SC Graduate Prince Ezeala Helps Nigeria Make History at the Paris Olympics

The 2024 Paris Olympics offered a number of memorable moments, notably a Southwestern College graduate had a hand in making history.

Prince Ezeala, a 2007 Southwestern College graduate, was an assistant coach for the Nigerian women’s Olympic basketball team. With wins over heavily favored Australia and Canada, the Nigerian squad advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament.  It marked the first time ever that an African Nation basketball team, men or women, advanced that far in Olympic play.

“We won our first game against Australia and our confidence shot through the roof,” Ezeala says.  “Maybe too much because then we lost to France.  But then we beat Canada and advanced.  All the teams we played had at least three or four WNBA players and we didn’t have any. It was amazing.”

Ezeala is no stranger to winning.  At Southwestern, he was a member of the 2006 KCAC regular season and KCAC tournament championship team that finished with a record of 28-3, under then head coach Doug Hall, and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament. In his time playing at SC, the Builders went 51-11.

“Prince Ezeala is a winner,” says Hall.  “I knew when we were recruiting Prince that he loved basketball and it was evident in his approach every day. He was always in the gym working on his game. He was an unbelievable teammate as well. It was never about Prince, he was all about the team. He knew his role and thrived in it. I would say Prince was the best positional rebounder I ever coached. He had a knack for the ball and played way bigger than his size.”

Now an assistant coach for the El Reno (Okla.) High School girls basketball team, Ezeala helped guide that squad to a 28-0 record and a 5A State Championship this past season.

He credits Hall and his staff for teaching him about transition basketball. 

“Coach Hall, along with coach (Greg) Hackerott and coach (Mike) Collins taught me how to run transition, and how the post players’ first three steps have to be long and fast,” Ezeala says.  “I use this today, our transition offense is fun. We like to run and play hard.”

Ezeala shares that his time at Southwestern led to the successes he’s found since graduation. He earned a bachelor's degree in sports management at SC and later earned a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling from Langston University.  He still stays in contact with many of the people he met and went to school with at SC. Many of those friends became fast fans of the Nigerian women’s basketball team in the past month, watching all of the games and sharing their support for Ezeala and his team.

“The best time of my life was my time at Southwestern College,” Ezeala says. “I made a brotherhood with my friends from SC. We sometimes go months without seeing each other but then we get together and our friendships are the same. It’s like we are family for life.”

Ezeala’s immediate family is just as important to him.  He was born in the United States but his parents were from Nigeria.  He says he is grateful for his parents taking him to Nigeria on three or four occasions to meet aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. With a smile, and a tear in his eye, he says he knows his mom is looking down on him from heaven with a smile on her face. 

Hall says he is not surprised with the success Ezeala is having.

“Knowing he had the opportunity to coach on the world's biggest stage in the Olympics should bring all of us who were privileged to coach and play with Prince great pride,” Hall says. “Those young ladies that have had Prince as their coach, whether at the Olympics or the high school level, are fortunate to be around someone like him - just as I was fortunate to get to coach him at SC. I am so proud of him.”

Ezeala plans to continue coaching with the Nigerian women’s team as well as his team at El Reno. his team at El Reno.