Dose of Dover ‘Tough Love’

A look at the rosters of Langston University’s athletic teams offers a glimpse of not only homegrown talent, but some from all over the United States and even the world.

Chicago. Seattle. Indianapolis. Tucson. Newark. Houston. Memphis. Dallas. Sacramento. Sydney.

The Lions’ student-athletes literally come from coast-to-coast to the small university northeast of Guthrie.

And, from here on out, they’ll be getting some “tough love” from a woman whose core was molded in the big town of...Dover.

Fachaitte Kinslow last week was announced as the new assistant director of athletics/compliance at Langston University

“She has just the shot of energy, passion and creativity that our department needs right now,” said Langston Athletic Director Donnita Drain-Rog-ers in making the announcement.

“She is passionate about ensuring that our student-athletes graduate and wants to play an active role in helping them navigate the next steps involved in attending graduate school or gaining employment after graduation.”

That’s exactly what Kinslow, a 1995 graduate of Dover, said she plans to do.

“I hope to establish a relationship with the students and help them reach their dreams or even help them find their dreams,” Kinslow said. “I’ve learned in the past, most kids haven’t thought about life beyond college. They get to school, play sports and that’s where it stops.”

Kinslow said she wants to make sure the student-athletes know Langston is more than a school.

“I want these kids to know that I am ‘family,” she said.

That mentality was shaped growing up, said Kinslow, the daughter of Ruelle and Almetrice Kinslow, both Langston alumni.

“I think being from Dover, we all grew up as family despite color or economic status,” she said. “We have a sense of trust and a lack judgment of others.”

Currently Hennessey High School teacher Valerie Shamburg was a longtime science instructor at Dover and was the sponsor of Kinslow’s graduating class.

Shamburg said Kinslow is perfectly suited in her new role.

“She always demonstrated a positive leadership ability to ‘lift people up’ and inspire them,” Shamburg said.

After Dover, Kinslow earned an associate’s degree from Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa and bachelor’s from the University of Central Oklahoma in 2000.

She followed that up with a master’s in general education/school 2004.

Her current position is a marriage of two career paths. One is sports and the other is counseling.

The sports side started at UCO’s student newspaper, The Vista, where she was a feature writer and that helped lead to a sports journalism internship at KOCO-TV.

A tip in a public relations class led to her emailing University of Oklahoma women’s basketball coach Sherri Coale about potential sports marketing programs there.

Coale directed Kinslow to a sports marketing internship at the school.

“I contacted them, interviewed twice and got the position,” Kinslow said.

She interned for 13 months beginning in the summer of 2000, which included the football team’s run to the national championship.

Kinslow was heavily involved in basketball.

“I got to meet Wayman Tisdale and I was in charge of Mookie Blaylock Day where we retired his jersey,” she noted.

After the internship and later earning her master’s she was offered a counseling position at one of her alma maters, NOC.

That’s not only where her counseling career began, but also working more closely with athletes.

“I noticed many of them had been enrolled improperly and many did not have majors,” she said.

After NOC, Kinslow worked in mental health and substance abuse counseling before becoming a counselor at Mount St. Mary High School in Oklahoma City in 2012.

She left there in 2014 to, among other things, help her parents on the family farm back in Dover.

Kinslow took on another counseling position with Oklahoma City Public Schools in 2017.

She worked at Rancho Village, Gatewood Elementary, Spencer Elementary and Rogers Elementary before taking the Langston offer.

“I’ve never had a job that I loved (like that) and it was hard leaving,” she said. “But I knew this job at Langston was an answer from God.”

Kinslow’s ties to Langston go beyond her parents.

Drain-Rogers also has roots from a small western Oklahoma town, Taloga.

Drain-Rogers’ parents and the Kinslows have been close friends for a number of years.

Drain-Rogers coached the Langston women’s basketball program from 2000-2008 and then took over the same position at Grambling before returning to head up the LU athletic department in 2015.

“I met her for lunch and gave her my resume and told her about my background in marketing and promotions,” Kinslow said.

Langston didn’t have the budget to hire Kinslow at the time, but the seed was planted.

Drain-Rogers recently approached Kinslow about an open position in the department, one that she ultimately accepted.

“I loved my job as a counselor, but I felt like God wanted me to do something else but I didn’t know what so I prayed about it and this opportunity literally fell in my lap,” said Kinslow, who added that her supervisor and both principals in OKCPS “were so excited for me and very happy.”

Part of Kinslow’s job will be ensuring some 250 athletes remain eligible. She’ll also be in charge of student workers, game day operations and recruiting.

“And much more that I’m not sure I’m aware of yet,” she joked.

Something that won’tbe a joke to Kinslow is the future of her students. She wants to help make them aware of life beyond their sport.

“I want to extend those dreams and help them find their voice,” said Kinslow, a recent cancer survivor who is also currently in pursuit of her doctorate in sports management from the United States Sports Academy.

“I want to help them develop skills that can be used as an athlete as well as a young adult in the real world.”

She’ll pull from her own broad range of life experiences, some of which stretch all the way back to Dover.

“I am here to help, look out for them, protect, but I also want them to know they have to invest in themselves,” she said. “They’re going to have to put in the work, so a lot of tough love willbe taught as well.”