Working with the Spurs gave Dupree the opportunity to learn from legendary coach Gregg Popovich, who had recently become the league’s all-time winningest coach. Although Dupree played in the frontcourt for her entire career, Popovich assigned her mainly to develop Spurs players such as forward Keldon Johnson and guard Devin Vassell.

“It forced me to expand my knowledge of meshing their [Spurs guards] skills with video and analytics,” Dupree said. “As players grow in knowledge of the game, you earn buy-in from them that leads to relationships. You can’t scream at everyone. Some you have to pull to the side and break things down, even at the NBA level.”

Dupree was the second woman hired as a Spurs assistant coach after Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon. Besides on-court development, Dupree also fostered personal relationships with players away from drills and conditioning, instilling accountability and trust.

However, despite joining a small group of former WNBA players working in NBA coaching, she desired to be a head coach who could generate a “greater impact” for athletes beyond their physical talents, she said.

“I don’t like the idea of athletes being viewed as assets, and with NIL you’re seeing that,” Dupree said. “I want to help players win games and leverage opportunities after their playing days because everybody isn’t LeBron James and will play 20-plus years of basketball.”

On May 9, after two seasons under Popovich, when Tennessee State University hired her as its next women’s basketball coach.

Tigers athletic director Mikki Allen spent 11 years in athletics at the University of Tennessee prior to coming to Tennessee State. He understood the changes in women’s basketball, player development and the power of relationship-building from his days of working with legendary University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt.

Allen desired a coach who embodied Tennessee State’s culture and embraced player development as a tool to build a program.

“We weren’t looking to just sign a big name,” Allen said. “With women’s basketball growing by the second and minute, we needed someone who lived and breathed the student-athlete perspective, who played the game at the highest level and knew how to win.”

Dupree possessed exceptional experience: 2014 WNBA champion, NBA coaching experience, sixth on the all-time WNBA scoring list, fifth all time in games played and seventh all-time in rebounding. Although she lacked college coaching experience, Dupree sent her résumé to Allen.

After a couple weeks, things became quiet on TSU’s front. 

“Radio silent to the point where I thought I missed out on the job,” she said. 

However, after Allen — helped by TSU’s private search firm — examined 33 applicants, Dupree was named as one of three finalists. She spent two days in Nashville, Tennessee, where she toured the university’s facilities and experienced the Music City’s sports, entertainment and professional value.

After Allen consulted with several others, including University of South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, who coached Dupree at Temple University, and his brother, Chaisson, the coach for the NBA G League’s Wisconsin Herd, Dupree was hired.

Staley gave Allen confidence Dupree could lead Tennessee State’s program. Staley told Allen that Dupree’s coaching experience, player development skills and eagerness to learn were major assets.

“She [Staley] always felt Dupree was headed for a coaching career but didn’t know when the opportunity would present itself,” Allen recalled. “But she said Dupree was resilient and could handle ebbs and flows of the job.”

Throughout Dupree’s multifaceted career, she kept in contact with Staley. From the moment Dupree applied for the TSU job, she began picking Staley’s brain about recruiting, generating revenue and building a coaching staff.

“Seeing where she is now, I’d be crazy not to ask her questions,” Dupree said.

Dupree loves Staley’s ability to relate to players and her knack for building genuine relationships with the people in her program. But part of signing elite players and cultivating relationships stems from a coach’s approach, something that has required Dupree to leave her comfort zone.

As Dupree begins the recruiting process, she has been in contact with Ervin Monier, another longstanding mentor who recruited her to play at Temple. When Dupree was deciding where to play college basketball, Monier didn’t bombard her with messages.

That won’t be the case for Dupree.

“He [Monier] told me today’s players like to be chased, whether through calls, texts or on social media,” she said. “I didn’t want that. But if that’s what it takes on the recruiting trail, I’ll do it.”

Not only did Dupree play at the highest level, she knows the degree of discipline it takes to remain among basketball royalty. Dupree, whom the Chicago Sky selected at No. 6 in the 2006 WNBA draft, played for four other franchises during her WNBA career: the Phoenix Mercury, the Indiana Fever, the Seattle Storm and the Atlanta Dream. 

She experienced the highs and lows of competing in the postseason and the additional hard work required to become a WNBA champion with the Mercury. It wasn’t easy, especially on a Phoenix squad that featured such personalities as future Hall of Famer Diana Taurasi, nine-time All-Star Brittney Griner and three-time champion Penny Taylor.

“Diana would cuss you out in a heartbeat and playing with a player like Penny, we were so unique but we played like a well-oiled machine in our title season,” Dupree said.

Although Dupree wasn’t the most outspoken teammate, her veteran leadership emerged throughout her seven seasons in Phoenix. And for a young Griner, Dupree’s guidance was key to how Griner navigated the WNBA. Dupree also gave Griner tough love about what it takes to be excellent in the league.

“There were times she would pull me to the side and tell me to ‘get myself together’ and that I needed to lock in … but she wasn’t the big vet who looked down on rookies. … She taught me things in a way that I could respond to them,” Griner said.

Early in Griner’s career, after WNBA seasons ended, she would make basketball secondary, getting out of shape and pick back up with the game when the next season began.

“I’m young, and you only live once,” a laughing Griner said. “But she got me together, not in a demeaning way but one that resonated with me.”

Dupree’s calmness, patience and sense of humor are all reasons Griner believes her former teammate will make an excellent coach.

“She has what I call ‘Pree humor,’ ” Griner said. “When I think of a coach, I want someone levelheaded and who can run a tight ship. She’s not going to baby those girls [at Tennessee State]. She’s going to give them tough love as well as prepare them for the pros and for life.”

As the summer passes into the fall, Dupree will be busy finalizing her coaching staff and recruiting players to bolster Tennessee State’s program, emphasizing high school recruiting and the transfer portal.

“She’s not bypassing the traditional model of taking high school players,” Allen said. “But she wants a team rooted in her culture, not the culture of three or four other institutions.”

In the 2023 season, Tennessee State finished eighth overall in the Ohio Valley Conference (11-19 overall, 7-11 OVC). The Tigers haven’t had a winning season since the 2014-2015 season, and was the last time TSU won the OVC tournament title and competed in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

Dupree said she envisions Tennessee State running an uptempo style of “beating other teams up the court,” dominating in rebounds and scoring efficiently. But first she must establish a unit of solid guards.

Several TSU starters from a year ago are returning, including forward Lyric Cole and guards Sanaa’ St. Andre, Saniah Parker, Nia Hicks and Aaniya Webb. Dupree is working on player development, watching film from last year’s team. In her earliest assessment, she noticed TSU had small guards, lacked interior size, needed pure shooters and lost several close conference games. As a result, teams simply “packed the paint and sat in a zone defense,” she said.

“When we get the right pieces to close the gap, I am going to do everything I can to help my players be successful … in the WNBA, internationally or in the workforce,” Dupree said. “All I needed was an opportunity, and now it’s time to work.”

Six days before Josh and James Green’s NFL pro day workouts at Tennessee State University, the brothers were wrapping up their individual “off day” recovery training, which included four-cone box drills, 90-degree cornerback break drills and 180-degree turns.

As this year’s NFL draft inched closer, the two former TSU defensive standouts were training side by side, hoping to make their dreams of playing pro football a reality. The Greens know the odds are stacked against them. Only one HBCU player, Jackson State University cornerback Isaiah Bolden, was selected in the 2023 draft.

Josh Green, 24, redshirted his first season in 2018 before playing five seasons at safety. The 5-foot-11, 195-pound athlete ended his career at Tennessee State with 276 tackles and tied for third in program history for career interceptions (11). 

“He [Josh] was the quarterback of the defense,” said TSU head football coach Eddie George, who inherited the two brothers when he became the program’s coach in 2021.

At 26, James Green is a draft outlier in age, the “grandfather of the program,” as George likes to say. The linebacker spent seven seasons at Tennessee State but played only five; he suffered devastating shoulder injuries in 2019 and 2022. The injury in 2019 resulted in a medical redshirt. The 2022 injury earned him an additional year of eligibility in 2023. He tallied 186 tackles with 15.5 for loss during his TSU career.

The last TSU player drafted in the NFL was Lachavious Simmons, who was selected by the Chicago Bears in the seventh round in 2020. The Greens hope to change that or receive a phone call to sign a free agent deal, stamping their names among the elite brother duos in TSU football program history.

According to ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid’s seven-round mock draft, which was published Monday, the Greens are not projected to be drafted. However, their agent, Zach Spires, believes they could sign with teams as undrafted free agents or receive rookie minicamp invites. The brothers know their best chance to land an NFL roster spot comes on special teams, and their position skills – and according to their former coach, they’ve been groomed for the job.

“They understand kick slides and spread punt formations, so they’ll have that advantage in a team’s camp,” George said.

The two also have been reared from NFL experience in TSU defensive coordinator Brandon Fisher, a former secondary coach for the Los Angeles Rams and son of longtime NFL coach Jeff Fisher, and defensive backs coach Richard McNutt, who coached on the Cleveland Browns’ staff in 2008.

“I may not get an [NFL] opportunity,” James Green said. “The injuries, being older, I understand the business. But I’m running my race for whatever God has for me.”

Josh Green agreed. “You have to find ways to get in the door,” he said. “I’m ready, and there’s no turning back.”

Understanding the brothers’ process – and their grit to succeed – requires exploring their roots in Orlando, Florida.

Before they could fathom training for the draft, the Greens’ football careers started in middle school with rugged workouts led by their father, George Green, in the garage of the family’s condo.

By the time James and Josh Green stepped off the bus in the evenings, “Big Green” was already blasting music from the speakers and setting up the garage as a makeshift gym after a full day of work. The bald, 300-pound George wears many hats — he is security director for the megachurch Calvary of Orlando, running his own security business and working security personnel for the Orlando Magic.

The improvised studio included multiple 3-foot-wide sawhorses as makeshift hurdles, free weights and pullup bars. But before Josh and James Green lifted their scrawny frames or leaped over the hurdles, their father drove his car behind them as they ran a mile in agonizing strength shoes, even on weekends.

“People would drive by and look at us crazy,” James Green recalled with a laugh. “We weren’t playing video games, having fun and sleeping in on Saturdays. We worked.”

Josh Green said the gritty workouts bred the brothers’ competitive nature.

“We didn’t always understand the point behind the training early on. But it gave us the mindset we needed to succeed,” he said.

That’s all their father wanted. In a city filled with four- and five-star talent, he believed his sons needed a strong work ethic – and some size. He put high-calorie honey buns in his sons’ book bags to eat at school. After a while, he checked their book bags and noticed the pastries smashed flat like pancakes.

“To this day, Josh won’t eat a honey bun,” George Green said with a big laugh.

Initially the boys’ mother, Charmaine, an education disciplinarian and longtime corporate human relations professional, disagreed with her husband’s tactics – “I wanted them to be nerds in the classroom” – but after seeing his vision for their sons, she came on board with a couple of conditions.

“Make sure they’re safe with proper helmets and give them the proper training they need to take a hit,” she said.

George Green’s plan for his sons – along with help from a trusted trio of trainers, Lo Wood, Cory Fleming and Matt Bloom, began to pay off.

James Green emerged as a promising, hard-hitting safety by his junior season at Dr. Phillips High School, an upper-echelon football program in central Florida. Players such as Buffalo Bills linebacker Matt Milano, free agent linebacker Sevyn Banks and former NFL star Ha Ha Clinton-Dix starred at the school.

But there was one problem: While James Green attracted media and Division I recruiters’ attention for his production, his brother Josh, despite being on the school’s varsity roster, was simply watching his older brother shine from the sideline. At a practice during his sophomore season, football coach Rodney Wells told George that the younger Green was too small and would never be a Division 1 athlete.

George and Charmaine Green placed their son Josh at the school’s archrival, Olympia High School, for a fresh start ahead of his junior season. The two schools are separated by five miles. James Green despite receiving dozens of Division 1 scholarship offers at Dr. Phillips, suited up with his brother in Olympia’s secondary for his senior season.

However, when the Greens left Dr. Phillips, they received pushback.

“People said we messed up James’ career,” Charmaine Green said. “DP’s program was great, but its culture didn’t align with the values for our sons. We taught them to depend on God and George [Green], not a coach.”

Despite the rocky transition, it allowed the brothers to share the field together for one season at Olympia High. It also gave their parents a glimpse of what it would be like to watch both of their sons live out their football dreams at the same university.

“To see your boys run on the field together against Notre Dame last season and cheering them on, I didn’t think we’d be here,” an emotional Charmaine Green said.

Coming from Tennessee State, a storied historically Black program that is home to two Pro Football Hall of Famers yet underfunded in resources compared with Power 5 schools, the Green brothers have taken full advantage of the assets at the X3 facility, which includes a top-tier weight room and physical therapy, elite recovery options and on-site nutrition.

They completed pro days on March 26 at TSU’s indoor football facility. Josh Green ran a hand-timed 4.69 40-yard dash, registered a 31.5-inch vertical jump and a 9-foot-9-inch broad jump.

“I would compare his [Josh’s] game to New Orleans Saints’ Tyrann Mathieu,” Tennessee State coach George said. “He’s in the right place at the right time, studies film and [is] always creating turnovers.”

James, who seeks to return to the safety position in the NFL after playing linebacker, clocked a 4.68 40-yard dash, 32.5-inch vertical jump and 9-foot-8-inch broad jump. The brothers also participated in the Tennessee Titans’ local pro day April 11.

Fewer than 2% of college football players secure a NFL roster spot, according to NFL Football Operations. If football doesn’t pan out, the Green brothers, who earned master’s degrees from TSU on the same day, are ready for the workforce.

Josh completed an internship with Deloitte in August 2023. He plans to create a diverse business portfolio and become the face of a Big Four accounting firm. James seeks to enter real estate and become a cop for the Orlando Police Department. They also plan to help their father with his security firm.

The brothers have seen each other in their darkest moments. James Green leaned on brother Josh when he was crying, missing sleep and wondering if he should end his football career following his shoulder injuries, while Josh always knew his brother was there to protect him or help in coverage on the field.

“God orchestrated this bond,” their mother said. “He will see fit for them to be great because we’re built different.”