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University of Oklahoma Athletics
Photo by: Ty Russell
Kellogg's New Court
September 05, 2019 | Women's Basketball
One of the joys of watching student-athletes graduate from Sherri Coale's basketball program at the University of Oklahoma is seeing where their stories take them next. From players signing overseas contracts to athletes transitioning to professional lives in the workforce outside of basketball, the first step after graduation is diverse and unique for every Sooner.
For former OU forward Shaya Kellogg, her journey has taken her just one mile away from the Lloyd Noble Center. She still spends her time focused on the court, working on her defense and understanding the rules – but she's preparing for something much bigger than a game.
Kellogg is a few weeks into her third and final year at the OU College of Law. With a wide range of potential specializations before her, Kellogg has chosen to pursue a career in public defense.
Rooted in her desire to help and care for other, Kellogg still recalls the exact moment she made up her mind on what she wanted from her career.
While her coursework is a critical foundation for her career in law, Kellogg also knew the importance of real world experience. After her first year of school, she began an internship with the public defender's office in Oklahoma County.
"That internship was a lot of learning because I knew that I didn't know," said Kellogg. "I want to be a public defender but I didn't really know what that meant so I just did a lot of watching and learning."
Looking to grow in her experience even more, a faculty member at the College of Law recommended that Kellogg apply for a national organization called Gideon's Promise.
With a large emphasis of its work in the Southern United States, Gideon's Promise is a nonprofit public defender advocacy organization that provides training, mentorship and leadership development to improve the quality of legal representation for the clients and communities they serve. The organization not only aids the clients who rely on public defenders but provides training and opportunities for the next generation of public defense lawyers.
After being selected for the internship program, Kellogg attended a training in Atlanta before spending the majority of her summer working in a public defense office in Columbia, S.C. that provided her plenty of hands-on experience and learning opportunities.
"With public defense, training is so important because public defenders are so overworked in the United States and so adequate training can make a world of difference in teaching the public defenders the proper strategies, how to be vigorous advocates for their clients," said Kellogg. "When you are overworked you have to balance your time, so it can help you prioritize that.
"It was just really cool – a no-boundaries type public defense which is just a really cool thing. Gideon's Promise's central premise is client-centered representation which is trying to provide representation that would be equal to what someone might receive if they could afford an attorney. So just helping your client not seem like they are being told what to do, giving them options, letting them express their interests."
Now back in Norman, Kellogg has returned to her internship in Oklahoma County, continuing to grow as a law student and even working on misdemeanor cases. She's also developing herself as a leader, serving OU as the president of the Black Law Students Association.
"With the Black Law Students Association, I'm thinking about how I want to lead that and I'm thinking a lot about what worked and what didn't as a captain under Coach Coale," said Kellogg. "What worked and what didn't for other captains on our team? How does Coach Coale do certain things and how can I apply those things? Just looking at the different characteristics from my experience at OU."
"I still call her Coach, but it's like we're friends now," said Kellogg. "She taught me so much and now we are in different environments but Coach will send me letters occasionally and I appreciate them so much because I need all of the support I can get in law school. I'll shoot her a text about something that I saw…It's cool to keep up with them."
For Coale, seeing former players like Kellogg thrive in her life after basketball is one of the most rewarding aspects of the job.
"It's the best part of what we do, watch them become," said Coale. "They are people that you not only enjoy, but they challenge you and you have meaningful conversations. Every time she comes over here, we end up talking about something that really has no answer. It's a journey through a complicated issue. We're able to have those conversations of substance and I think that's one of my favorite things about this job. When kids quit playing and their eligibility is done and they go out and become these crazy cool women. They come back and we talk about things that mater in profoundly candid ways and I love that."
As preseason practice quickly approaches and Coale prepares for her 24th season at Oklahoma, the Hall of Fame coach uses Kellogg's recent work in law school and internships to reinforce how basketball is much more than a game.
"The basketball bit of it is just a slice," said Coale. "While it pays for their education while they're here at the university, it is a vehicle. Sports are a vehicle for teaching young people how to navigate life. Some are fortunate enough to go play overseas and a very elite few are fortunate enough to play in the WNBA, but the vast majority graduate, walk across the stage and meet life head on. Boom, right in the face.
"Our job is to prepare them for that and wet their appetite for things that are their passion besides bouncing a ball. Shaya is the most recent in a long line of players who have really had extraordinary careers…She's just one of those kids that really took advantage of all the opportunities that are afforded to you when you come to college to play basketball."
For former OU forward Shaya Kellogg, her journey has taken her just one mile away from the Lloyd Noble Center. She still spends her time focused on the court, working on her defense and understanding the rules – but she's preparing for something much bigger than a game.
Kellogg is a few weeks into her third and final year at the OU College of Law. With a wide range of potential specializations before her, Kellogg has chosen to pursue a career in public defense.
Rooted in her desire to help and care for other, Kellogg still recalls the exact moment she made up her mind on what she wanted from her career.
"She's just one of those kids that really took advantage of all the opportunities that are afforded to you when you come to college to play basketball.""I remember I was driving through the parking garage at OU one day in the midst of all the police brutality that was in the media," she recollects. "I remember calling my mom and saying, 'I can't feel as passionate as I do about this stuff and not do something about it.' All I knew was that public defenders represent people who can't afford attorneys, and I knew that people who can't afford attorneys often don't have a voice…Then I started doing the things to figure out how to go to law school."
- Sherri Coale
While her coursework is a critical foundation for her career in law, Kellogg also knew the importance of real world experience. After her first year of school, she began an internship with the public defender's office in Oklahoma County.
"That internship was a lot of learning because I knew that I didn't know," said Kellogg. "I want to be a public defender but I didn't really know what that meant so I just did a lot of watching and learning."
Looking to grow in her experience even more, a faculty member at the College of Law recommended that Kellogg apply for a national organization called Gideon's Promise.
With a large emphasis of its work in the Southern United States, Gideon's Promise is a nonprofit public defender advocacy organization that provides training, mentorship and leadership development to improve the quality of legal representation for the clients and communities they serve. The organization not only aids the clients who rely on public defenders but provides training and opportunities for the next generation of public defense lawyers.
After being selected for the internship program, Kellogg attended a training in Atlanta before spending the majority of her summer working in a public defense office in Columbia, S.C. that provided her plenty of hands-on experience and learning opportunities.
"With public defense, training is so important because public defenders are so overworked in the United States and so adequate training can make a world of difference in teaching the public defenders the proper strategies, how to be vigorous advocates for their clients," said Kellogg. "When you are overworked you have to balance your time, so it can help you prioritize that.
"It was just really cool – a no-boundaries type public defense which is just a really cool thing. Gideon's Promise's central premise is client-centered representation which is trying to provide representation that would be equal to what someone might receive if they could afford an attorney. So just helping your client not seem like they are being told what to do, giving them options, letting them express their interests."
Now back in Norman, Kellogg has returned to her internship in Oklahoma County, continuing to grow as a law student and even working on misdemeanor cases. She's also developing herself as a leader, serving OU as the president of the Black Law Students Association.
"With the Black Law Students Association, I'm thinking about how I want to lead that and I'm thinking a lot about what worked and what didn't as a captain under Coach Coale," said Kellogg. "What worked and what didn't for other captains on our team? How does Coach Coale do certain things and how can I apply those things? Just looking at the different characteristics from my experience at OU."
Shaya Kellogg and a group of law students from throughout the country took part in a summer of training and interning through Gideon's Promise.As much of her life has changed over the last three years as she transitions from one court to another, Kellogg is grateful for the consistent guidance she's found in her college coach.
"I still call her Coach, but it's like we're friends now," said Kellogg. "She taught me so much and now we are in different environments but Coach will send me letters occasionally and I appreciate them so much because I need all of the support I can get in law school. I'll shoot her a text about something that I saw…It's cool to keep up with them."
For Coale, seeing former players like Kellogg thrive in her life after basketball is one of the most rewarding aspects of the job.
"It's the best part of what we do, watch them become," said Coale. "They are people that you not only enjoy, but they challenge you and you have meaningful conversations. Every time she comes over here, we end up talking about something that really has no answer. It's a journey through a complicated issue. We're able to have those conversations of substance and I think that's one of my favorite things about this job. When kids quit playing and their eligibility is done and they go out and become these crazy cool women. They come back and we talk about things that mater in profoundly candid ways and I love that."
As preseason practice quickly approaches and Coale prepares for her 24th season at Oklahoma, the Hall of Fame coach uses Kellogg's recent work in law school and internships to reinforce how basketball is much more than a game.
"The basketball bit of it is just a slice," said Coale. "While it pays for their education while they're here at the university, it is a vehicle. Sports are a vehicle for teaching young people how to navigate life. Some are fortunate enough to go play overseas and a very elite few are fortunate enough to play in the WNBA, but the vast majority graduate, walk across the stage and meet life head on. Boom, right in the face.
"Our job is to prepare them for that and wet their appetite for things that are their passion besides bouncing a ball. Shaya is the most recent in a long line of players who have really had extraordinary careers…She's just one of those kids that really took advantage of all the opportunities that are afforded to you when you come to college to play basketball."
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