Nashville – HBCU Sports has announced the nominees for its inaugural HBCU Sports Awards, with Tennessee State University’s athletic department having seven representatives on the list.
The program features 45 categories honoring individual, team and administrative achievements across the HBCU athletics landscape. Winners will be announced during an awards ceremony that will be streamed live on YouTube’s HBCU Sports channel on Saturday, July 27 at 2pm CST.
Softball Player of the Year:
Onika Spencer: Sophomore catcher Onika Spencer She was named to the All-OVC Second Team for the second consecutive year. The Murfreesboro native led the team in home runs, doubles and RBIs, and was an offensive force with 30 RBI on 41 hits, including 13 doubles and six home runs. She maintained a .328 batting average, .375 on-base percentage and .576 slugging percentage. Spencer’s best game of the season came on March 11 against Morehead State, when she had three hits and five RBI. She recorded 11 multi-hit games and six multi-RBI games.
Defensive Player of the Year:
Terrell AllenAllen recorded one of the best individual seasons of any TSU defensive player in recent years as he was named the 2023 Buchanan Award winner, awarded annually to the best defensive player of the year in Division I FCS college football. A Little Rock native, Allen was named to seven different All-American teams and also won the Big South OVC Defensive Player of the Year. Allen led the FCS in sacks (14.5), sack yards (123), tackles for loss (28) and tackles for loss yards (149) during the regular season. He finished the season with 65 tackles (44 solo, 21 assists), 5 forced fumbles and 10 QB hurries. He recorded 4 straight games with 4.0 or more TFLs, setting a TSU record of 6.5 against Lindenwood with 10 tackles and 4.5 sacks. His 28.0 TFLs are a new TSU single-season record.
Female Golfer of the Year:
Erin Marcelino: A 2024 All-OVC Team selection, Marcelino competed in seven tournaments, including four in the fall and three in the spring, and displayed her talent and consistency throughout the season. She recorded a minimum score of 72 three times this season. Through 18 rounds, Marcelino recorded a total of 1,397 strokes, averaging an impressive 77.6 strokes per round. Her stellar performances included three top-five finishes and four top-10 finishes. Notably, Marcelino won the Starks Invitational this spring with a two-round score of 145.
Men’s Tennis Player of the Year:
Taj HibbertHibbert led the team with a 12-5 record in singles during the regular season and a 3-1 record in conference play, earning her second consecutive All-Horizon League Second Team selection. The sophomore also won eight doubles matches, tied for the team lead. She primarily played at No. 3 singles, going 9-4, but was 2-0 at No. 2 and 1-0 at No. 1.
Nil MoinetMoinet went 10-12 in singles and 7-10 in doubles to finish his senior season with Second Team All-Horizon League honors. This was his second postseason award since being named to the Ohio Valley Conference First Team in 2022. Moinet went 4-0 in the Horizon League with all of his wins coming at line 5. Nine of his 10 wins this season came at spot 5. He picked up impressive non-conference wins over Chattanooga, Northern Kentucky, New Orleans, Nicholls and Southern Miss.
Athletic Director of the Year:
Dr. Mickey Allen: Dr. Mickey AllenNow in his fourth year leading TSU’s athletic department, the success has continued with players capturing major athletic awards, winning seasons and championships, academic success and new recruits.
The men’s tennis team opened the 2023-24 season by winning the HBCU National Championship in the fall and finishing 4-1 in Horizon League play in the spring, the team’s best finish in conference play. The TSU football team finished 6-5 in 2023, securing its first winning season since 2017.
In addition, Terrell Allen He was the 2023 Buck Buchanan Award winner (FCS National Defensive Football POY) and was named the Big South-OVC Defensive Player of the Year, the first major conference award won by a TSU student-athlete under Dr. Allen.
The 2024 TSU softball team placed third in the OVC, marking the best OVC finish in program history for the Tigers. The Tigers earned consecutive OVC Tournament berths in 2023 and 2024 after securing the program’s third and fourth 20-win seasons. TSU softball recorded three tournament wins in that span, including two wins in the 2024 OVC Tournament.
The 2023-24 season marked the third consecutive appearance in the OVC Tournament for both men’s and women’s basketball. Men’s basketball head coach Brian “Penny” Collins achieved 18 wins for the third time in his career during the 23-24 season, becoming the first TSU men’s head coach in the DI era to achieve this.
Allen announced in May that he would hire former WBNA All-Star Candace Dupree as the 13th head coach of the TSU women’s basketball team.
In the fall 2023 semester, the department had a record 177 student-athletes excel, with 39 of them earning a perfect 4.0 GPA.
Women’s Lifetime Achievement Award:
Theresa Phillips: Theresa Phillips, who served TSU for 31 years as women’s basketball coach, administrator and athletic director, was the nominee for the Woman of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.
Phillips became the head women’s basketball coach at TSU in 1989. From 1989-2000, she led the Tigers to their first Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships and their first NCAA Tournament appearance. She won 144 games in 11 seasons, won back-to-back OVC titles in 1994 and 1995, and was twice named OVC Coach of the Year.
After her coaching career ended, Phillips became TSU’s interim athletic director in 2001 and was removed from that role in 2002 to become full-time athletic director, a position she held until her retirement in 2020. She was one of 15.3% of female athletic directors at the time of her retirement in 2020. Her accomplishments with TSU athletics included launching TSU’s first official athletic website, building an indoor practice facility, winning an NCAA PILOT grant and serving as head coach for one men’s basketball game in 2003.
During her tenure as AD, TSU won 12 OVC championships, including five indoor track and field championships, three outdoor track and field championships, two volleyball titles and one women’s basketball championship.
