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DPS
announces
Derrick
Coleman
as new
Commissioner
of
Athletics
 Derrick
Coleman,
a
Detroit
businessman,
former
NBA star
and DPS
graduate,
has been
named
Detroit
Public
Schools’
new
Commissioner
of
Athletics.
“Detroit
Public
Schools’
has a
storied
sports
history,
with
some of
the
world’s
greatest
athletes
graduating
from our
schools,”
said
Detroit
Public
Schools’
Emergency
Financial
Manager,
Robert
Bobb.
“But
some
schools’
sports
programs
have
suffered
from a
lack of
funding
and
equipment
and poor
management,”
Bobb
said.
“Yet we
know
that
extra-curricular
activities,
like
sports,
are
critical
to
keeping
many
students
in
school
and
helping
them
graduate.
Having
Derrick
Coleman
join our
team
with a
plan to
shore up
those
programs
is
exactly
what the
system
and its
students
need.”
Coleman,
an alum
of DPS’
Northern
High
School
who
attended
Syracuse
University,
spent 15
years in
the NBA
with the
New
Jersey
Nets,
Philadelphia
76'ers,
Charlotte
Hornets
and
Detroit
Pistons.
He won
the
NBA's
Rookie
of the
Year
award in
1991 and
made the
NBA
All-Star
Team in
1994. In
1996, he
won a
Gold
Medal
when he
played
on the
Olympic
Dream
Team.
“I am
thrilled
to be
taking
this
position,”
said
Coleman.
“The
bottom
line is
that I
know
personally
the
tremendous
impact
that
sports
participation
can have
on a
young
person.
Sports
teach
discipline,
camaraderie,
dedication,
accountability
and
teamwork.”
Coleman
said his
first
tasks
include
assessing
the
school
system’s
needs
and
creating
a plan
to grow
DPS’
sports
programs
and
recruit
more
students
to
participate.
Coleman
credits
what he
learned
in
sports
with
helping
him be
successful
in life.
He is
the
founder
of
Derrick
Coleman
Enterprises,
a
privately
held
corporation
that
operates
a
diverse
portfolio
of
companies,
including
Hungry
Howie’s
and Tim
Hortons
franchises.
Coleman
also
founded
the
Derrick
Coleman
Foundation
(DCF), a
Michigan
501(c)
(3)
non-profit
whose
mission
is to
advance
the
development
of
Detroit’s
youth
and
empower
their
families
through
educational,
health
and
recreational
programs/events.
The
foundation
has been
an
underwriter
for the
Pretty
in Pink,
Breast
Cancer
Awareness
dinner.
The
foundation
has also
contributed
funds to
build a
new
basketball
court
for
Hutchinson
School,
where
Coleman
played
basketball
as a
youth.
For the
last
eight
years,
DCF has
operated
an
annual
summer
basketball
program
for 200
boys and
girls,
age 9–14
years
old.
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