takes sacrifices. I then asked Sloan the legacy question, to which he gave a great closing response.
“That at the end of the day, I was always myself. And that’s how it should be. Don’t let any people affect what you do at any level, no matter what it is…We’ve gotten to the point where selfishness is frowned upon, but everyone needs to be selfish in some regard…You have to sometimes do what some people say, but at the end of the day, you have to kind of keep it congruent with what you’re doing…This dude did what he wanted to do….You’re going to have your ups and downs, but at least stay true to yourself…I chose my own path.”
From overcoming a shoulder injury that altered his life trajectory to adapting and doing the long, gritty days of working at Winthrop before finally getting a coaching opportunity. Sloan’s unmatched dedication, perseverance, patience, and humility made him a Coach of the Year.
That is why he embodies Greatness Within.
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