From the Basketball Court to the Classroom: William Credit’s Career Pivot
| by Hannah Sparling
William Credit had a vision for his life, and it revolved around basketball. Coming out of high school in Natchez, Mississippi, he was a three-time All-American point guard and one of the top 150 players in the nation. He had the attention of recruiters from top basketball schools like UCLA, Stanford, and LSU. Everything was falling into place.
And then…
Despite all the buzz, Credit never ended up playing college ball.
And while he floated around to a few different schools, taking classes and earning credits, he didn’t complete his college degree.
Bottom line: He needed a new vision.
Personal Trainer, Coach, and Teacher
Credit’s initial pivot was into personal training, and he worked for a national fitness company for a few years before opening his own personal-training business, which he ran for the next decade-plus. All the while, he was working other part-time jobs, continuing to accumulate college credits, raising his young children, and looking for a way back into basketball.
Eventually, he turned from playing basketball to coaching. And coaching led naturally to teaching.
Credit re-enrolled in college and finished his bachelor’s degree in integrated studies, but he still needed his teaching certification. If he went the traditional route, it would have taken him another two and a half years, he said. But then he found Moreland University, where he could earn his certification in as little as 9 months while he was teaching full-time with a provisional license.
Credit completed Moreland’s TEACH-NOW Teacher Preparation Certificate Program during COVID. Then, earlier this year, he did the 3-month M.Ed. Add-On to earn his master’s in special education.
One of Credit’s favorite parts about Moreland was the global cohort model, where he learned with a small group of educators from around the world. His cohort had teachers from across the U.S., Columbia, and China, to name a few, and he enjoyed learning how they tackled different problems and engaged their students.
Group work could be tricky with the time differences, he said, “but when we got in there, we all kind of flowed together and helped each other. And it seemed like we had different strengths and different weaknesses.”
Leading by Example
Today, Credit is a special education teacher and high school girls basketball coach for North Atlanta High School. His 18-year-old self, the teenager who dreamed of playing pro ball and landing in the hall of fame, might be disappointed with how his career turned out. But present-day Credit, who earned his bachelor’s degree at 37 and then went on to earn his teaching certification and M.Ed., is proud.
He’s proud of the letter he got this past year from a student who told him he saved his life. He’s proud of another student who had ongoing behavior issues, but Credit kept working with him. Then, Credit got to watch him walk across the stage at his graduation.
Another former student bumped into Credit at a baseball game and told him he changed his family’s trajectory. The student had wanted to drop out, but Credit convinced him to keep pushing, and the student went on to be the first in his family to graduate high school.
“Knowing that you’re making a difference is… I get tear drops about it sometimes,” Credit said.
And then there’s his own family. Credit grew up the youngest of 10 children. He has four children of his own and dozens of nieces and nephews. Out of his entire family, Credit is the only male with a college degree.
“And now I have a master’s,” he said. “It gives me a level of confidence now where I can go back and talk to my nephews and say, ‘Hey, what are you doing? Where are we going? Let’s go get your education.’ And they can’t say they can’t do it, because I’ve shown them.”
Earn your professional teaching certification in as little as 9 months with Moreland University. Our TEACH-NOW program is fully online, with rolling admissions and monthly start dates.
After the 9-month program, you have the option to add on a master’s degree in just 3 additional months.
