Clenita Belford didn’t set out to become a coach.
There was a time that the Pensacola native had her heart set on becoming a doctor. But a series of circumstances led her to a different fate.
First there was the fact that in her senior year at Washington High School, Belford played on the only undefeated basketball team in the state, picking up the state championship crown in the process
That helped to get her a scholarship at the University of West Florida, where she started in a pre-med program. But scheduling issues arose, which led Belford to switch her major to general biology, the subject in which she received her degree.
Not really knowing what she wanted to do, only that she was ready to get out of Pensacola, she found herself in Omaha, Nebraska, where she landed a slot as a coach at Concordia Lutheran High School.
So, fate kept her on the basketball court. And after a variety of coaching positions around the country – including a stint as an assistant coach at the Division I level ─ she’s now in her sixth year as the women’s basketball head coach at Pensacola State College.
“It’s been great to be back home in Pensacola,” she says. “And even though I didn’t attend PSC, I feel like I’m part of the family. The athletic department was very welcoming, and I see that family spirit every day with everyone I work with. It makes coming to work and being here that much special.”
After Omaha, Belford worked as Director of Basketball Operations – sort of a non-coaching assistant job – at the University of South Alabama. From there she went to Liberal, Kansas, where she was an assistant coach at Seward County Community College.
“That’s where I really got a taste of living in the Midwest,” Belford says. “It was a LOT colder. Liberal, Kansas, is really small. The closest airports were two and a half hours away and three and a half hours away. It certainly was different, but in a good way.”
Following Seward County, Belford got to realize a dream of hers – to coach at the Division I level – at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Belford says she was there at the time
Damian Lillard put Weber State on the map by becoming sixth overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, selected by the Portland Trailblazers.
After two years at Weber, Belford heard about the opening for women’s head coach at Pensacola State.
“I didn’t think I had a shot,” she says. “But (PSC Athletic Director)
Bill Hamilton knew of me and found out more about me. He flew out to Salt Lake City to interview me and we attended a Utah Jazz game together, courtesy of
Dennis Lindsey, former PJC men’s and women’s basketball coach who is now the Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Utah Jazz. He offered me the job and I accepted it.”
Coaching basketball at a two-year institution has a particular set of challenges, Belford says.
“At a four-year school you have time to develop your players’ talent. But when you recruit at a two-year school, you’re looking for someone who can come in and can make an immediate impact. You have a much shorter window in which to work.”
And as many scholastic coaches discover, Belford learned that there’s more to teach the players than just basketball.
“These kids come from so many different backgrounds,” she says. “As a coach you’re faced with a combination of teaching them the game and how to be successful in the classroom. This year we’ve had the highest cumulative GPA, 3.31. You really have to teach them everything, including how to take that teaching and apply it.”
Belford recently spoke with the PSC student newspaper, The Corsair, about another interesting aspect of scholastic coaching, the recruitment of international students. She has coached seven international players during her time here, from such places as India, England, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and currently has two on the roster.
“One thing about international players is that they never take the opportunity of being here in the United States or having a scholarship for granted,” Belford told The Corsair. “In the classroom they will utilize every resource to succeed.”
Belford says acceptance by the PSC family has also encouraged her in starting her own family. She often brings her 17-month-old daughter Jalaya to practices and to games.
“She walks in the gym and sees the Pirate in the foyer area or a Pirate logo on my shirt and says, ‘Pi! Pi! Pi!’ She can look at the team poster and name all the girls on the team. And if someone scores, she knows how to clap, although to her it doesn’t matter which team it is.”
Belford, who was one of Inweekly magazine’s Rising Stars a couple of years ago, says she’s found a warm and welcoming home at Pensacola State.
“For me the biggest thing is to make an impact in a young lady’s life,” she says. “To see them grow in school and graduate and leave here with tools that they can take with them to grow in life.”
-- Mike Suchcicki; Cleyver Gomez contributed to this report
Photo by Cleyver Gomez, The Corsair
