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Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman remembers the days of fielding phones call from coaches telling him about players they thought could play for the Bears.
Bozeman, now in his fourth season, politely rejected those suggestions and continued to pursue players who could compete in higher conferences, but wanted to play for Morgan State. After two consecutive Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament championships, two straight trips to the NCAA tournament and an appearance in the NIT, the Bears are landing marquee players and are now considered one of the top mid-major programs in the nation.
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - OUTLOOK: Morgan State ran away with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference last year, finishing with a 15-1 record. The Bears, who logged 27 total wins, claimed their second MEAC Tournament title and coach Todd Bozeman has a roster full of talent this season, giving the Bears another shot at having another highly successful campaign.
Morgan State quarterback Delonte Williams had already thrown three interceptions, two of which resulted in Delaware State touchdowns, when he calmly walked into the huddle with just over three minutes left in the game. Williams said that even though the Bears were down by three, they'd be just fine.
The redshirt freshman then directed an 85-yard drive, capped by his 34-yard touchdown pass to Tyrone Hendrix with 20 seconds left. Sheldon Jacques added another touchdown on a 2-yard fumble return as time ran out to give Morgan State a 34-24 victory in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game Saturday before an announced 14,312 at Hughes Stadium.
Morgan State coach Donald Hill-Eley liked how his team overcame adversity on the last drive.
BALTIMORE, MD -- Delaware State has struggled all season when it comes to stopping the opponent in the fourth quarter. Saturday saw that problem reach a new extreme. With time winding down, Morgan State overcame a fourth-and-10 from its own 15-yard line and rallied for 13 points in the final 20 seconds to pull off a 34-24 victory in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game.
"That's why you have to play for every snap that's required in a football game," DSU head coach Al Lavan said. "It's not a mystery as to what happened. It's very clear as to what happened -- we didn't make enough plays when we were given the opportunity to."
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huevoicesdotcom captures sights and sounds from Morgan State's 2010 Homecoming game. Check out Bobby Marvin's blog site at:http://www.huevoices.com huevoicesdotcom is a blog that provides news,one on one interviews, features, and commentary on the African-American community of Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
It's safe to say Delonte "Smoke" Williams has settled into his new role with the Bears. Morgan's new quarterback ran three touchdowns and scored on a two-point conversion, leading his team to a conference win over the Aggies in front of a homecoming crowd of 21,500 at Aggies Stadium.
The three-touchdown mark by Williams was the most for Morgan State (3-3, 2-1 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) since former standout Chad Simpson ran for three touchdowns against Savannah State in 2007. "I think I did pretty good today," Williams said. "I feel that the coaching staff did a good job preparing me, and as a result it felt kind of easy out there for me."
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- For the seventh year in a row, the homecoming crowd at N.C. A&T went home unhappy.
Morgan State spoiled the 2010 edition with a 27-14 victory over the Aggies. A&T (0-6, 0-3 MEAC) didn't score in the second half despite being in the red zone four times. The Aggies turned it over on downs twice, lost a fumble and missed a 30-yard field-goal attempt to lose their 10th in a row -- a slide that began at last year's homecoming.
"We've got to be able to finish," coach Alonzo Lee said. "You look at the opportunities, and then we had turnovers and penalties. We had some open receivers that we just didn't hit. Shelton (Morgan) hasn't stepped up. We have to continue to get better at quarterback." The Aggies fumbled three times, losing two. Morgan was intercepted once. Eight penalties cost A&T 72 yards.
No. 23-ranked North Dakota State (1-1, 0-1 MVFC) is scheduled to host Morgan State (1-1, 0-0 MEAC) at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18, in the 2010 home opener in the Fargodome (18,700) ... The Bison lost 16-9 to 13/14th-ranked UNI on Sept. 11, while Morgan State lost 62-3 at Atlantic Coast Conference member Maryland ... NDSU is looking to snap a four-game losing streak in the Fargodome ... The last Bison win at home was against Wagner, 59-28, on Sept. 19, 2009 ... This will be NDSU’s 100th game in the Fargodome.
TICKETS: Tickets for North Dakota State home football games are available in advance at the Bison Sports Arena ticket office, online at GoBison.com/tickets, or toll free at (888) 231-NDSU.
AT HOME: North Dakota State has compiled a 224-34-3 record at home since 1964 ... The Bison are 79-20-0 in the Fargodome since moving from Dacotah Field in 1993 ... NDSU was 1-4 last season and are 30-9 at home since head coach Craig Bohl took over in 2003.
SERIES RECORD: This is the first meeting between North Dakota State and Morgan State, located in Baltimore, Md., and members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference ... It is NDSU’s first meeting with a member of the MEAC.
GoBISON.COM VIDEO/AUDIO/LIVE STATS: Follow on the Internet at GoBison.com with live streaming video, audio (Bison Radio Network) and live in-game statistics.
IN THE NCAA FCS STATISTICS: North Dakota State’s defense ranks 4th in scoring defense in the NCAA FCS at 9.5 points per game ... The Bison allowed 82 points in the first two games last season ... NDSU is also 6th in net punting, 8th in sacks, tied for 13th in turnover margin, 15th in punt returns and 24th in pass efficiency defense nationally ... Individually, John Prelvitz is 6th in punting, defensive end Coulter Boyer is tied for 14th in sacks, kicker Ryan Jastram is tied for 15th in field goals, and linebacker Matt Anderson and cornerback Freddie Banks are tied for 24th in interceptions.
SPECIAL TEAMS X-FACTOR: Senior punter John Prelvitz punted six times for an average of 45.5 yards and net of 43.7 per punt at UNI ... Prelvitz ranks 6th in NCAA FCS in punting at 44.71 avg. and the Bison are 6th in net punting at 40.50 ... He matched a career-high with eight punts for an average of 44.1 and net of 38.1 yards per kick (compared to 23 net per kick for Kansas) ... Against UNI, Prelvitz placed one inside the 20 (33 in career) and had two of 50+ yards (15 in career).
BISON QUICK-HITTERS: North Dakota State has six takeaways through the first two games compared to 12 overall in 2009 ... Update from Saturday’s UNI game, linebacker Matt Anderson forced the fumble in the second quarter that went out of the end zone for a touchback and free safety Daniel Eaves forced the fumble picked up by defensive end Coulter Boyer to set up the NDSU TD in the fourth quarter ... Boyer had a career-high five solos and six tackles overall ... He returned a fumble 26 yards to stop a UNI drive inside the red zone in the fourth quarter ... It was Boyer’s fourth career fumble recovery ... He is tied for 14th nationally in sacks ... Cornerback Freddie Banks recorded his first career interception late in the second quarter. ... Tight end Landon Smith made a career best three receptions for 47 yards at Northern Iowa (9-11-10) ... Quarterback Jose Mohler completed 20 of 35 passes for 247 yards -- all career-highs -- in the loss at nationally-ranked UNI (9-11-10) ... Mohler, who completed passes to nine different receivers, also rushed 16 yards for NDSU’s first touchdown of the season ... The -41 yards rushing (including 11 sacks for -77 yards) against UNI is the lowest figure since the Bison had 3 yards in a 20-14 loss to UC Davis during the 2005 season. ... North Dakota State was ranked No. 23 in both national polls released Sept. 13 ... On Sept. 6, the Bison made their first appearance in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Coaches Poll since Nov. 17, 2008, and The Sports Network/Fathead.com poll since Oct. 13, 2008 ... Wide receiver Titus Mack made a career-high four receptions for 46 yards against Kansas (9-4-09) ... The 6-3 win over Kansas was the lowest combined output since NDSU’s 9-0 loss at Southern Illinois (11-19-05), while the three points allowed were the lowest since a 45-0 shutout vs. Mississippi Valley State (10-14-09), and the six points scored is the lowest since a 37-6 loss at Cal Poly (10-8-05) ... The 59 points vs. Wagner in 2009 were the most scored by NDSU since 2006 when the Bison defeated Concordia-St. Paul 66-7 in the season opener ... Speaking of home openers, the Bison have won 11 straight dating back to 1998 when Emporia State defeated NDSU 23-21 ... With a 53-26 record, NDSU head coach Craig Bohl is No. 5 on the school’s all-time win list ... Bohl is one of four Bison coaches with 50 wins ... NDSU is 7-7 against nationally-ranked opponents over the past five seasons (2010: L UNI; 2009: L Southern Illinois, L UNI; 2008, L South Dakota State; L, Youngstown State, W Southern Illinois, L Western Illinois; L UNI; 2007: W, Cal Poly, W, Western Illinois, W, Sam Houston State, 2006: W, Georgia Southern, W, Cal Poly, W, South Dakota State) ... North Dakota State was ranked in the top five for 19 weeks (including eight weeks at No. 1) during the 2007-08 seasons ... The Bison were ranked in the top 10 for 21 weeks in a row and were in the top 25 for 41 weeks in a row ... The 48-45 shootout with Sam Houston State was the most points allowed since 2002 when the Bison lost 49-42 at Nebraska-Omaha.
College Park, MD - Before Maryland's demolition of an inferior opponent was even complete Saturday night, focus in College Park had already shifted to a quarterback situation that becomes more intriguing by the week.
Starting quarterback Jamarr Robinson threw two touchdown passes in a 62-3 rout of Morgan State, helping the Terrapins pile up more points than they had in 35 years. But Robinson was replaced in the second quarter by backup Danny O'Brien, who wowed coaches and fans alike by throwing three touchdowns in the first four pass attempts of his career. Maryland's coaches had planned to play both quarterbacks, much like they did in the season-opening victory against Navy.
But the combination of O'Brien's impressive showing and Robinson's tendency to miss some open receivers Saturday adds uncertainty to the quarterback position as the team prepares for what should be a difficult game at West Virginia next Saturday.
The University of Maryland’s 17-14 Labor Day win over Navy leaves Terrapin fans optimistic a successful start to the season signifies the revived team’s ability to play competitive football and hold its own in a talented conference.
Maryland defensive back Kenny Tate and defensive lineman Joe Vellano were awarded Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week honors for their noteworthy roles in Monday’s win, but fans are already focusing on the future.
After upsetting Navy, led by Heisman trophy candidate Ricky Dobbs, Saturday’s home game against Morgan State (1-0) -- the first meeting between the two schools -- is predicted to be an old-fashioned beat-down. However, Maryland’s shocking losses last season, including to Middle Tennessee State, make a win tricky to guarantee.
Many of the problems that hindered Morgan State's offense last season carried over Saturday in its season opener against Division II Bowie State.
The defense, however, showed vast improvement, forcing five turnovers, and paved the way for a 14-7 victory before an announced 7,419 at Hughes Stadium. The Bears will have little time to savor the win as they must get ready to play Saturday at Maryland for the first time in program history.
"We have a lot of new faces on the defense," coach Donald Hill-Eley "They played well together against a team that had a game to play before us. They looked sharp. Our defense had some three-and-outs and we held them until we could get something going on offense."
Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman will have a lot of new players to work with during the 2010-11 season. Reggie Holmes, the Bears’ career scoring leader, has exhausted his eligibility, along with versatile wing Troy Smith and reserve big men Buford Foote and John Long.
Point guard Danny Smith, meanwhile, is still in school but not on the roster. And sources say guards Sean Thomas and Joe Davis are also off the team. Thomas and Davis are reportedly facing a situation similar to that of former UNLV forward Matt Shaw. Despite those departures, Bozeman has a talented group of veterans returning in addition to a promising group of newcomers. Morgan State has three scholarship freshmen on its roster...
After three separate recruiting campaigns over the span of nearly five years, Morgan State football coach Donald Hill-Eley finally has his man. Now, running back Jourdan Brooks is out to prove the wait was worth it. Once considered by many to be Ray Rice's heir apparent at Rutgers, the redshirt junior transferred to Morgan during this past offseason in search of a starting job. Hill was happy to oblige.
"He finally came on the third try," said Hill-Eley, who twice recruited Brooks out of Seneca Valley High as a linebacker. Running back, however, is where Brooks made his mark with the Scarlet Knights, racking up nearly 800 yards and 10 touchdowns in his two seasons in the Big East, including three 100-yard games.
2010 preseason All-MEAC first team senior defensive back Darren McKhan
Following a promising start to the 2009 season in which Morgan State won five of its first six games, the Bears stumbled down the stretch to a 6-5 record. The fourth-place Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference finish is nearly the same conclusion predicted for the 2010 season; preseason polls tab the Bears to finish fifth.
This year’s squad will look fairly different after the departures of five starters on both offense and defense. The three most significant losses include starting quarterback Carlton Jackson, MEAC Defensive Player of the Year George Howard, and All-MEAC first-team defender Justin Lawrence. Devan James, the team’s leading rusher who totaled 639 yards, also moved on.
Former Morgan State University track star Dakari Taylor-Watson was recently named a Fulbright scholar and will be heading to Terengganu, Malaysia, for 10 months next January to teach English to secondary school students.
Taylor-Watson, who earned a degree in biology from MSU in 2009, was chosen by the international educational exchange program. The program is sponsored by the State Department based on academic merit and leadership potential to study and teach abroad.
Former Bear Dakari Taylor-Watson will travel to Malaysia for 10 months to teach English to secondary scholars as a Fulbright Scholar. (Courtesy Photo/MSU Sports Information).
The 23-year-old told the AFRO that he will also volunteer in a hospital or clinic while in Malaysia, and has plans of applying to medical school when he returns to the United States. As for spending nearly a year away in a foreign country, it’s not something Watson hasn’t experienced before. He moved to Paris for three weeks as an exchange student when he was 10, not long after his mother, Aisya Taylor-Watson, died of cancer. Taylor-Watson believes his mother’s spirit travels with him everywhere he goes.
Bears face challenging early-season schedule before starting goal of reaching MEAC championship.
The Morgan State football team faces a daunting schedule in the coming season, including traveling to College Park to face Maryland for the first time and a trip to distant North Dakota State in back-to-back games. And that's before the Bears open their Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference schedule against Howard in East Rutherford, N.J., in one of the first games at the new Giants Stadium — an experience the players won't soon forget.
But the Bears are focusing all their attention on their first game of the season, against Bowie State on Sept. 4, knowing they can't dismiss a single opponent if they are to reach the MEAC championship. "I'm looking forward to [playing in Giants Stadium], but it all starts with the first game," junior tight end Lamont Bryant said Sunday at the team's media day at Hughes Stadium." We can't look over the first game. We have to start from that game and take it one game at a time."
Justin Jackson was all set to stay in Baltimore for college until a Division II program in Ohio extended a late scholarship offer earlier this month. Digital Harbor’s (formerly known as Southern-Baltimore), star point guard planned on visiting the Urbana University campus before deciding between the Blue Knights and a preferred walk-on opportunity at Morgan State. But ultimately, Jackson never took the trip to Ohio.
“I was just talking to my family and they said that Morgan looks like a good choice because they’ve got the [financial aid] situation straight, so it’s good,” Jackson said. “… [The Morgan coaches] basically thought I was going there from Jump Street, so they were just happy to have me on the board. I talked to my assistant coach and I’ll be playing there my first year.”
Jackson’s been a well-known name throughout the city basketball scene for the past several years, culminating with the 2008-09 high school season when he and older brother George Jackson guided the Rams to the Class 1A state championship. Jackson looked the part of a Division I prospect, but things didn’t go quite as planned after the initial buzz about his game.
Digital Harbor's Justin Jackson is #15 (dark blue) in this video clip.
Three years ago Larry Bastfield couldn’t wait to get away from home for college. Today, the former Towson Catholic standout couldn’t be happier to be back. A second-team Baltimore Sun All-Metro selection in 2008, Bastfield signed with Toledo in the fall of 2007 and completed his sophomore season with the Rockets in the spring. When Toledo coach Gene Cross left the university in March, however, Bastfield decided to head home to Baltimore and finish out his college career at Morgan State.
“It’s for the better,” said Bastfield, who is already taking classes this summer at Morgan. “It really hit me when I came home. I was really ready to come back when I was in Toledo. I was ready for a better situation and ready for the next step.” Bastfield’s college career got off to a rocky start before he had even enrolled at Toledo. Stan Joplin, the longtime Rockets coach who recruited him, was fired after the 2007-08 season. Bastfield stuck with his commitment and played two years for Cross.
Morgan State University has an East versus West date with perennial NCAA Division I FCS power North Dakota State University Bison of the Missouri Valley Conference. The game will be played at the Bison home field at the Fargodome, Fargo, North Dakota.
FARGO, N.D.-- North Dakota State University finalized its 2010 football schedule with a 6 p.m. home game against Morgan State University on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010 in the Fargodome. NDSU director of athletics Gene Taylor made the announcement today. The Bison have six home games on the 2010 schedule.
Morgan State University is a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). Head coach Donald Hill-Eley led the Bears were 6-5 last season and tied for fourth in the MEAC with a 4-4 record. Morgan State returns six starters on offense and six on defense. It is the first meeting between the Bison and the Bears.
The Morgan State game is the first of three in a row at home after NDSU opens at the University of Kansas of the Big 12 Conference on Saturday, Sept. 4. The Bison will face a rejuvenated Jayhawks program under first year head coach Turner Gill (formerly at University of Buffalo). Gill has a familiar MEAC name on his staff in coach Lee Fobbs, serving as Director of High School Relations/Player Development. Fobbs served as head football coach at North Carolina A&T State University in 2006-08, ending his head coaching career at 2-28.
After Kansas, the Bison will play at University of Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley Football Conference opener on Saturday, Sept. 11. The Bison are scheduled to entertain the University of South Dakota at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25 and Western Illinois at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 2 in the annual homecoming game.
North Dakota State then embarks on Missouri Valley Conference Football road trips to Youngstown State on Oct. 9 and Illinois State on Saturday, Oct. 16. The Bison return home for three in a row with Indiana State in the Harvest Bowl with the game time to be determined on Oct. 23, Southern Illinois at 3 p.m. Nov. 6, and South Dakota State in the Dakota Marker game at 3 p.m. Nov. 13.
NDSU closes out the season at Missouri State on Saturday, Nov. 20.
North Dakota State averaged 16,515 spectators over five home dates in the Fargodome and placed ninth in the 2009 Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) attendance figures released by the NCAA. NDSU had a season-high 18,608 spectators in the Fargodome for the 27-24 loss to Illinois State on Oct. 3, 2009. The football program has enjoyed seven sellouts over the past four seasons including a school record 19,053 against South Dakota State in 2006. The Bison are 30-9 in the Fargodome over the past seven years under head coach Craig Bohl.
North Dakota State finished the 2009 season with a 3-8 record overall including a 2-6 mark in the MVFC.
The Morgan State Bears have completed an exceptional schedule for 2010. The Bears opens with in-state rival Bowie State University Bulldogs of the CIAA on Sept. 4 at Hughes Stadium. The teams last played in 2006, and the Bears edged the Bulldogs by a score of 28-20.
The Bears return six starters on the defensive side of the ball including #7 Darren McKhan, senior defensive back Miramar H.S./U. Connecticut, from Miami, Florida.
In the first meeting ever on the gridiron, Morgan State will take on Atlantic Coast Conference bottom dweller, the University of Maryland Terrapins. The Bears will be meeting the Terps at a good time as they finished last season with a 2-10, 1-7 ACC record. Don't expect much improvement this season under head coach Ralph Friedgen who cannot recruit the best players from Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia. The Bears should give the Terps a tough game with their lights out defense.
The Bears thereafter will travel to Fargo, N.D. on September 18 to prove MEAC supremacy with a stampede of the North Dakota State Bison. After chomping up on the Bison, the Bears will travel to the New Meadowlands Stadium at East Rutherford, N.J., for the 39th Annual New York Urban League Football Classic. There, the Bears will continue their "undefeated streak" with MEAC rival Howard University Bison.
MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY 2010 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
DATE OPPONENT LOCATION TIME/RESULT 9/4/2010 Bowie State University Hughes Stadium 6 p.m. 9/11/2010 at University of Maryland College Park, MD 6 p.m. 9/18/2010 at North Dakota State Fargo, ND 6 p.m. 9/25/2010 * Howard University East Rutherford, NJ 2 p.m. 10/2/2010 * Bethune-Cookman College Hughes Stadium 4 p.m. 10/9/2010 * North Carolina A&T State University Greensboro, NC 1 p.m. 10/23/2010 * Delaware State University (Homecoming) Hughes Stadium 1 p.m. 10/30/2010 * at Florida A&M University Tallahassee, FL TBA 11/6/2010 * at Norfolk State University Norfolk, VA TBA 11/13/2010 * South Carolina State University Hughes Stadium 4 p.m. 11/20/2010 * Hampton University Hughes Stadium 4 p.m.
MSU 6'4 All-American senior guard Reggie Holmes was the only HBCU player invited to play at the Portsmouth Invitational Pro Basketball Exposure Camp, one of three camps considered a “stepping stone” towards the NBA draft.
The Morgan State Bears basketball squad ended its season weeks ago, but that hasn’t stopped its best player from dominating the court. MSU senior star Reggie Holmes—one of 64 players selected to compete in the Portsmouth Invitational pro basketball exposure camp held last week—was named as one of 10 members selected to the All-Tournament Team.
According to a MSU media relations representative, Holmes pleasantly surprised several scouts during the camp in Portsmouth, Va., which invited the top collegiate players in the nation to show off their skills to be potentially drafted or signed by NBA teams or other professional basketball clubs.
Holmes, the only player invited from a historically Black college/university (HBCU), recorded double-figures in each of the three tournament games he competed in, scoring a game-high 24 points with six rebounds in game-one, 22 points with seven rebounds in game-two and 15 points and six rebounds in game-three. “I’m very excited to have been the only Black college player represented in the tournament,” Holmes said. “I’m even more excited to have been recognized as one of the top 13 players in the whole tournament.”
Todd Bozeman is on the other end of the phone and he wants to talk about the team he's coaching right now, Morgan State, which is a perfectly reasonable request since this Bears team has one of the best players in school history, a kid named Reggie Holmes, and it's 27-9 and heading into the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season. But I was a whole lot less interested in Morgan State than I was in talking to Bozeman about Bozeman, mostly about what happens from here going forward, about reputations and second chances and whether he'll ever coach on the big stage again.
See, it's no surprise to anybody that Morgan State won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference for the second straight year to get to the NCAAs, or that Bozeman won the league's coach-of-the-year award for the third straight time, or that he's got a couple of really big-time players in Holmes, a 6-foot-4 senior guard, and Kevin Thompson, a 6-9 sophomore forward.
Bozeman, a Washington native, can recruit and he can coach and anybody who tells you anything else is a fool. In 7 1/2 years as a Division I head coach, at the University of California and Morgan State, Bozeman has been in five NCAA tournaments and an NIT.
Morgan State University basketball jerseys bears a No. 4 for teammate Anthony Anderson, who has been fighting acute leukemia.
Wherever Morgan State's basketball team goes this season, the Bears take Anthony Anderson with them. He was in Winston-Salem, N.C., last week - in spirit, at least - when they won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament championship. And he'll be in Buffalo's HSBC Arena on Friday - emotionally - when they play West Virginia in an opening-round game in the NCAA East Regional. Physically, the 19-year-old from St. Charles remains at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He has been waging a fight against acute myeloid leukemia since October.
If things had gone better, Anderson would have joined his teammates in Buffalo, a reward for four rounds of chemotherapy. He asked his teammates a week ago to win the MEAC so he could go to an NCAA tournament. But his blood cell count was too low, and Anderson's dream trip was denied. He had his hopes up, I had my hopes up," his mother, TaWanna Williams, said on Wednesday. "I talked to him this morning, and he said, 'Mom, it's OK, I'm not going to let it get me down any worse than what this has gotten me.' He's had his moments. His back pain was so bad this morning, he was crying."
Buffalo? No sweat. Fifteen seed? Could've been worse.
For the second straight year, Morgan State got slapped with a 15 seed and a first-round NCAA tournament game against a team that perhaps should have had a No. 1 seed in West Virginia. Todd Bozeman, though, wasn't sweating the details. "We aren't a 16 seed, we aren't in the play-in game," the Bears coach said after a Selection Sunday celebration at the school's new student center.
Morgan vs. West Virginia: Preparation, perspective of last season will guide Coach Todd Bozeman and the Bears
The Bears have the same seed they had a year ago when, as a 15 seed, they were sent to Kansas City to play Oklahoma, which carried top-seed credentials. The result was a 28-point loss and - a year later - the loss of 6-foot-4 Ameer Ali, who faces a one-game tournament suspension for flipping Blake Griffin to the court in that defeat. This year, they're headed to Buffalo's HSBC Arena on Friday in an East bracket matchup against the Mountaineers (27-6), whose championship in the Big East tournament could have earned them a top seed.
Morgan State University athletic director Floyd Kerr
(New York Times) - Floyd Kerr was halfway back from his trip to Winston-Salem, N.C., on Sunday, on schedule to reach Baltimore just in time for the Selection Sunday broadcast. Kerr is the athletic director at Morgan State University. On Saturday he watched the Bears earn an automatic berth to the N.C.A.A. tournament by defeating South Carolina State in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament championship game. For those of us who attended Morgan, the revitalization of the basketball program has been astounding.
Last season the Bears, coached by Todd Bozeman, earned their first men’s Division I N.C.A.A. bid. Morgan, seeded 15th, was pitted against Oklahoma. The Bears lost, 82-54. On Sunday, Kerr learned that Morgan (27-9) would be seeded 15th again and matched against West Virginia (27-6). “We knew we were going to play a powerhouse team, that’s real,” Kerr said in a telephone interview. “But our approach is that we want to maximize the benefits to Morgan State out of this process. We want to go up against the giants, yes. But we don’t want to focus on that.”
Programs like Morgan’s, with limited budgets, make the strongest argument for why the N.C.A.A. field should be expanded to 96 teams from 65.
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Profile of Morgan's athletic director Floyd Kerr
Morgan's athletic director Floyd Kerr impact goes beyond the greater Baltimore/Washington region. With one ingenious hire (Todd Bozeman), Kerr has advanced the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference further in the past three years, than anything it had accomplished in the past decade in college basketball. Not only are star quality local players making their way to the Morgan campus, but Coach Bozeman is proving he is capability of building the Bears into a Mid-Major powerhouse, whereas others in the MEAC just make excuses.
Coach Bozeman range for recruiting star players goes from the West coast to the East coast. He is quickly proving it is not the name of the school, but great coaching that makes a competitive program. Morgan State will be making its second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance after beating South Carolina State 68-61 for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championship Saturday. The Bears finished 26-9 and enter the NCAA tournament having won their last seven games dating back to Feb. 22. They have a formidable foe in Big East Champion West Virginia, but the Bears will be prepared to be competitive.
It is very refreshing to watch the transformation of Morgan State's athletic programs and the great works of Mr. Kerr and Coach Bozeman. The Bears are truly now "a Beast in the East."
Who is Floyd Kerr?
Oxford, Mississippi born Floyd Kerr, is a native of South Bend, Indiana. He attended Colorado State University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education. He held the position of Assistant Basketball Coach and Assistant Athletic Director at Youngstown State University from 1992 to 2000 and Director of Athletics at Southern University from 2000 to 2005. He was appointed Director of Athletics at Morgan State University on July 17, 2005.
He has coached high school basketball teams to state championships in New Jersey and Ohio. He spent 22 years coaching basketball before moving into athletic administration at Youngstown State, under football coach Jim Tressel, currently the head football coach at the Ohio State University. Kerr is currently pursuing his doctoral degree in Educational Leadership at Youngstown State University. He has also completed a certification as a Sports Marketing Professional (SMP) at the University of Kentucky Gatton School of Business.
Kerr has received many honors. Among them are: one of the Most Influential Minorities in Sports by Sports Illustrated Magazine (May 2004), a Fellow in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Fellows Leadership Program, and recipient of the General Robert R. Neyland Outstanding Athletic Director's Award by the All-American Football Foundation (2004). He has served on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee and is currently serving on the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subcommittee and the Minority Opportunities Athletic Association (MOAA) Board of Directors.
Kerr has been recognized as an All-American Collegiate Basketball player at Colorado State University, was drafted by three professional sports teams, including the Phoenix Suns (NBA), the Utah Stars (ABA), and the Dallas Cowboys (NFL). Ranked 75th on Sports Illustrated's 101 Most Important Minorities in Sports in June 2004, Kerr has served as a member of two of the NCAA's most prestigious committees, the Division I men's basketball tournament selection committee and the issues committee.
Mr, Kerr has a vision to take the Morgan State Bears program to the next level, create a better image for the university through sports, and build a business model for the athletic department to generate new revenue streams. This all starts with recapturing the competitive edge in sports that Morgan historically enjoyed. No doubt, he has achieved this vision and beyond with the men's and women's basketball program.
Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman remembers the days of fielding phones call from coaches telling him about players they thought could play for the Bears.
