NBA pedigree has met HBCU grind, and Reggie Theus has Bethune-Cookman on top of the SWAC.
Bethune-Cookman erased a 14-point first-half hole and finished off a 76-71 road win over Grambling State on Thursday night. The result, paired with Southern’s loss to Florida A&M, clinched the SWAC regular season championship for the Wildcats. It is their first league title since joining the SWAC and just the second regular-season conference crown for the program since moving to Division I in the early 1980s.
NBA-to-HBCU
Theus’ résumé is the easy headline. The former NBA All-Star, longtime pro, is now the athletic director and men’s basketball coach in Daytona Beach. He’s been there since 2020. But the better story is what the climb has looked like. Bethune-Cookman didn’t flip a switch. It stacked bricks.
In 2021-22, the Wildcats were 9-21. In 2022-23, they took their lumps at 12-20. The next two years brought stability and belief — 17-17 in 2023-24, then 17-16 in 2024-25. This season, the Wildcats are 16-13 overall, but the number that matters most is 13-3 in SWAC play — the profile of a team that understands how to win the same way every night.
Bethune-Cookman grinds it out
Wednesday’s comeback looked like a snapshot of the whole rebuild. Grambling threw the first punch and built momentum early, but Bethune-Cookman kept defending, kept attacking the paint, and eventually took control after halftime. Jakobi Heady led the way with 20 points in 40 minutes, drilling two threes and going a perfect 6-for-6 at the line. Daniel Rouzan added 15, and Arterio Morris chipped in 15 off the bench to give the Wildcats a steady second scorer when they needed it.
For an HBCU program that has rarely had a regular-season trophy to hold up in the Division I era, this one hits different. It’s proof that Theus’ “slow build” was his own success story. And now, Bethune-Cookman heads into March not just as a contender, but as the team everybody has to chase.