Amirah O’Neal, the daughter of NBA icon and Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, has announced that she will be attending a historically Black institution in Texas instead of her father’s alma mater.
Beginning in the autumn, O’Neal will transfer from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge to Texas Southern University in Houston, an HBCU. She made the announcement to her tens of thousands of Instagram followers.
She captioned the photo, “I saw the skepticism on their faces, they didn’t think I’d make it.”
Shaq, the family patriarch and current co-host of “Inside the NBA,” was a national standout at LSU in the early 1990s before entering the NBA as a high first-round selection pick in 1993.
The daughter’s decision comes four months after her younger brother, Shaqir O’Neal, revealed his commitment to the same university to his Instagram fans.
Cynthia Cooper, one of the best WNBA players of all time, will coach Amirah O’Neal, who won four consecutive titles with the now-defunct Houston Comets from 1997 to 2000. TSU did finish with a 5-10 record last season, which was marred by the pandemic. Cooper’s team, on the other hand, had a 20-10 record in 2019.
This situation is dripping with irony and serendipity. Amirah O’Neal’s brother Shaqir will be playing for head coach Johnny Jones, who coached Shaq at LSU from 1989 to 1992.
