Former Pirates Coach Rose Returns to Hampton in New Role

DONOVAN ROSE
Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Fundraising
HAMPTON UNIVERSITY

HAMPTON, Virginia  -- For over a quarter-century, Hampton University has been home to Donovan Rose. He's been a player, an assistant coach, and a head coach for the Pirates football program, and heading into his 24^th professional year with the school, Rose finds himself tackling a new role:

Fundraising.

Rose is now the Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Fundraising, a role drastically different from the one he had roaming Armstrong Stadium's sidelines for 23 years. Rose had been the Pirates head coach from 2009-13. Before that, he'd been an assistant coach, in a variety of capacities, since 1991.

"After coaching, it was good to have a chance to step away and re-focus a little bit," Rose said. "I have a son (Donovan Jr.) who's preparing for college, and having more time to spend with my family, I come back now to find a new me, a fresher me."

Rose calls this new opportunity "different, but the same," and cites his long-standing history with the school as an asset. As a student-athlete and as a coach, Rose developed a lot of relationships over the years – relationships he now hopes can be put to good use in his new role.

"This is sort of the best of both worlds for me," Rose said. "This seems like such a natural fit. I can act as sort of a bridge between the school and alumni, I can reach out to people."

Alumni – and former Hampton student-athletes – are of particular concern to Rose, and he specifically noted a desire to reach out to them as part of this new role. "They're part of the team," he said. "I want to reach out to them and make that connection and see where we can go in terms of making them even more a part of them."

Rose is excited to kick off his new role, noting that he's spent over half of his life at Hampton University and that he sees bigger and better things on the horizon. Rose's new role coincides, to some degree, with a new Director of Athletics in Eugene Marshall Jr.

Marshall, who has over two decades of athletic administration experience, has tapped fundraising as a point of emphasis for the university moving forward.

"Working with (Marshall), working with our marketing people, with all the areas," Rose said, "we have a chance to establish an organic relationship, something we can all be a part of … almost like a unique club or membership."

Rose continued: "This is a people business. People like to give to causes. They like to give to people who make a difference."

As Rose embarks on what he calls "the next chapter for me," he's found his new cause.

For more information on Hampton University football, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.

COURTESY HAMPTON UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS