Every time graduate forward Henry Coleman III takes the court, he has a village standing behind him. 

In a rented townhouse just shy of three miles from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, parents Hank and Cynthia Coleman assembled the latest gathering of “Henry’s village” as he and Texas A&M men’s basketball battled in the SEC Tournament.

Younger brother Leland Coleman was there, fresh off of his freshman season as a forward at New Orleans. So too were cousins from Florida — and those are just the ones who could make it to the Aggies’ first game. 

Between biological family, connections made through basketball and what Cynthia calls the “Hokie football family” — a group made up of Hank’s Virginia Tech football teammates — the Colemans have built a dedicated support system for their children that has helped propel both sons to Division I and Henry to the NCAA Tournament.

“That was a commitment we made to each other when we got married and decided to have kids,” Cynthia said. “We would always surround them with good, wholesome people. … Both of them know that they have people that, no matter what, if they couldn’t get to us for any other reason, they could call them and they’re going to pick up immediately.”

Henry said he’s all the better for it.

“I don’t take it for granted at all,” Henry said. “It’s a blessing, truly, how much they’ve supported me, sacrificed so much for me and my younger brother. They held me to a standard since I was little, ‘Whatever you’re going to do, you’re going to put your best foot forward, and you’re going to be the best at it, because you put in a ton of work.’”

“The best leaders are learners”

Growing up in Richmond, Virginia, it didn’t take long for Henry’s leadership skills to present themselves. Try the first grade, when Ms. Taylor — still a family friend — needed to reign in a young Henry who was upfront in the classroom at all times, determined to be involved.

So she made him second-in-command of the class. 

“I think that helped him, at a very young age, to say ‘OK, when the teacher’s not around, then it’s Henry Coleman,’” Hank said. “I can help lead the class and that sort of thing, and he just accepted that responsibility. He wasn’t shy about it.”

There, Henry learned the lessons he’d later apply at Trinity Episcopal School as class president and in his playing career.

“Some of the best leaders are people who listen the most, who sit in the back and are able to dissect what people are saying, because they’re not saying what comes in their mind first,” Henry said. “For myself, it was just being a sponge of knowledge and soak up as much knowledge as I can, because the best leaders are learners.” 

A gifted athlete from the beginning, Henry tried all sorts of sports, from baseball to taekwondo. But his basketball talent clearly set him apart from his peers — and broke a basket or two along the way.

“My dad can remember this, because he came out with a shocked look on his face,” Leland said. “We’re playing on a low rim, and Henry goes up to dunk, and Henry breaks our rim. He breaks the backboard, and there’s no more driveway basketball after that.”

As it became clear to the rest of the country just how good Henry was, the recruiting calls started rolling in: Tony Bennett at Virginia — huge for UVA alum Cynthia. Buzz Williams, then at Virginia Tech. Mike Krzyzewski at Duke.

It was a stressful process for the family as a whole.

“I’d see Henry in between classes, I’m like ‘Oh, I’ll go say hello to my brother,’” Leland said. “I’ll go look, he’s outside. He’s on the phone on the bench in the courtyard. I’m like ‘OK, I guess I’ll say hello to Henry at lunch.’ Oh no, unexpected visit from a coach at lunch …. I don’t get a chance to talk with my brother till about 11:30 …. Those nights are the most memorable.”

In both of their recruitments — Henry’s was a whirlwind that led him to Duke before he transferred to A&M, while Leland’s was a difficult one marred by COVID-19-induced restrictions and challenges — both Coleman brothers relied on their parents and a strict policy of having days where they could just do something other than basketball. 

Don’t think about it. Don’t train. Just go fishing with some buddies.

“For kids, you still have to be a kid,” Henry said. “I think some of your biggest attributes and characteristics come from other things, not sports, from school, from fishing. When you’re fishing, it takes patience, so you build these different characteristics without being in a sport. And so I had to do those things for my health and to keep me grounded.”

The other thing that helped the brothers was simply relying on each other.

“He’s my biggest supporter, and I’m his biggest supporter”

Growing up in a household of two future Division I basketball players was the gauntlet one might expect, Leland says.

“Growing up with Henry, everything was a competition, from waking up to who could get dressed the fastest,” Leland said. “Kid made everything competitive. So I feel like, early on, Henry paved the way for me to have that competitive edge. … What he’s done along the way is really helped me become who I am.”

It’s this competitiveness that drove Leland to be a Division I player himself.

“I wanted to be Henry,” Leland said. “I wanted to be the team captain. I wanted to be the star player. I wanted to be a college athlete. And then when I saw him continue to achieve those goals over and over, doing things that he wanted to do, it made me work ten times harder.”

Henry continues to be a strong presence in Leland’s life, and vice versa. Each sibling has come to expect a quick call or text after a game to talk ball and life. 

“He’s my biggest supporter, and I’m his biggest supporter,” Henry said. “He’s my inspiration as far as how he handles his day to day life, how he goes about it. It means a ton. … He’s working every single day, and he’s getting better.”

That includes being there at each other’s low points too. Even as Leland lost a scholarship offer last May, Henry — just after his graduation from A&M — was there to be a rock for his brother.

“I remember losing that offer, and I was crying, I was yelling and everything,” Leland said. “Henry turned around, brought his car back, and I fell into his arms. And he took me back to his apartment, and that right there is my blessing, because he’s always there for me, forever will be. I’m just so thankful that he’s become this amazing person to not just me or our parents, but to everybody around him.”

“That’s where my heart is”

It didn’t take long for Henry to get acclimated to Texas. Far from Richmond, Henry has blossomed into a leader on and off the court in Aggieland. The school record holder for career offensive rebounds, he’s also been on multiple Southeastern Conference student athlete committees.

The rest of the Coleman family has also gone all-in on A&M — as they watched Tennessee defeat Texas in the SEC Tournament, Cynthia and Leland both eagerly threw up “horns down” hand signs.

“You’ll see me in more A&M and New Orleans gear than you’ll see me in UVA gear, because that’s where my heart is,” Cynthia said. “It’s with the boys.”

Henry’s village has even expanded to include folks from the Aggie Network.

“The most incredible people who have shared unbelievable stories with us about how they have their kids that look up to Henry,” Cynthia said. “And I’m like, ‘Oh my god.’ It’s humbling.”

And as Henry ends his time with the Maroon and White, no one knows what the future holds. But he has plenty of options, Hank and Cynthia are quick to assure. 

He’ll have Henry’s village supporting him every step of the way.

“What Henry and I are, they’re the backbone,” Leland said. “And they’ve been great examples to follow on how to carry ourselves as we go out into the world where we’re their projection. And it’s a beautiful projection to see. It’s been amazing. You can ask families around us, and they’ll talk like ‘Man, how do we get like the Coleman family?’”