I am pleased to have the privilege of introducing you to fellow Coalition member and the new Defensive Coordinator at Grambling State University, Cedric Thornton. When I first spoke with Coach Thornton, he was sitting in line at the bank drive thru on a cold February day in Grambling, Louisiana. He told me that schools were shut down because of ice and all I could think to ask was "Y’all actually have winter down there?!" 

I asked if that was where he grew up and he replied naw, I’m from "Jackson, Mississippi, right there at 2400 Robinson Road, Provine High School!" I have never been to Mississippi, but from the way he emphatically said it, I just assumed that anyone who has been there knows exactly where that is. He told me about growing up in Jackson in a single-parent home in the projects with two siblings and his mom who was the rock. She was everything he said: "role model, provider, and enforcer." She was tough but everything I have accomplished in life has been inspired by her.

I asked him if there were any positive role models outside of the home? He said that life in the projects is full of negative influences, but the streets sometimes take care of their own. He said that the guys in the neighborhood knew that he was about his books and about playing ball, so they made sure that he stayed out of the streets. He went on to tell me about his junior high school football coach Frederick Casher and how impactful he was in his life and in becoming a young man. Casher was hard on him and would whoop his butt if he messed up and how he had nothing but love and respect for him. He said, "this man taught me how to tie a tie!" He went on to tell me about Houston Markham, his football coach at Alabama State. Houston was an old school coach who was strong on discipline, he would always tell Cedric “You ain't going back home, I promised your mom that you would get a degree and that’s what you going to do!” Well, Coach Markham held up his promise as Cedric would graduate with a degree in recreational therapy. 

After Alabama State, he would go on to have a “little vacation” with the Jacksonville Jaguars training camp. Following his time with Jacksonville he had a chance to go play NFL Europe, but chose to join one of his college coaches, Roger Pritchard, who was now coaching high school. He told me that Pritchard was the first white man that he ever had a caring relationship for in his life. 

Our conversation drifted into other areas and naturally the Brian Flores lawsuit came up. We discussed how he had long ago been turned off by the politics of the NFL and had not followed the league in years. He told me that he is a high school ball coach at heart because he loves the purity of the game and likes teaching the game and seeing young people excel. It was not until he saw that the Miami Dolphins had a Black GM and a Black Head Coach that he started watching the NFL again and became a Dolphins fan.

The more we talked, the more his passion for the game came through. I found that Coach is a bit of a historian - deep into statistical analysis. He expressed his feelings about “us” needing to do a better job of hiring "us" when we get in a position to do so. He provided examples of minority head coaches who only had two or three minority coaches on the entire staff. 

I asked Coach how he end up at Grambling after 6 years as the Defensive Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach at Alcorn State? He said that he received a call from Hue Jackson, who he had never met before, out of the blue and how Hue said that he had talked to some folks and told them that he was looking for a defensive coordinator and how everyone told him "if you don’t go get Coach Thornton, you’re crazy."

Coach Thornton told me how difficult of a decision it was to make the move because he had been in the trenches with Fred McNair (Mac), the original Air McNair, for 6 great years. He described Mac as the most real and solid dude you might ever meet: “He’s golden, it was very hard to tell Mac that I was leaving because I have nothing but love for him and he did everything he could to try and keep me. But I felt at the end of the day that this was the best decision for me and my family and would allow Mac and Alcorn State a bit more flexibility financially." 

So now Coach Thornton is off and running as the new Defensive Coordinator, Assistant Head Coach and Line Backers Coach at Grambling State University. I asked how it’s going? He expressed that they are off and running and that he has already landed some high-profile recruits. I told him that I saw the announcement when Leroy Page, 6’4 defensive back out of Louisiana, chose Grambling State over LSU. We both had a good laugh about him announcing that he would be attending the “University of Grambling.”

I asked how this move affected the family and he told me that it has actually been a great move familywise. His wife Dawn, who he describes a "funny as hell and could be a comedian," is the head women’s basketball coach at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff. She is 2 ½ hours away from him and that this is the closest they have been to each other since 2015 when they were both in Texas, she was the head coach at Prairie View, and he was at Texas Southern.

They have a five-year-old son Camden who we should probably keep our eyes on because he’s already showing signs of a beast in the making. I asked how they make it work with the distance between them? They make the most of their time together and during his season she is there as his biggest supporter and fan and the same holds true for him during basketball season.

I could have talked to Coach for hours because he had so much insight on more than just football, but the conversation had to come to an end. I know that I am excited to see what the new look Grambling Tigers led by Coach Jackson and Coach Thornton will look like this year and the Coalition will be rooting for them all the way!

*You can connect with Coach Thornton via Twitter: