YEAR ONE

The beautiful, new logo. The revamped athletics website. The UVI HBCU Basketball Classic. The apparel and footwear sponsorship deal with Adidas. The creation of the Buccaneers Sports Network, a mobile app. The arrival of a few new staff members. The creation of the Buccaneers Investor Program. The return of the Buccaneers Booster Club. These are just some of the achievements for Dr. Jerel Drew in his first year at the helm as the Director of Athletics at the University of the Virgin Islands.

All of that came about as Dr. Drew had to navigate a global pandemic that forced the cancellation of winter and fall sports at UVI for the 2020-21 season and continues to impact athletics in 2021 and beyond.

Hired in September 2020, the first order of business for Dr. Drew was tackling the branding, or lack thereof, for UVI Athletics.

"Looking from afar when I first came in, I got the sense that there was a lot of school pride throughout the community, throughout the Virgin Islands, but the branding for UVI Athletics, as far as being its own entity, was not there," said Dr. Drew, with the deal with Adidas coming shortly afterward as "you cannot have true branding without the apparel to go with it."

The rebranding did not stop at a new logo as Dr. Drew hired a sports information director, a first for UVI, to revamp its athletics website and help design the Buccaneers Sports Network, the official mobile app for UVI Athletics.

Dr. Drew's second and third tasks — hiring new coaches and building a culture of compliance went hand in hand when he brought in two basketball coaches with coaching experience at the NAIA and NCAA levels. Lynika Collins, Head Women's Basketball Coach at UVI was the head coach at Southern University at New Orleans for two years and Alfonzo Duncan was a Director of Compliance and Assistant Men's Basketball Coach at Division-II Livingstone College before becoming the Director of Athletics and Head Men's Basketball Coach at Clinton College.

With the fresh brand and two experienced and knowledgeable coaches, the next step was simple — leverage the beauty and resources of the Virgin Islands, for the actual benefit of the community, which led to Dr. Drew creating the first annual UVI HBCU Basketball Classic.

"This was a concept and idea that I had developed in my initial process, even when I was going through the interview phase, [I said] this needs to be brought here," said Dr. Drew. "The development and bringing it to fruition, seeing that we are on the verge of being able to have it in a combination of our Homecoming and our first home event is exciting for me."

With the announcement of the UVI HBCU Basketball Classic in August, which will feature a total of five colleges and universities, including four HBCUs, and 12 games between November 3 and November 5, Dr. Drew says that he has accomplished all the goals that he set for himself when he first got the job.

That does not mean that year one was easy for Dr. Drew. In many ways, 2020 has been a monumental challenge, although that is not limited to just Dr. Drew, with athletic departments and people across the Caribbean and the U.S. dealing with the ramifications of COVID-19.

"I elected not to move forward with sports solely on the basis that the safety of our student-athletes is way more important than any competition,'' said Dr. Drew of his decision to cancel sports in 2020-21.

For the 2021-22 season though, UVI is ready, "Our athletes are vaccinated. We have taken great measures in moving forward with digital ticketing. We have also integrated and put in new temperature scanning technology," noted Dr. Drew. "Sanitizing stations within the gym, wipes, mounts, Adidas-branded masks, shield guards with QR codes throughout our gym, and our concessions. We have done a lot to make sure that the safety of our students, and also our competitors and spectators are a top priority."

Due to the pandemic, the capacity of the Sports & Fitness Center has been reduced to under 35 percent of the stated capacity of 3,500 people and Dr. Drew expects a full house of about 1,200 fans for the tournament. When the Buccaneers finally take the court inside the Sports & Fitness Center on November 3, it will be the first time in over 1,000 days.

"I think the gameday atmosphere is going to be really exciting," said Dr. Drew. "We are pushing a brand that I think most people wanted to see and now having the ability to actually push it strategically and let it happen, I think the brand that the fans, that everybody would want to see is going to be very exciting."

Aiding the tournament's gameday atmosphere is the "Blue Out" on the tournament's first day, which will see the spectators decked out in a sea of blue in support of their Buccaneers. There is also "a new class of Hall of Fame inductees, something that has not happened for quite some time."

Dr. Drew's goals and expectations for the tournament are simple, "we want that excitement, that thrill, that positive energy. It is a very exciting time for athletics. I am really enthused to see things really kick-off."

That enthusiasm is palpable not only for Dr. Drew, but for the students, the student-athletes, and supporters of the university.

"We have had several individuals throughout who have asked, 'how can they show support?' That is what it is all about," Dr. Drew said. "That shows me that people are seeing our vision and seeing where we are going and they are excited to be a part of it and we want them to be a part of it. It's going to be a great year."

Last month, Dr. Drew was Coach & A.D. Magazine's August 2021 Sports Under 40 Honoree, "recognized for demonstrating strong leadership and having a substantial impact in the sports industry."

Dr. Drew is not resting on his laurels, however. For him, the UVI HBCU Basketball Classic is just the start, the tip-off of even bigger and better things to come. His next step is improving UVI's footprint by increasing the intercollegiate sports that UVI offers, "we want to be able to continue to captivate our local recruitment, our recruitment throughout the Caribbean, and the mainland."

"Our goal is to expand, expand as much as we can, and give equal representation in our sports inventory to both campuses. That is important to me, that is a top priority," said Dr. Drew. 

"We want to make sure that our students on the great campus of Albert A. Sheen and the great campus of Orville E. Kean have equal disbursement of sports where I can be back and forth and be excited for both campuses and celebrate them when they are on the field or the court and having success. That is what we will strive to have and that is what we will have."