How Coach Yo and DK Metcalf teamed up to provide school supplies in Oxford and beyond
OXFORD – Ole Miss women's basketball coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin finalized a new contract on Tuesday afternoon that will make her one of a select group of coaches in the women's game to average an annual salary of more than $1 million.
Just a few hours after the news was announced, 'Coach Yo' could be found zipping through a crowd outside an Oxford Housing Authority administration building, chatting up families as she gave back.
McPhee-McCuin joined with former Ole Miss football standout and current Seattle Seahawks star DK Metcalf and his charity, the Metcalf Family Foundation, to give away backpacks and school supplies to children, along with free haircuts, snow cones and face painting.
"I asked (assistant coach and Oxford native Erika Sisk) to take me around and show me some of the places that are from a lower income," McPhee-McCuin said. "She took me around the Oxford community, and right then and there I knew it was time for me to step in with my foundation and give back. DK heard about it through Erika and the Metcalf Family Foundation jumped on it right away."
With Sisk coordinating the logistics, Metcalf's foundation provided the backpacks, McPhee-McCuin said, adding that she expected to give away 200 of them on Tuesday. A further 200 will be distributed at an event in Clarksdale on Wednesday, with another 200 earmarked for a similar event McPhee-McCuin plans to hold in her native Bahamas.
The full Ole Miss women's basketball roster turned out to help, bar Madison Scott, who is in Chile competing with Team USA at an Under-23 3-on-3 tournament.
"I did not make them do this," McPhee-McCuin said. "They stepped and said they want to help, so they're doing the face paints."
McPhee-McCuin's program has enjoyed a strong relationship with Metcalf recently. He spoke to the Rebels last season when he made a return to Oxford — a conversation McPhee-McCuin said helped fuel her team. Metcalf accumulated 1,228 receiving yards in an Ole Miss uniform between 2016-18. He was chosen in the second round of the NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks, where he's posted a further 4,218 receiving yards and 35 touchdowns.
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He couldn't attend the event in person, with the Seahawks starting training camp on Wednesday. But his father, Terrence — an All-American lineman at Ole Miss before enjoying his own pro career ‒ was present.
"He has a job to do and that's football, but he's still a young man that loves his community, loves his state, loves his city," Terrence Metcalf said of his son. "It's just a no-brainer. I'm elated. It's what he's been raised to do."
David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: DK Metcalf, Coach Yo team up to help children in Ole Miss community
