HBCU

Morgan Hires Wheatley But Is It For the Long Term

THE AFRO — When announcing former NFL running back Tyrone Wheatley as their new head football coach, Morgan State pushed all the chips into the center of the table.

Published

6 years ago

February 20, 2019

Oakland Post

By Mark F. Gray

When announcing former NFL running back Tyrone Wheatley as their new head football coach, Morgan State pushed all the chips into the center of the table. Great poker players are stoic when gambling that the hand they are holding is enough to win. If the pot is great enough and you win, it’s time to cash out then keep things moving.

Morgan’s athletic director Ed Scott did a masterful job bringing an NFL assistant to a program that has been an afterthought for generations. The history and legacy of the “Golden Bears” under legendary figures such as Eddie Hurt and Earl Banks live in the archives of college football lore. However, there aren’t too many people around who remember the days when Morgan’s program was a destination for premiere athletes and coaches that were looking to make a name for themselves.

If this hire proves successful and the Bears win a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship it will open doors to new opportunities for Wheatley to begin his ascent back to the major college ranks or to the NFL. Morgan, like most HBCU jobs, is a stepping stone opportunity for coaches such as Wheatley to make a name for themselves instead of creating a legacy.

In one of his last major acts as MSU’s athletic director, Floyd Kerr hired Lee Hull from Randy Edsall’s staff at Maryland. It worked to perfection in Hull’s first season where he took Donald Hill-Eley’s team and coached them to their first MEAC title in 30 years. It didn’t matter that they shared the title with four other teams. The complicated five-way tie meant the Bears represented the MEAC in the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Playoffs.

The pride in the program was palpable and seemed to restore faith in generations of Bear fans who never thought they would ever see winning football in northeast Baltimore again. Hull was expected to be the man who would ignite the memories of Banks with a program that would contend for conference championships consistently.

Unfortunately, it never happened.

Two years later Hull packed his furniture in a new version of the Mayflower moving trucks and went to work for the Indianapolis Colts as wide receiver’s coach. He left the program on academic probation and they haven’t had a winning season since. Hull cashed in on his immediate success and for the last three years Morgan has been led by two coaches with extended interim tags: Fred Farrier and Ernest Jones.

Hull personifies the dilemma that HBCUs now face when trying build a program these days. There is an unspoken acceptance amongst coaches with the pedigree of Wheatley. You don’t coach at Black colleges too long or you’ll be stuck there. If Scott is on his A-game he has already recognized that as soon as the ink dried on Wheatley’s signed contract there had better be a game plan ready for his departure.

After earning a stellar reputation as one of the nation’s top recruiters, Wheatley probably has a pipeline of talent that could change the fortunes of the program over the next 24 months. He will be able to sell recruits having played for the New York Giants, coached at Michigan and most recently with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.

Morgan would be foolish to look at this as a long term relationship. It will never be a marriage. At best they can only hope it’s an extended fling that leads to another championship ring before Wheatley’s gone.

This article originally appeared in The Afro.

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Salesian Coach Knew Angel Jackson Could Play in WNBA

Back in 2019, Salesian Girls Basketball Head Coach Stephen Pezzola made a bold prediction about one of his players, Angel Jackson. “If she keeps putting in the work like she did for us, she could be in the WNBA,” the coach said. That turned out to be very true. Last month, the Las Vegas Aces selected Jackson with the 36th overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. She is the second player from an Historically Black College or University, or HCBU, to be selected in the draft in 20 years.

Published

8 months ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Angel Jackson. Photo courtesy of Jackston State.

The Richmond Standard

Back in 2019, Salesian Girls Basketball Head Coach Stephen Pezzola made a bold prediction about one of his players, Angel Jackson.

“If she keeps putting in the work like she did for us, she could be in the WNBA,” the coach said.

That turned out to be very true. Last month, the Las Vegas Aces selected Jackson with the 36th overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. She is the second player from an Historically Black College or University, or HCBU, to be selected in the draft in 20 years.

Jackson’s success came as little surprise to Pezzola, who last year led the Pride to their 8th North Coast Section championship since he took over the program in 2008-2009. In 2019, Pezzola commended Jackson as “a very coachable kid” from the time she arrived at Salesian.

Tomekia Reed, her coach at Jackson State, shared similar sentiments, noting Jackson worked “very hard” to reach this moment.

“She came into our program doing great things and never looked back,” Reed told the Clarion Ledger. “She has trusted our leadership as we were able to develop her into an amazing player. I have watched her improve tremendously over the years.”

The 6’-6” Jackson played three seasons at the University of Southern California before transferring to Jackson State. She was ranked 10th in the NCAA in blocked shots and averaged 10 points per game in her final college season.

She finished her collegiate career with 1,047 points and was twice named Southwestern Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

As the 36th pick, Jackson was the final pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. In a television interview, Jackson said she didn’t expect to be picked, and called the moment “surreal.”

“It made me feel so appreciative that HBCU is getting back on the map again,” she said.

All she could do in that moment was cry.

“I called my mom immediately, and she started crying,” Jackson said. “It was the best moment you can feel as a young lady.”

There’s no stopping Jackson now. “The sky is the limit,” she said.

Her high school coach agrees.

“I knew that Angel could do it,” Coach Pezzola told the Richmond Standard this week. “We are so proud of Angel and what she has accomplished. It was an honor and joy to coach Angel at Salesian.”

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Laphonza Butler Becomes California’s Newest U.S. Senator

Two days after California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that Laphonza Butler would fill the U.S. Senate seat of the late Dianne Feinstein, the new senator was sworn in on Capitol Hill by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

Published

1 year ago

October 10, 2023

Oakland Post

Laphonza Bulter was the president of Emily’s List. Wikimedia Commons photo.

Replacing the Late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Butler Becomes the 3^rd Black Woman to Serve in Upper Chamber

By Lauren Victoria Burke,

NNPA Newswire contributor

Flanked by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and California Sen. Alex Padilla as she took the oath, Butler than received a round of applause by senators of both parties.

After the swearing-in, President Joe Biden called Butler to congratulate her, the White House said.

“I am honored to accept Gov. Newsom’s nomination to be a U.S. Senator for a state I have long called home,” Butler said in a statement Monday. “I am humbled by the Governor’s trust. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s leadership and legacy are immeasurable. I will do my best to honor her by devoting my time and energy to serving the people of California and the people of this great nation.”

She will be the third Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, preceded by Illinois’s Carol Mosely Braun, and current V.P. Kamala Harris. Butler is also the first openly lesbian Black U.S. senator: Her wife, Neneki Lee, held the Bible during Butler’s swearing-in.

Since 2021, Butler has been serving as the president of EMILY’s List. The fundraising platform supports and funds women candidates and amplifies issues that disproportionately impact women.

Before that she was involved in labor organizing, elected president of California’s largest union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

“As the president of SEIU 2015, Laphonza Butler led the fight for fair wages and respect for home care workers,” said Mary Kay Henry, current SEIU president, in a statement Monday. “As president of SEIU California, she was a driving force in winning the first statewide $15 an hour minimum wage in the nation. She has been a strong ally electing pro-women candidates as president of Emily’s List.”

Fellow California Sen. Alex Padilla also expressed strong support for Butler. “Throughout her career, Laphonza Butler has been a strong voice for working families, LGBTQ rights, and a champion for increasing women’s representation in politics. I’m honored to welcome her to the United States Senate,” Padilla wrote in a statement. “Governor Newsom’s swift action ensures that Californians maintain full representation in the Senate as we navigate a narrow Democratic majority. I look forward to working together to deliver for the people of California.”

Newsom’s decision was not on the political radar screen of most prognosticators.

With the selection of Butler, the decision by California’s Governor did not include any of the currently announced candidates for U.S. Senate in 2024 in California. Those current candidates include veteran members of Congress Barbara Lee and Adam Schiff and relative newcomer Katie Porter.

“As we mourn the enormous loss of Senator Feinstein, the very freedoms she fought for — reproductive freedom, equal protection, and safety from gun violence — have never been under greater assault. Laphonza will carry the baton left by Senator Feinstein, continue to break glass ceilings, and fight for all Californians in Washington, D.C.,” wrote Gov. Newsom in a statement released on the evening of October 1 announcing Butler’s appointment.

Butler will be the only Black woman in the Senate. But Delaware Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester is expected to win the Senate seat vacated by Senator Tom Carper. Carper announced he would not run for re-election in 2024 and Rochester announced shortly afterwards that she would run for Carper’s seat.

Butler formally became another addition to the Congressional Black Caucus when she was welcomed with a swearing in by those members later on Tuesday.

Butler grew up in Magnolia, Miss., one of four siblings raised by a single mother. Her father, who suffered from heart disease, passed away when Butler was 16. She attended Jackson State University, an HBCU, graduating in 2001.

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Historic Black University: Multiple Suspects Sought After Shooting Incident at Morgan State University

Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley and Morgan State University Police Chief Lance Hatcher told reporters that the incident happened around 9:25 p.m. when university police officers, on their regular patrol, detected gunfire from the campus. The victims, aged between 18 and 22, which include four men and a woman, sustained injuries that are reported to be non-life-threatening.

Published

1 year ago

October 10, 2023

Oakland Post

Tyler Hall, Morgan State University campus. Morgan State is one of the few historically Black institutions nationally to offer a comprehensive range of academic programs, in business, engineering, education, architecture, social work, and hospitality management. Photo courtesy morgan.edu

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire

Baltimore police are intensifying their search for multiple suspects involved in a shooting incident that occurred on the campus of Morgan State University, leaving five individuals injured. Among the victims, four are students of the historically Black institution.

“The entire city of Baltimore’s heart aches for the Morgan community, for the victims and their families, and for our city as a whole,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott stated.

Multiple windows were shattered during the incident, and school officials said they immediately began active shooter response protocols. Worley said police systematically cleared buildings in pursuit of those responsible. While there are indications that it could have been more than one shooter, authorities could not confirm whether multiple assailants were involved.

Hatcher said university police received notification of the shooting at approximately 9:27 p.m. and sent the first public safety alert to the community at 9:30 p.m., followed by four other notifications.

At approximately 11:45 p.m., city police announced via Twitter that the incident was no longer an “active shooter situation.” University officials announced via social media that the shelter-in-place order had been lifted, and shuttle services resumed at around 12:30 a.m.

Worley emphasized that SWAT officers meticulously combed through every floor of the buildings they searched, conducting two sweeps, before lifting the shelter-in-place order.

Authorities are urging anyone with information to come forward and assist in their efforts to bring those responsible to justice.