TRILLION Tropical Bowl's Lori Locust Women's FOOTBALL Coaching Award Winner
2025 Recipient: Javé Brown
Javé Brown enters her ninth season as the Varsity Running Backs coach, JV Special Teams Coordinator and HUDL tech for North Hills High School boys football team in Pittsburgh, PA. She also serves as the Head Coach for the new Girls Flag Football team at the same high school. She graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with bachelor’s degrees in Human Resource Management and Business Management and a master’s degree in Sport Management. She has spent the last two seasons scouting for the East West Shrine Bowl and last season as a scouting fellow with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In addition to coaching and scouting, Javé works full time as the Director of Programming and Logistics for the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches (NCMFC). She also works in the Athletic department at Robert Morris University, works as a Special Projects Coordinator for a nonprofit organization called PUMP, and in the Marketing department for the Pittsburgh Steelers. She has also coached with the Pittsburgh Passion as the Special Teams Coordinator and Linebackers coach for a season.
2023 RECIPIENT: COACH SOPHIA LEWIN
Sophia Lewin is currently on the Princeton University football coaching staff and was previously hired by the Buffalo Bills as she is Wayne, N.J. native Sophia Lewin as a full-time assistant coach. “Lewin has worked with the Bills previously as a summer training camp assistant and has previously taken part in the NFL Women’s Careers in Football Forum.”
Lewin attended Monmouth and was a student assistant on the Hawks football team for three seasons. ,
After graduating from Monmouth in 2019, Lewin became the receivers coach at Hudson Catholic High School. From there, it was on to Princeton, which hired her in February of 2020 as an offensive quality control coach.
Lewin is part of a growing trend in the NFL which has women taking prominent roles both on the field and in the front office. “I believe in me,” said Lewin. “Once you feel like you’ve made it, I think that’s when you’re declining. I just want to continue to be a student of the game. I want to continue to learn.”
Lewin, got a start in the NFL through the Women’s Careers in Football Forum.”
ABOUT THE TROPICAL BOWL AWARD:
The Tropical Bowl Committee and founder Michael Quartey Esq. of East Preps would like to formally announce the creation of the “SPIRAL Tropical Bowl's Lori Locust Women's Coaching Internship Award” with the intention to spotlight talented women coaches within the football community and create dynamic opportunities for women globally in the sport to advance to the pro level. The Tropical Bowl founder Michael Quartey Esq. and Head Coach Jim Collins worked closely with Lori “Lo: Locust for years during her record setting rise to success breaking down barriers to become one of the first female NFL Coaches (2019 Tampa Bay Buccaneers). During the Tropical Bowl internship the award winner will work directly with pro level football coaches learning and executing advanced football techniques during live action at the Tropical Bowl college all-star game with NFL personnel, scouts, & GM's present from virtually every NFL team. Throughout the year East Preps & Tropical Bowl also has partnered with the Women's Football Alliance (WFA) with the help of Coach Lori Locust, Lisa King, and Wyn Dominy in it's international Team America- Team United "Globe Games" events to help spread the sport of american football to women globally.
As this award Women's Internship was established in her honor, NFL Coach Lori Locust humbly states, “The creation of this internship is a culmination of extraordinary people with vision continuing to seek out qualified talent both in athletes and their coaching staffs, regardless of gender. I was a humbled recipient being given a chance to prove myself with East Preps and consider the experience to be a very important and vital step in my coaching journey. To be able to work now with them to help support the career pipeline for qualified female coaches is incredible. "
2022 RECIPIENT: COACH MICKEY GRACE
"Honored and blessed to have been named the ‘Coach Lo Locust Tropical Bowl Coach of the game. Not only did we have a productive week of Dline work while debuting skills in front of NFL scouts, I got to represent Dartmouth Football in the most authentic way by winning the game! ..Thank you for letting me WORK, until next time Tropical Bowl"
Coach Mickey Grace
COACH MICKEY GRACE BIO:
Mickey Grace joined the Dartmouth football staff in the summer of 2021, joining a growing group of female personnel that have been a part of the program. She will serve as the defensive assistant, the same capacity in which Jennifer King served during the 2019 season. King became the first Black female assistant coach in NFL history with the Washington Football Team in 2020.
Most recently, Grace served as a scouting apprentice with the Los Angeles Rams while continuing her role as a math teacher and defensive line coach at Mastery Charter North High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she worked since 2016. She has also supported the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a training camp intern.
A 2014 graduate of West Chester University, Grace played rugby while earning her bachelor's degree in psychology. She played football throughout her days as a student at the now-shuttered Germantown High in Philadelphia as well.
2021 RECIPIENT: CHENELL “SOHO” TILLMAN-BROOKS
Coach Chenell “Soho” Tillman-Brooks has more than 20 years of experience in football both as a players and a championship coach. One of her many accomplishments includes being named an intern in 2018 at Dartmouth College under Coach Buddy Teevens and was the subject of a football documentary called “Playing with Rage.” She is a native of Chesapeake, Virginia and a United States Army Veteran. The Tropical Bowl is excited to work with Chenell during the Tropical Bowl and honor her accomplishments within the sport.
"My Tropical Bowl experience was the highlight of my season as a coach. It’s one thing to teach players the game of football, it’s another to watch up close the end result of their hard work in front of NFL Scouts and agents. Having the opportunity to work with top level coaches to gauge and improve my game knowledge alongside college athletes isn’t something that comes along often for female coaches. East Preps and their staff have possibly opened an internship path for a long list of deserving and qualified female coaches to which I am grateful to have been the first recipient!" - CHENELL “SOHO” TILLMAN-BROOKS
COACH SOHO PICTURED AT THE 2021 TROPICAL BOWL
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NFL Coach Lori Locust: Full Bio o: https://www.buccaneers.com/team/coaches-roster/lori-locust?fbclid=IwAR3Q8zCdZZGhIXRqvHW6q03UaGWLHJ2RKcdTcPCxedIZa4WeyEQJZv4maCQ
https://www.tropicalbowl.com/about
Coach Lori "Lo" Locust learning under former NFL Special Teams Coach of the Year Mike Stock at the SPIRAL FCS Bowl Bowl Week put on by the Tropical Bowl Committee
Contact: Michael Quartey Esq. fbsbowl@yahoo.com
