BALDWIN, N.Y. | Alabama A&M University women’s basketball head coach Dawn Thornton was named to the 2024-25 Advancement of Blacks in Sport (ABIS) Black Coaches Watch List.
ABIS’s mission is to connect and inspire people to boldly advocate for racial equity, social and economic justice for blacks in sports. “The committee has selected one of the most impressive groups of coaches for this year’s watchlist than we have ever had,” said Founder & CEO, Gary Charles. This is the fourth year of the ABIS Coaches Watchlist. Over 80% of the coaches on this year’s list are competing in the post-season at the NCAA tournament, WBIT, or WNIT.
The Alabama A&M University Women’s basketball team has had a historic year under the direction of Dawn Thornton, in her first season at the helm of the program. Not only did the team amass over 20 wins this season, the first time during the division I era, they notched the best preseason record in program history as well. At the conclusion of the regular season, AAMU tied for the most Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) weekly awards given to one program, with 11. AAMU saw three student athletes reach their 1000 career point mark (Kalia Walker, Mailyn Wilkerson, Alisha Wilson) , one reach 1200 career points (Lauryn Pendleton) and one reach 1000 career rebounds (Alisha Wilson).
With just three returners from the previous season, Coach Thornton and the Bulldogs have built a program that has changed the culture of women’s basketball and broke the attendance record for the AAMU event center twice this season. Coach Thornton is one of two SWAC head coaches on the watch list, alongside SWAC Coach of the Year and coach of the 2025 SWAC Tournament Champions, Southern University, Carlos Funchess.
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