Vinson Metcalf, USAO’s Head Men’s Basketball Coach, has been around basketball all of his life. From starting as a young player in Louisiana to eventually bagging a prestigious promotion.

Shortly after graduating from Airline High School in Bossier City, LA, Metcalf attended Hill College, a junior college in Hillsboro, TX. There he was named on the All-Conference Team and earned an associate’s degree. He later transferred to the University of Idaho, a division one school in Moscow, ID. Metcalf suited up for the Vandals for about a year and half and then decided to come back home to take a year off. After the year was up he attended school at USAO’s conference rival, Oklahoma Baptist University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree.

OBU would be the last team Metcalf played for but it would not be the last time he would step on a basketball court.

“I finished my playing career at Oklahoma Baptist University,” Metcalf said. “I got interested in coaching, thought it would be something that I would be pretty good at.”

Shortly after graduating from OBU, Metcalf was named the graduate assistant under legendary coach J.D. Barnett.

“J. D. only lasted the first year I was in graduate school and then they brought in Tubby Smith, who kept me on as a graduate assistant” Metcalf said.

Upon earning his masters at the University of Tulsa, Metcalf was able to go back to Hill College as an assistant.

“I got my first real coaching job at Hill College, and worked for the gentleman I played for, Ray Roberts, who taught me a lot about basketball” Metcalf said.

Metcalf decided to leave Hill College to coach at Tennyson Middle School in Waco, TX where he was the eighth grade boys’ basketball coach.

USAO’s most recent Hall of Fame coach, Brisco McPherson, saw something in Metcalf in the summer of 1998 after he had just lost his assistant.

“I told him (McPherson) I wanted to get back into coaching at the college level,” Metcalf said. “I interviewed for the job, got the job, and I’ve been here ever since as an assistant and now I have the opportunity to showcase everything I’ve learned through some great coaches.”

After having to move around a lot to pursue coaching Metcalf says in the wake of it, his wife has supported him 100%.

“She’s my number one fan,” he said. “It’s very hard on a relationship, but my wife has been 100% supportive of me.” “She knows the love and the passion I have for the game and she’s willing to do anything that needs to be done for us to be successful.”

Metcalf expresses excitement and eagerness to take the reins from his mentor, Coach McPherson, and start his career as a head coach.

Metcalf’s first game as head coach will be when the Drovers kick off their non-conference schedule on Oct. 30 at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, OK.