Desmond Gumbs juggles boxing deals, Suge Knight project while coaching Lincoln football

OAKLAND, Calif. – Desmond Gumbs said he drew on wisdom from his father in 2021 when he started a football team from scratch at Lincoln University.

"If you have a thought or an idea, you’re 75 percent of the way there," said Gumbs, 61, the son of a barber. "The other 25 percent is to do it."

The football team, in its third year of existence, is 3-30 under the direction of Gumbs. He said he's optimistic about the program's future even though the team has no place to play home games, limited resources and a host of former players and coaches critical of the program.

Like the team, Gumbs has endured hard times.

Over the past two decades, he’s been hit with foreclosure proceedings, bankruptcy filings and civil lawsuits over allegedly unpaid bills. But none of that stopped Gumbs from landing the job as head football coach and athletic director at Lincoln in 2020 despite no apparent prior experience in college sports.

Or stop him during Lincoln's 2022 football season from spearheading a boxing event that featured Terence Crawford, who was widely considered the sport's top pound-for-pound fighter. Or stop him from working with Suge Knight on a potential TV series chronicling the life of the imprisoned co-founder of Death Row Records.

"He’s a true hustler," said Mario Thornton, a former police officer who said he has coached with Gumbs and known him for more than two decades.

Desmond Gumbs makes foray into boxing

During the 2022 season, the week Lincoln was preparing to play Texas Southern, boxer Adrien Broner announced he’d signed a three-fight deal worth at least $10 million with a company called BLK Prime spearheaded by Gumbs.

"I told my man Desmond that he’s coming into boxing at a unique time," Broner said at the time.

A company called BLK Prime Ltd registered in England lists Gumbs as its officer, according to a British corporate record. Zab Judah, a retired world champion boxer who has worked with Gumbs on boxing matters, said Gumbs makes all decisions for BLK Prime and related entities.

Though Gumbs said he tried to keep his involvement in boxing quiet, it became hard to do after BLK Prime signed Broner.

Then, a little more than two weeks after Lincoln lost its season finale to Southern Utah, 55-0, Crawford publicly disclosed BLK Prime had guaranteed him $10 million to fight David Avanesyan on Dec. 10 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Crawford, with his WBO welterweight belt on the line, knocked out Avanesyan in the sixth round at the CHI Health Center. The announced attendance was 14,630, and the fight was available on pay-per-view through the BLK Prime app for $39.99.

The promoter for the event was "BLK Prime (principal Desmond Gumbs)," according to Aaron Hendry, who heads the Nebraska Athletic Commission.

Crawford had no comment for this story, according to his publicist, Julie Goldsticker.

In January, referring to his father’s wisdom, Gumbs told USA TODAY Sports the Crawford-Avanesyan fight "started with an idea, the 75-25 … I have the same vision at Lincoln."

In February 2023, Broner announced on social media that he and BLK Prime had decided to part ways. "They just couldn't deliver everything that I needed at this point of my career," Broner said.

Desmond Gumbs working with Suge Knight

Starting with the high school ranks, Gumbs has been coaching football since the 1990s. But his life always has consisted of more than football.

The entertainment industry has captured his interest.

Gumbs directed films such as "Straight Out" in 2003, "Rude Boy: The Jamaican Don" in 2003 and "Don’t Blink" in 2007, mostly with little-known actors.

"I’ve had more things that didn’t work out than things that did, entertainment-wise," Gumbs said.

In April 2023, Suge Knight told TMZ he was working with BLK Prime on a TV series that would chronicle his life.

In June, BLK Prime announced it was holding casting calls in several major cities across the country. Then, of the project, BLK Prime posted on its website, "Coming this fall."

The fall came and went.

No premiere. No new announcements.

"A lot's happened since last fall," Gumbs said, but he provided no details about the future of the project.

But he also insisted the project with Knight is still in the works.

"I talked to Suge three times today," Gumbs said. "I talk to him a few times a day every day. So I know him enough that he didn’t sign with Netflix, he didn’t sign with Showtime. He signed with BLK Prime, right?"

Terri Hardy, press secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), said by email the CDCR is not aware of such a project involving Knight and BLK Prime. And, Hardy added, "It’s important to note that incarcerated people cannot, by law, profit from any activity or business."

Knight, who is serving a 28-year prison sentence for a fatal hit-and-run, did not respond to requests for comment.

Before Lincoln, there was Stellar Prep

Following the real estate crash of 2007-08, Gumbs said, he was "completely broke." In fact, Gumbs still owed more than $1.2 million from a bankruptcy case as of 2022, records show.

Malcolm Leader-Picone, an attorney in the case, said in 2021 he unsuccessfully tried to garnish Gumbs' wages from Lincoln University. Gumbs said he does not draw a salary from Lincoln and the school's president, Mikhail Brodsky, said there was no choice but to bring Gumbs on as a volunteer when the athletic department began.

"We never had funds for it and would never hire Desmond or anybody else for the position if it is paid," Brodsky said by email, adding that Gumbs signed documents confirming his volunteer status until the athletic department can be "self-supporting and generate funds."

Gumbs has cited his experience in schools as credentials for his role at Lincoln.

In 2011, Gumbs said, he opened Stellar Preparatory High School, a private school in the Bay area. Like Gumbs has done at Lincoln, he built a football team from scratch at Stellar Prep.

His two sons and eight other former players went on to play college football, according to Stellar Prep's website. But, not unlike Gumbs' team at Lincoln, Stellar Prep sometimes found itself overmatched. For example, there was a game against Half Moon Bay High School in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We only have 16 kids," Gumbs told the Half Moon Bay Review before the game, which Stellar Prep lost 47-14. "It’s ironman football for sure. But we’re just glad to be playing."

Gumbs said he’s proudest of having provided a free education to underserved Black, Hispanic and Polynesian students. "I didn’t charge anyone anything," he said.

Asked how he paid for the school and provided free education despite going broke during the real estate crash, Gumbs replied, "Three letters – God."

Each year the school serves no more than 40 students, according to Gumbs. Though online records from the California Department of Education show that the school closed June 30, 2023, Gumbs says it is still open.

"I think legitimately he was trying his best to make something good happen," said Justin Redemer, who between 2011 and 2020 was the head coach at Hayward High School, less than a mile from the building where Stellar Prep has been housed. "Whether or not that happened at Lincoln, I think his intention there was the same."

Now, Gumbs and the two schools are intertwined.

A decade after it opened, Stellar Prep secured accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Through that process, Gumbs met Brodsky, the two men said.

With Lincoln’s enrollment on the decline, Brodsky said, Gumbs convinced him that an athletic department would boost enrollment. "It was a decision I made based on what I heard from Desmond," Brodsky told USA TODAY Sports.

It began with an idea.

Contact reporter Josh Peter at jpeter@usatoday.com.