Hampton University Pirates: ‘Little Buck’ ready for the big stage

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky  -- Ed Joyner Jr., the head coach at Hampton, can usually tell right away if somebody knows him or his family.

“If somebody calls me ‘Little Buck,’ then they know me,” Joyner said by telephone on Wednesday from Louisville, where his 16th-seeded Pirates will play top-seeded and undefeated Kentucky tonight in the NCAA Tournament.

Joyner, a Winston-Salem native, is known as Little Buck by family members and around the CIAA and MEAC. That’s because he comes from the Joyner family coaching tree that was started by his father, Ed “Buck” Joyner, and uncle, Steve Joyner Sr.

Buck Joyner is an assistant at Livingstone, the two-time defending CIAA champions, and Steve — Buck’s brother — is the head coach at Johnson C. Smith; Steve needs two wins next season to reach 500 for his career.

As Little Buck navigates his second time on the big stage, he has already made a name for himself — thanks to a comment he made about playing Kentucky. Before the Pirates (17-17) played Manhattan in the play-in game on Tuesday, Joyner joked that he’d have to get Jesus on speed dial if the Pirates were to play Kentucky.



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