Coach Dip Metress On The Killing Of Tyvez Monroe
We reported on the morning show today about the tragic death of a former Augusta University basketball player.
Tyvez Monroe played for the Jaguars from 2015-2019, graduating with a degree in journalism.
Reports are that the 27 year old was sitting at a bus stop outside a metro station in Southeast Washington DC. He was approached by 36 year old Deonte Spicer of Northwest Washington DC with an unleashed dog at around 4:30pm on December 26th.
Reports are that they exchanged a fist bump and spoke for a few minutes before Spicer unzipped his jacket and pulled out an AR-15. Monroe spread his arms before Spicer fired, killing Monroe and shattering the bus stop’s glass.
Augusta University Head Men’s Basketball Coach Dip Metress, who coached Monroe joined us on the show to talk about his former player.
Here’s that conversation:
John Patrick [00:00:00] As we have been reporting this morning, there was a tragic death right after Christmas up in the D.C. area of Tyvez Monroe, Tevez played basketball at Augusta University. And the head coach of the men’s basketball team, Dip Metress is joining us on the show this morning. First of all, thank you for doing this at the very last minute.
Coach Metress [00:00:20] No, I appreciate it. No worries.
John Patrick [00:00:22] All right. Tell start by telling me, Mary Liz, the listener, about Tyvez, the young man.
Coach Metress [00:00:29] Recruited him out of the Washington, D.C. area 2015. I think it was, yes. And I saw him practice his senior year. I said, this is one competitive player and being raised by his grandparents. And we recruited him very oddly. When we reached out initially, he would call my office phone probably once every two weeks. Which is unusual. Means he wanted to get to college, he wanted to play basketball and want to get the opportunity to get a college degree.
John Patrick [00:01:09] Did he get the degree?
Coach Metress [00:01:10] Yes, he got a communications degree. Sure did.
John Patrick [00:01:14] Tell us about type of basketball player he was.
Coach Metress [00:01:17] Competitive. You know, we he always was willing to compete. Early in his career it was shot selection issue. Hey, we got to pass the ball more look for open teammates. But he had a phenomenal senior year. We think we lost to Queens that year. To go to the Elite Eight was a leader for the team. He was a senior. When last year’s group came in as freshmen. So we kind of taught them how to compete on a daily basis.
John Patrick [00:01:52] Okay, so I’m no good at math. Is there somebody on the team now that played with Tyvez?
Coach Metress [00:01:58] No, everybody’s gone. Last year, those guys were were freshmen when he was a senior. Yes.
John Patrick [00:02:05] Do you you know, we said this earlier in the program and I talked about this, you know, having done play by play for a decade. And you do wonder what the kids go on to, what happens to them after school, Where do they go? Sometimes we hear, many times we don’t. How much do you keep in touch with former players?
Coach Metress [00:02:23] Well, nowadays with texting, it’s easier probably after COVID, because I know this Tyvez came down, spend some time with us, was thinking about going to graduate school. You know, like all guys, when they finished playing basketball or a sport, they trying to figure out what to do next. He lived in the D.C. area, would stay with his grandparents, moved out a couple different jobs, was working for a political campaign actually, when he first got out of college. And just trying to figure out you had this void when you’re not playing anymore. And, you know, he was trying to make ends meet up there working. And it’s just a senseless murder that happened to, you know, Christmas night. I was mourning.
Mary Liz Nolan [00:03:08] I was going to ask you, Dip, have you gotten any feedback at all as to what prompted something like this to happen?
Coach Metress [00:03:17] You know, I obviously Coach Bryant in the D.C. area. He’s still very connected to former players. You know, like every city, there’s just senseless killings. If you read about the account, a guy got off a bus with a service dog. You know, Tyvez was waiting the bus next bus stop, and he pulled out a AK 47 and just shot him. So, I don’t know. It’s crazy. And it’s the first player in my 28 years as head coach of the state.
Mary Liz Nolan [00:03:48] That he’s just murdered so senseless.
John Patrick [00:03:51] Tragic. Before I let you go and I don’t mean this to be an insensitive question, but as a as the coach of young men. And I don’t know we don’t know the specifics, but is do you use this as some sort of teaching opportunity to the guys Dip?
Coach Metress [00:04:10] I tell you what happened. This occurred right when we came back to practice. And, you know, I kind of got the information in the morning. We practice that day. I kind of alluded to it. And then the next day, by the time I found out more information, you know, I just kind of told them, I said, this is, you know, life is precious. You know, last year, I put a board in my office where all the seniors played for me here, and there’s 55, 56 people on there. And you just look up there and he’s the only one who is no longer living. And it’s it’s tragic. You know, we have so many guys in the D.C. area. You know, the word got out quickly and people are exchanging texts and just trying to figure out what happened and trying to, you know, and teachers reached out to me, you know, and department chairs. So it’s unbelievably sad.
John Patrick [00:05:04] Well, it is. It is. It’s incredibly tragic. I know we we asked you at the very last minute to do this. Thank you for doing this.
Coach Metress [00:05:12] No. Thank you
John Patrick [00:05:14] We appreciate it. Thank you, sir.
