LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — One of the first challenges for DeJuan Wheat in his new role as head coach at Simmons College of Kentucky? Just speaking up.<\/p>\n
As an assistant coach at IU Southeast, he could let head coach Wiley Brown do most of the talking and offer his suggestions when needed. But now, he\u2019s the one making decisions \u2014 and his voice is the one his players need to hear. He\u2019s the one in demand at university events, with fan groups, and in the huddle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just taking it in stride,\u201d Wheat said before practice last Friday. \u201cI haven\u2019t really been a real sociable person, but the older I got, I have come out of my shell a little bit. And it\u2019s good. It\u2019s a different process being a head coach. It brings that out of you. But I\u2019m ready for it. I prepared for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
And strangely enough, whether he\u2019s meeting with players or coaching on the court, it\u2019s not always his own words that the former University of Louisville star is using. It\u2019s the words of many coaches he\u2019s played for.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of them,\u201d Wheat said. \u201cEvery one of them, from my high school coach, Scotty Davenport, to Denny Crum, to Flip Saunders when I was with the Timberwolves, even when I was an assistant to Wiley Brown. I took all that into my head and, with my own style, what I\u2019ve learned from all those guys I\u2019ve put into my own system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wheat took over a Simmons team he already knew a little about. He coached against them last season and spent the offseason studying video and learning his new roster. He\u2019ll be assisted this season by another former Louisville standout \u2013 Jason Osborne.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our first meeting, they said they wanted to pick up where they left off last season and keep going further,\u201d Wheat said. \u201cI just asked them to trust the process and trust me, and that\u2019s what they\u2019ve done. \u2026 We\u2019ve got 16 guys \u2014 I\u2019d say half of them didn\u2019t play basketball last season. I just like giving guys the opportunity to live out their dreams. For us, it\u2019s about education first. Go to class. I played a lot of basketball, but I wouldn\u2019t be coach at Simmons College if I hadn\u2019t got a degree.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wheat does have some key returnees. One is Jonathan \u201cB.J.\u201d Johnson, a native of Marion, Ark., who wasn\u2019t playing basketball or attending school when Simmons player Caleb Franklin suggested the program might have a spot for him. Johnson\u2019s versatile game and 6-foot-4 frame were a fit from the start.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting the call to come here was the chance I was waiting for,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s been great ever since. \u2026 Coach Wheat has been wonderful, like a breath of fresh air. He\u2019s more than just a coach. He doesn\u2019t treat us like we\u2019re just here to win games. It\u2019s bigger than basketball. With him, this is life. He shows us how to carry ourselves as men, how to think about when this is all said and done, who are we outside of this? That\u2019s what he teaches us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wheat is also working to find a more consistent position for Johnson, who\u2019s played all over the court in the past.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Simmons College point guard Gavin Withrow (3) talks to teammates before a recent practice.<\/p>\n
ERIC CRAWFORD<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no question about the role of senior point guard Gavin Withrow. The Male High School graduate, like Johnson, was out of the game and pondering his next move after COVID when Simmons called. He said having a coach with a guard\u2019s mindset has made a big difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talk to him in depth,\u201d Withrow said. \u201cHe tells me what he sees on the court, and I tell him what I see. So we kind of make that connection \u2014 he tells me I should do this. He\u2019s been there, done that, star Louisville guard, top scorer. Yeah. So why not take his advice?\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked for the team\u2019s biggest strength, Withrow didn\u2019t hesitate: \u201cWe can get out and run on anybody. Pick up full-court, 94 feet of defense, get under anybody, make them uncomfortable, just run in transition and get easy buckets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wheat called Johnson and Withrow \u201cthe backbone of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll need some backbone early. Simmons opens its season on the road at College of the Cumberlands on Oct. 24, followed by a trip to IU Southeast. After a tournament in Whiting, Tenn., the Falcons return home to face Indiana University Columbus on Nov. 4. December road trips include games at Kentucky Wesleyan and Georgetown.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of those teams are at a higher level than we are, but that\u2019s one thing I learned from Coach Crum,\u201d Wheat said. \u201cYou play the tough games early. You might get beat up, but you learn from your losses \u2014 if you take them \u2014 and then you prepare.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quick sips<\/strong><\/p>\n CALIFORNIA DREAMIN\u2019:<\/strong> Louisville volleyball rolled through its ACC west coast swing over the weekend, dominating Cal before surprising No. 4-ranked Stanford in a four-set win that saw the team continue to move forward. Read more about it here.<\/p>\n SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS:<\/strong> Heading into its bye week at 4-1 with a trip to No. 2 Miami upcoming on the other side, a look at what has plagued the Louisville football team this season, and how much of it seems to be of its own making. Read it here.<\/p>\n The Last Drop<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYou guys can write and say what you want about me, but I told you, there is zero chance I’m walking away. You know what I mean? Zero. There is no quit in me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops<\/strong>, asked about rumors that he was willing to talk about an exit strategy after the Wildcats\u2019 loss at Georgia on Saturday<\/p>\n Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — One of the first challenges for DeJuan Wheat in his new role as head…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":281192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,2076,145238,40074,145239,16548,40076,40078,40082,40080,43083,40077,40079,40083,40081,40072,1317,1337,1338,145237,62,40075,67,132,68,40071],"class_list":{"0":"post-281191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-dejuan-wheat","11":"tag-eric-crawford","12":"tag-first-year-head-coach","13":"tag-hbcu","14":"tag-local-college-sports","15":"tag-local-high-school-sports","16":"tag-local-horse-racing","17":"tag-local-pro-sports","18":"tag-louisville","19":"tag-louisville-college-sports","20":"tag-louisville-high-school-sports","21":"tag-louisville-horse-racing","22":"tag-louisville-pro-sports","23":"tag-louisville-sports","24":"tag-ncaa","25":"tag-ncaa-basketball","26":"tag-ncaabasketball","27":"tag-simmons-college","28":"tag-sports","29":"tag-tom-lane","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-unitedstates","32":"tag-us","33":"tag-wdrb-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n