Cabral Huff named Edward Waters University men's basketball coach: What to know
Cabral Huff hasn't been in Jacksonville long, but he already has the phrase that he hopes will define the coming years of Edward Waters basketball.
"We are Duval," Huff said, "and we're going to show it."
Surrounded by orange and purple balloons, Huff stepped into his new role as Edward Waters University's next men's basketball coach during Wednesday afternoon's introduction inside the Adams-Jenkins Community Sports and Music Complex.
A former state champion high school coach in Georgia, Huff has worked for the past three seasons as head coach at Voorhees University, a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics based in Denmark, S.C.
Voorhees won the Continental Athletic Conference championship in 2020-21, qualifying for the NAIA tournament. The team finished 14-14 in 2022-23.
At EWU, Huff takes the position following the interim tenure of Howard White Jr., who in turn replaced former coach Fredrick Summers — now at Miles College — during the fall. He will be the Tigers' fourth coach since 2017-18.
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CHAMPION IN GEORGIA
University president A. Zachary Faison said EWU is setting its sights not only on SIAC honors but, in time, contending for an NCAA Division II national title.
The Tigers finished 10-19 in the 2022-23 season, losing to Miles in the third round of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament, although they had topped .500 in each of the two previous seasons under Summers. He's confident that Huff is the ideal fit.
"[The key factors were] his passion for developing student-athletes, and his record of winning," Faison said. "We wanted someone that was a demonstrated winner."
Huff, described by EWU athletic director Ivana Rich as a "dynamic leader," graduated from Morehouse College in Georgia before beginning his coaching career.
He led Alpharetta (Ga.) St. Francis from 2008 to 2014, including a Georgia High School Association Class A Private championship in 2014. Huff has also worked on college staffs at Georgia Southern and Alcorn State between 2014 and 2016, then returned to high school basketball with Duluth (Ga.) and Holy Innocents Episcopal in Atlanta before his 2020 move to Voorhees.
TURNING UP THE PACE
With Edward Waters, Huff promised up-tempo, intense basketball and a commitment to what he calls the "four Vitamin E's": energy, effort, enthusiasm and execution.
"We're going to be playing fast," Huff said. "We're going to dictate offensively, dictate defensively, what we're trying to do. We don't want teams to think it's easy."
Edward Waters went 7-14 in SIAC play last year, with two of the victories coming in forfeit wins over Benedict.
While Huff said the transfer portal and junior college will be a part of Tigers recruiting, he also hopes to step up EWU's presence at high schools across the region. He said he intends to focus on "rectangular recruiting" stretching from Miami, to Mobile, Ala., to Atlanta, to Charlotte, N.C., with a particular emphasis on the Sunshine State.
"If you've never seen the purple and orange in your gym," he said, "you'll see us now."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: College basketball: Edward Waters University hires coach Cabral Huff
