Black Evansville-area coaches share why diversity matters in high school sports

EVANSVILLE — Jennifer Martin is familiar with many Black female high school coaches across the state.

She's met coaches from Indianapolis, Bloomington and Terre Haute while leading Bosse's girls track and field team, especially when they're all together for the state finals at Indiana University. However, she believes there is a lack of diversity among coaches across Southwestern Indiana and particularly within the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp.

Evansville is the third-largest city in Indiana where 115,749 people called home in 2022; 13.6% of it is Black. There are 106 high school sports coaches between the city's seven schools, and only 11 (10.4%) of them are Black. Four of those coaches reside at Bosse, all leading girls teams.

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Martin takes pride in coaching in the Bulldogs' community. All of Bosse’s coaches will do whatever it takes to help their students succeed, including assisting with transportation to get home from practices and even to the doctor's offices.

“That’s just really kind of the Bosse family," Martin said. "If you’re working at Bosse, you just become part of the family that takes on those things. It’s what’s needed for our students.”

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Brandon Artis and Moe Sutton share some commonalities. They are both football coaches at their respective alma maters, Central and Harrison. Sutton is the first Black coach to lead the Warriors while Artis is the second to lead the Bears — Ed Claybourne was the first from 1966-71.

Artis' father, Fred Helm, was a Central assistant coach for more than two decades. Before Artis landed his first football head coaching gig, he was an assistant for the Bears (2017-19) and North (2019-22). He also led Memorial's girls track and field team for three seasons and served as a Central and Castle assistant.

"It means a lot, especially from a population standpoint," Artis said. "Because I'm representing a small group when you think about the masses in Evansville. I wear it well, to be honest."

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Sutton was the strength and conditioning coach at Pike High School in Indianapolis and was a middle school P.E. teacher before returning to Harrison. The Warriors' job opened in 2017 and Sutton applied for it, but it ended up going to Lane Oxley. Sutton was told back then he wasn't qualified enough for the job. Then he was hired for it three years later by current athletics director Andre Thomas.

One of Sutton's biggest focal points as a coach is to teach life skills by relating to and dealing with the challenges his kids face. Back when he was still at Pike, he noticed there weren't many Black coaches in the state — most of them were at Indianapolis' inner-city schools.

Harrison has the second-highest minority enrollment at 49.9% among the EVSC's five high schools, according to the U.S. News and World Report. Bosse, which has the highest minority enrollment, is one of the six schools located in the Evansville Promise Neighborhood, which the University of Evansville secured a $30 million grant to create last April.

The Promise Zone was federally designated in 2016 when the poverty rate inside the neighborhood stood at more than 39%. Some of its main goals are to increase access to job skills education and training opportunities, as well as improve the academic, social and emotional well-being of youth and families.

Both Bosse and Harrison's percentage of economically disadvantaged students also stands above 50%.

"Obviously, I grew up in a different time, but yet some of the things are still the same," Sutton said. "So when they face some of these challenges, we're able to discuss without there being any type of uneasy or unnerving feelings."

The EVSC isn't the only local school system striving to bolster its diversity. Tecumseh baseball coach Eric Barnes made history as the first Black coach hired for any sport at Boonville in 2017. Austin Brooks, now the Reitz boys basketball coach, was hired by the Pioneers in 2020 after spending his first three seasons coaching his alma mater Day School.

The minority enrollment at the three Warrick County high schools ranges between 3.5 to 15%, per the U.S. News and World Report. The large majority of student-athletes are white.

It doesn't faze Barnes that he is a Black coach. There weren't many minorities playing baseball when he was in high school at Bosse, but he did see more once when he played collegiately at Oakland City.

"I would be more excited to see more minorities get into (coaching), whether it's as an assistant or (as) head coaches," Barnes said. "I think that any way we can grow our game is a great way."

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EVSC has increased its number of minority coaches in recent years

Three Black head coaches in Evansville are completing their first year: Artis, Lucious Wagner and Brock Stone. Wagner and Stone coach girls basketball at Mater Dei and Reitz, respectively. Brooks and Harrison girls basketball coach Oties Epps have also been hired by the EVSC in recent years.

"The EVSC has greatly increased the amount of minority head coaches within the last few years," athletics director Andy Owen said. "This benefits not only our teams and students but also our community."

Artis, Sutton and Brooks feel like the EVSC is making improvements by hiring more minorities. But Martin feels otherwise. She also points to there not being a large enough representation of Black educators within the EVSC.

"That's a very good question for EVSC," Martin said. "Why is there a lack of diversity with the teacher body at EVSC? Because of course, that's going to affect who's available and who can coach."

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Why diversity matters in high school sports

Some of Sutton's former players from Pike are now coaches themselves. A highlight for him as a coach was seeing one of his players become a strength and conditioning graduate assistant at the University of Kentucky.

For Sutton, the key to getting a start as a high school coach is to have experience, often first at the youth level.

"We need more youth coaches out there," he said. "And I think that will help the young guys grow."

Martin has been inspired as a coach by her older sister Lauretta Tyler, a Bosse assistant coach who won the 1977 long jump state title. Meanwhile, Brooks is the son of a reverend and Artis follows in his father's footsteps, which has provided him valuable advice that has been beneficial as a coach.

"Not everybody is going to like everything you do. Not everybody is going to understand everything you do," Artis said. "But you stay true to yourself. You shouldn't have to change yourself for anybody. If you stay true to yourself, then you can live with whatever comes your way."

"I've always been pushed by my dad to push the limits and make sure nothing stops you. Chase your dreams," Brooks added. "And that's what I've done. I'm very proud of myself and the road that I'm on and the road that I've continued to stay on."

All of Southwestern Indiana's Black coaches aim to inspire the next generation, whether they eventually get into coaching like them or choose different pathways. The players that look like them have noticed the high standards they continue to set.

"I was blessed with this opportunity to play with (Brooks)," Reitz basketball senior Ke' Pace said. "I've improved as a player because of him."

Courier & Press sports reporter Treasure Washington can be reached via her email, treasure.washington@courierpress.com, and on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Twashington490.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Black Evansville coaches on importance of diversity in IHSAA sports