TIFTON — Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College has eight months before tipping off its 2024-25 basketball seasons, the first time the sport has been competitively played on campus in 15 years.

Gressette Gymnasium has been spruced up to prepare it for games, but what of the men and women who will be suiting up for the Stallion and Fillies? For the Stallions, new coach Calvin Sinkfield is methodically putting together his initial team.

Sinkfield said ABAC will begin signing players, “When we find the right kids.”

There is a ton of interest in ABAC’s revived teams. “We have to have people who can help us,” he said. There are factors Sinkfield is looking for in his initial roster, from both high school players and those who might be transferring in from another college.

“We just want to have the right fit as much as possible,” he said. “We’re going to be competitive in the classroom, we’re going to be competitive on the court. We’re going to have good representation in the community.”

Not only is basketball almost a new program because of how long it had been gone from campus, ABAC will be in new territory as a four-year NAIA school in the Southern States Athletic Conference. The last time ABAC had four-year athletics, it was called Georgia State College for Men and Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in his first term of President of the United States.

A Griffin native, Sinkfield grew up with the best of basketball, playing on loaded Bears teams with arguably Georgia’s most famous prospect of the era, Darrin Hancock. Playing AAU ball, Sinkfield competed with some of the nation’s best, including Grant Hill and Sam Cassell.

Another NBA legend, Larry Johnson, is the reason Sinkfield played collegiately at Odessa College (Texas) . Johnson, who began his college career at Odessa, was sent to Griffin to specifically help recruit Sinkfield.

Having a player of Johnson’s caliber come to talk to him made the decision easy. “If [Odessa] is good enough for him, it’s gotta be good enough for me,” he said. Sinkfield didn’t even consult his parents. He signed his letter of intent in the principal’s office.

Sinkfield’s coaching mentors are just as noted, including former Florida State and Georgia head coach, Hugh Durham.

“He wasn’t what I imagined, [from back] when I wanted to play for him in high school,” said Sinkfield of his time as an assistant under Durham at Jacksonville University. “He was this super cool, cool guy.” The only time Durham ever got upset, he said, was when a player let himself get screened.

Durham “was a great guy to work for,” Sinkfield said. His time at Jacksonville was the first time SInkfield every broke down game film at that level. He remembers the opponent was American University and Jacksonville won.

“I earned [Durham’s] trust right then and there,” he said. Sinkfield said Durham had a talent of getting not only the best out of his players, but also his coaches.

Sinkfield has also coached at the high school and college level in his native Griffin before making his way to ABAC.

Coaching at Southern Crescent in Griffin, Sinkfield knew Chuck Wimberly, who started as ABAC athletic director last year. Last summer, Sinkfield saw the announcement that basketball was returning to campus. The lack of hoops at ABAC had been on Sinkfield’s mind for years.

For years, he said he wondered, “Why don’t they bring it back?” Before basketball was stopped, he had even applied for an assistant coaching job. Now, he noted it was finally back.

“Then I saw the job posting,” he said. Sinkfield contacted Wimberly and applied. “I say this happening is all God,” he said. “Being here is way different than I expected. It’s welcoming. I can’t believe how excited these people are.”