Joyner taking over WSSU women's team

ROOTS: FATHER, UNCLE ARE ALSO COACHES

Tired of unpacking boxes in his spacious office, Steve Joyner Jr. took a causal walk around the Gaines Center to look at the trophy cases.

"You know what I saw?" he asked with a determined look that he once showed as a point guard, "I saw one women's basketball trophy, and that was it."

The trophy was from a long-ago Christmas tournament, and Joyner said that it was for second place. The point he wanted to make was this -- he has his mind set on turning around a Winston-Salem State women's basketball program that has little tradition of success.

The Rams have had just 12 winning seasons in 27 years, with the last coming in 2002-03 (16-11). Since then, they have gone 53-147, including 2-28 this past season.

Joyner, 30, will enter his first season as a head coach with his team on a 26-game losing streak. However, he said that his first challenge will not be about wins or losses.

"The main focus I want to do is change the attitude," Joyner said. "Winston's always been a school that's had a lot of pride, especially in basketball. Going back to Big House Gaines and all that, I want to reach back and bring it to the women's side."

Joyner comes from an extended family of coaches. His father, Steve Sr., is the dean of CIAA coaches and a future CIAA Hall-of-Famer. He has a 420-245 record in 24 seasons as the men's coach at Johnson C. Smith. An uncle, Buck Joyner, has been the men's coach at Livingstone and St. Paul's (his current position), and a cousin, Ed Joyner Jr., is the men's coach at Hampton.

Steve Jr. played for his father (1997-2001) and said that experience went a long way toward his development as a coach.

"All the way through college, I didn't even really think about coaching," he said. "But one day my junior year, I was doing an internship, and it hit me in the head. I was sitting behind a desk and it occurred to me that this isn't what I wanted to do."

Steve Jr. landed a job outside of basketball after graduating from Johnson C. Smith, working with an accounting firm in Charlotte. But he also had the chance to help his uncle Buck, the men's coach at Livingstone at the time.

"My Uncle Buck … said that after work, why don't I come down there and be a volunteer coach," Joyner said.

He did, working full time and helping his uncle, and soon after started up the ladder in coaching.

"Then that led to Joli Robinson, who saw me on the sideline, and the next year I joined her on the women's side at N.C. Central," Joyner said.

Joyner worked eight years as an assistant, with stops at N.C. Central, UNC Asheville, Johnson C. Smith and Florida A&M, before Athletics Director Bill Hayes of WSSU hired him in April to replace Dee Stokes.

Steve Joyner Sr. said that as a player, his son always showed a knack for making those around him better. Steve Jr. was a pass-first point guard who knew what it took to make a team better, and Steve Sr. said that attitude has carried over to his son's coaching philosophy.

"I think his background and his development in coaching makes him a great fit there at Winston-Salem State," said Steve Sr., who was born and raised in Winston-Salem.

"Steve knows the history of that university, and he was around Big House Gaines a lot when he was alive, and I think all of that is going to help him"

Steve Jr. -- who grew up in Charlotte -- said that there was a time when he quit playing baseball to focus on basketball, doing so because, as a coach's son, that was expected. But he also said that his father never forced basketball on him.

"Big Steve has always been the one to let us choose our own path," Joyner said. "If I could do it all over again, I might play baseball instead of basketball, but being a coach's son I stayed with basketball. But I remember him telling me if you want to play baseball instead, you can."

One of the tightest bonds that the Joyners share was formed during the 2000-01 season. Steve Jr. was a senior, and Johnson C. Smith was trying to win its first CIAA title under Steve Sr. There was pressure in Charlotte because Steve Sr. had other talented teams that had failed to win it.

"I felt that pressure that year, and the class that I came in with went to the CIAA title game when we were freshmen, and we lost," Joyner said. "And we didn't get back to the title game again until our senior year, so we felt that pressure of underachieving. But as seniors we wanted to do everything we could to get Coach Joyner that championship."

The Golden Bulls did, beating Fayetteville State for the title. Steve Sr. called it the most memorable moment of his long career and said he still gets goose bumps thinking about.

"That's one of the most gratifying moments a father and son could ever have," Steve Sr. said.

The family also faced some behind-the-scenes pressure after Steve's freshman season. The men's job at Winston-Salem State was open, and Steve Sr. nearly took it. The change would have bettered the family's financial situation but also would have broken up the father-son combination.

Steve Jr. said that had his father left, he would have stayed at Johnson C. Smith.

"I wasn't going to go," Steve Jr. said. "But I told dad if it would help the family, then he needed to take it."

In the end Steve Sr. stayed put. Now, his son will coach at WSSU.

"I guess that's kind of a full-circle thing," Steve Sr. said.

Being coached by his father helped prepare Steve Jr. for his next challenge, and he said that his father's guidance and wisdom have been big benefits.

"I would say his passion of the game and the way he teaches the game," Joyner said when asked about his father's greatest influence. "The more I get into coaching and mature, I can hear myself saying the same things he used to tell us. We're almost identical because I learned so much from him."

jdell@wsjournal.com


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