Kemper County’s Brown is ‘Tomorrow’s 25’ honoree

Published 3:16 pm Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Winning has been a consistent staple of Shadejha Brown’s resume throughout her young career. Now, the Kemper County High School girls basketball coach is building success off the court as well.

The Tomorrow’s 25 Coaching Fellowship announced its newest class from Mississippi last Thursday, and Brown has become the second KCHS head coach honored in as many years.

Tomorrow’s 25 Coaching Fellowship, in conjunction with the Mississippi High School Activities Association and the Mississippi Association of Coaches, is a 10-month program designed to invest in 25 coaches from across the state who have been deemed an emerging leader in high school and middle school athletics.

Kemper County football coach Darius Wren was a member of the third Mississippi class of Tomorrow’s 25 a year ago.

The 25 participants are identified by a selection committee as the best Mississippi has to offer, but are not announced until after they have completed more than 50% of the program. Brown and the rest of Tomorrow’s 25 Mississippi class began working their way through the program Aug. 20 of last year and are scheduled to finish May 13.

“We do so much and it is an amazing opportunity to work with such a great group of coaches,” Brown said of the program, which is designed to support growth in three key areas: Impact on student athletes; peer network development; and access to state and national leaders.

“Most of the time when I am interacting with other coaches, it is just basketball coaches,” Brown said. “But this program has allowed me to pick up things from football, baseball, soccer coaches and has just given us a chance to learn from each other in so many different areas.”

Brown is in just her third season as a head coach, but entering this week’s Region 4-2A Tournament at Kemper County, already sports a career record of 73-12 and a sparkling winning rate of better than 85%.

As a senior at Lake High School in 2014-15, she averaged nearly 25 points per game. That was after a breakout season on the diamond, where she hit better than .450 and stole more than 40 bases as a junior on Lake’s fast-pitch softball team.

Those talents allowed her to play both basketball and softball at East Central Community College – where she was a member of a state championship basketball team as a freshman while playing for current Kemper County High athletic director and boys coach Crandal Porter.

Brown then went to Southern University at New Orleans to continue her basketball career before a devastating injury turned her attention to coaching.

She helped with softball at Newton High School in her first coaching job, then helped with softball and basketball both at Forest – where she was an assistant on the Lady Bearcats’ 2023 state runnerup basketball team.

Brown’s first head coaching job came at Nanih Waiya during the 2023-24 season, when she helped the Lady Warriors to a 25-3 record. She is 48-9 thus far in two seasons at Kemper County, helping guide the Lady Wildcats to a state semifinal appearance last year and a 23-2 record and regular-season district championship already this season.

Brown was chosen for the program by a selection committee which includes members from the Booneville, Meridian, Biloxi, Rankin County and East Tallahatchie school districts.

Finalists for the program had to represent the values of the coaching fellowship – a love of young people and a desire to develop them for life within the context of sports – and had to demonstrate excellence in their sports as ambassadors for the state.

“This program is one of my favorite things about coaches and teams,” Mississippi Association of Coaches Executive Director Johnny Mims said. “If you’re around this group for 30 minutes, you’re inspired and want more kids to have coaches like them in their lives.”

This year, Mississippi also celebrates a significant milestone of having 100 coaches go through its program.

“We’re already seeing a ripple effect,” MHSAA Executive Director Rickey Neaves said. “We believe in this program and can’t wait until 500 coaches have gone through it.”

In addition to Brown, this year’s class of Tomorrow’s 25 includes Debrah Everette (volleyball) of Northeast Lauderdale and Kenton Wheaton (basketball) of Meridian from the East Central Mississippi area; and the group of 25 represents eight different sports.