Phillip Wallace, Jr., is in his 18th season as Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Miles. Under his leadership and guidance, the Lady Bears have been strong on the court and in the classroom.
In his 17 seasons with the Lady Bears, Wallace has won 191 games – the most in the history of the program – including two 20-win seasons and a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Western Division title. During a coaching career that has included stops at Morris Brown and Savannah State, he has racked up 345 NCAA coaching victories and has a career .520 winning percentage. He also won 46 games at Andrew College in Cuthbert, Georgia, where he served as Head Men’s and Women’s Basketball coach.
A 9-12 mark during the truncated 2020-21 season still saw the Lady Bears finish the season as the top team in Division II in 3-point field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to connect on just 22.1 percent of their shots from beyond the arc. Miles was also among the best teams in the country, finishing 10th in turnovers forced (22.5 per game), 14th in scoring defense (56.7), and 16th in total steals. The team also boasted a strong academic class that included six graduates – one of them in just three years – and the Miles College valedictorian, Katrice Jackson.
Wallace enjoyed one of the best seasons of his career during the 2019-20 campaign, leading the Lady Bears to a 20-8 overall record and a 14-4 mark in conference play that netted Miles its first SIAC Western Division crown. The Lady Bears went 11-0 at home and had two players earn All-Conference honors, including SIAC Defensive Player of the Year Raiana Johnson, as Wallace won his second career Coach of the Year award and first with the Golden Bears.
In Miles’ 2018-19 season-opening win over Mississippi College, Wallace earned the 300th victory of his career. The Lady Bears finished 17-10 overall and is one of six seasons that Miles has won at least 15 games during Wallace’s tenure. His best season may have come during the 2010-11 campaign. The Lady Bears went 21-8 overall and advanced to the SIAC championship game. That year, Sammeika Thomas was named SIAC Player of the Year. In 2015, Porshia Blue also earned league Player of the Year honors while also taking home the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
Wallace also spent nine years as Athletic Director for the Golden Bears. He oversaw the Golden Bears baseball team winning its first SIAC title and earning a trip to the NCAA South Region tournament. The football team won two SIAC championships. The golf team, which was created during his tenure as AD, won the SIAC title and participated in the NCAA Division II regional for the first time in just its third year of existence. The softball team captured the 2012 SIAC title.
It was Wallace’s desire to compete and succeed at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics while maintaining a primary focus on the needs and success of the student-athletes. In the classroom, the athletic program had a cumulative grade point average over 3.0 for the final seven years of his term with multiple student-athletes being named to the SIAC All-Academic team. Graduation and retention rates rose during his watch. The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) began taking a more active role within the community with several community engagement initiatives while also raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He also played an intricate role during the process where Miles was certified by the NCAA during its Blueprint Review.
Wallace is a native of Savannah, Georgia, and received a Bachelor of Science degree from Savannah State University in 1989 and his Masters in Public Administration from Savannah State in 1993. He is a member of the Black Coaches Association (BCA), Women Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), and has served on the WBCA Top-25 National Ranking Committee. He is married (Sharon) and; they are the parents of one daughter, Sha’ron, and two sons, Phillip III and Kendall.
