Isaiah Thomas, ‘the best-dressed coach,’ leads Sankofa Freedom Academy to PIAA boys’ basketball final
Thomas, a City Council member, spends his days at City Hall and evenings in the gymnasium. He coached his Warriors back to the PIAA Class 1A championship for the first time since 2019.
On Monday afternoon, the Sixth Man Center on Wissahickon Avenue was drowning under the cacophony of bouncing basketballs on its six courts. To the far left, a foot stomp on the clammy, hardwood floor and a voice on Court 6 rose above the din. Dressed in a sharp blue suit, in contrast to the myriad other coaches in the building wearing sweats, stood Sankofa Freedom coach Isaiah Thomas making an emphatic point to a team that had never been to a state championship game.
This was a relatively light day for the nonstop 40-year-old Philadelphia City Council member, whose first duty is as a husband and a father of three but does double duty as Sankofa’s 15-year head coach, and triple duty in the tireless other responsibilities he has as City Council’s Majority Whip in his second term.
Thomas has no pause button.
It’s that unbending drive that has led the Warriors to the PIAA Class 1A state championship against District 7 champion The Neighborhood Academy of Pittsburgh on Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Giant Center in Hershey.
In 2019, Thomas guided Sankofa Freedom to its first Class 1A title over District 7’s Vincentian Academy, the same year he went on to win his first at-large seat on City Council after two previously failed attempts. The 2019 version of the Warriors, led by Scott Spann, who went on to play at Chestnut Hill College, and Derrius Ward, who played for Coppin State, was deep and balanced.
This team underwent serious changes with players quitting, and some transferring out before the season, which caused an 0-3 start.
Still, Thomas was not about to let this young team fold, featuring two prominent seniors, 5-foot-8 point guard Asim Hardy and 5-10 guard Kaden Stewart, along with 6-4 junior forward Nafis DuBose, 5-9 junior guard Jameel Brown, 6-4 sophomore forwards Terrence Fortson, and Samad Geary-West, and depth from 6-foot senior forwards Rahzir Seals and Raheam Benjamin.
“I really believed we could get here,” Thomas said. “Last year, even when we were a 2A [team], we felt like we could take a run for it. Samad and Terrence were progressing last year, and when Samad rolled his ankle, that hurt us last year [in the state playoffs]. We felt that if Samad did not get hurt, we would have had a shot. Not having the personnel we thought we would have when the season started was definitely a hurdle. We still came around. Guys stepped up regarding leadership and their play on the court. This is where we are.
“This group overcame a lot. It speaks to their character.”
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And Thomas’ unwavering belief in them.
His players know his schedule outside of basketball. They are familiar with his demands. They know Thomas gets pulled in every which direction, between political obligations, media interviews, social events, dealing with hundreds of constituents, and his foremost family time.
“It’s why we appreciate Coach Thomas,” Fortson said. “He’s the best coach, and the best-dressed coach, I know, because he’s almost always in a suit when we practice. A lot of people wonder how he is available for us, but for Coach Thomas, this is more than basketball. He wants us to succeed in life, and his goal is to see us grow into fine young men. I know a lot of players on teams don’t appreciate their coaches; they take for granted what their coaches do. We know our coaches take the time out to coach us. This team gets it. Oh, [Thomas] gets on us. But we know why.
“He is on all of us, from me to the last guy on the team. Everyone is important to him. But Coach Thomas is easy to play for: If you put the work in, that is all he wants.”
Fortson said he began believing in a state title after the Warriors (19-11) beat District 1 champion Chester Charter, 67-56, in the state quarterfinals.
Sankofa Freedom will be faced with a challenge in The Neighborhood Academy, which carries a 28-1 record into the state title game. The Bulldogs are led by Yale-bound 6-3 senior guard Courtney Wallace and are averaging 69.3 points a game in their four state playoff victories, boosted heavily by an opening-round 95-32 win over a 9-16 Shanksville-Shade team.
Sankofa Freedom has played a much tougher schedule, opening the season against defending PIAA Class 3A state champion Devon Prep, which will play in the Class 4A state final on Thursday, followed by Engineering & Sciences, which made it to the second round of the Public League playoffs, and then Pope John Paul II, which reached the PIAA District 1 Class 5A championship.
“That [schedule] helped us,” DuBose said. “Coach Thomas doesn’t take it easy on us, and I like that. He coaches us hard and we like being coached hard. I remember when I first met Coach Thomas, he didn’t know my name until the middle of the season. Then Coach Thomas recognized me. He cares and you want to play for a guy who cares. I see things now that I didn’t see before Coach Thomas began coaching me. He pushed me to learn how to lead and direct people. When our guys left in the beginning of the season, when we started 0-3, we heard our year was over, and we were going to have a bad season. Coach Thomas kept believing in us. We saw that every day in practice. He never let up. We can’t let up on him.”
Thomas’ mantra is for his players to look beyond basketball. It comes with routine and consistency. A Frankford High grad with a bachelor’s degree from Penn State and a master’s in education from Lincoln University, Thomas usually works 18-hour days. He credits his wife, Klissa, as his foundation, his City Council staff for organizing his days, and Ameen Akbar, a Sankofa assistant coach who also runs Philadelphia Youth Basketball, for reinforcing his message.
Thomas’ days usually begin at about 7 a.m., getting his 12-year-old son, 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter out to school. He likes to arrive at his City Hall office around 10 a.m. He gets to Sankofa around 4 p.m. to practice, and around 5 p.m. on game nights.
“What keeps me going are the kids,” Thomas said. “Ameen and I were talking about this season being the most fun that we have ever had coaching, because it’s been just about basketball. It’s a really good group of kids. We have not had to exert a lot of energy on non-basketball stuff. None of these kids are trouble. The bonds are what makes this team special. What they have accomplished really isn’t a surprise as to the obstacles they overcame.”