When Auburn head women’s basketball coach Larry Vickers made the leap in March from mid-major program Norfolk State, he knew the decade he had spent at the historically Black Virginia university would guide him during his next chapter.

Over 10 seasons at Norfolk State, Vickers turned the Spartans into a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) dynasty, leading the program to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and compiling an overall record of 177-99. Now, Vickers is determined to prove the winning formula he curated at an HBCU works in the SEC, the most competitive conference in women’s college basketball.

Vickers is the first HBCU women’s basketball head coach to jump directly to the Power Four level since 2013, when Texas Southern coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke took the helm at USC.

“People have certain perspectives on our league [the MEAC] and where we should be able to coach next, like, they want you to move from the MEAC to the A-10 [Atlantic 10]. They want you to move from the MEAC to the CAA [Coastal Athletic Association],” Vickers said. “And it’s like, ‘Hold up, we ain’t lost to a CAA team in, I don’t know, five years.’

“So when you get an opportunity like this, it’s very few, you know, at this point, four power conferences. I could have stayed at Norfolk another 10 years and never got another opportunity to coach in the SEC.”

Vickers’ success at Norfolk State captured the attention of his current boss, Auburn athletic director John Cohen, long before he was officially hired.

Larry Vickers draws from HBCU experience as Auburn’s new women’s basketball coach