For 1,940 days, Edward Scott served as the director of athletics for Morgan State.

Now entering his new role as deputy athletics director at the University of Virginia, Scott leaves behind a large impact on the athletic department.

During Scott’s tenure as Morgan’s athletic director, the school’s athletic department experienced unprecedented improvements.

Upon his arrival in the fall of 2016, Morgan’s athletic department was in the middle of a NCAA major infractions case.

A NCAA panel determined Morgan athletics officials violated NCAA eligibility and financial aid rules, leaving student-athletes ineligible to compete.

According to Joshua Miles, an offensive lineman for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League, many of his college teammates would become ineligible prior to Scott’s arrival.

Miles was a member of Morgan’s football program from 2014 to 2018.

“For so many years, there were so many people who got their scholarships taken… from things that weren’t their fault,” Miles said. “It would be like 20, 30 guys who were ineligible every year.”

After the NCAA violations, Scott felt like the department needed to organize themselves in a different fashion.

“We had some really good people but we really needed to focus on our infrastructure and our processes,” Scott said.

Miles noticed a shift in the way the athletics department operated during Scott’s tenure.

“[Scott] wanted to take the program in a different direction which was honestly welcomed because it had been poorly run for the last couple of years,” Miles said. “A lot of people in the athletic department seemed to be complacent.”

One of the things Scott did to assist Miles and other student-athletes was help the athletic department receive a $900,000 grant from the NCAA to improve the academic support and compliance staff.

“AD Scott didn’t just let me become ineligible and then fall by the wayside,” Miles said. “There were so many guys who after becoming ineligible… they just either dropped out or stopped playing ball.”

Scott’s hiring of Andrew Magee, Morgan’s associate director of athletics, was especially helpful for Miles as it allowed him to maintain the necessary grades to remain eligible to compete.

“Andy was one of the most instrumental people in my career,” Miles said.

Under Scott’s leadership, Morgan student-athletes earned the highest GPA in school history with a 3.41 athletic department average last year.

Additionally, the student-athlete graduation rate has increased by 19 percent during Scott’s time at Morgan.

Scott also played an instrumental role in the athletic department’s fundraising efforts.

In October, Morgan announced Scott helped secure a $2.7 million dollar donation that will allow varsity wrestling to return to the school after a 24-year hiatus.

Along with helping student-athletes improve academically, Scott helped them succeed in their respective sports.

In April 2019, the men’s tennis team won their first-ever Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Men’s Tennis Championship.

In May 2021, Morgan’s softball team won their first-ever MEAC championship.

“We didn’t win as many championships as I would have liked… but we did win the first-ever men’s tennis championship and women’s softball championship,” Scott said.

Although they didn’t ultimately win the MEAC tournaments, Morgan’s volleyball team reached the championship game in 2019 and the men’s basketball team reached the championship game in 2021.

It was the first time the men’s basketball team reached the championship game since 2014.

In May 2019, Scott hired current men’s basketball coach Kevin Broadus.

The two are close and have known each other for over a decade.

Broadus was the head coach of Binghamton University from 2007 to 2009 and Scott was associate director of athletics at the same school from 2008 to 2012.

“[Scott] is like a little brother,” Broadus said. “He meant a lot to [Morgan] and the athletic department.”

“I think the world of Coach Broadus as a basketball coach,” Scott said. “He is doing a phenomenal job trying to grow young men at Morgan.”

Furthermore, several former Morgan athletes, including Miles, Manasseh Bailey, Tiwian Kendley, Troy Baxter Jr., and Phillip Carr have gone on to play their respective sports professionally during Scott’s tenure.

Among all things, Scott is especially grateful for his relationship with University President David Wilson.

“I know a lot of my peers… would envy the relationship that I have with Dr. Wilson,” Scott said. “Even when we disagreed on something, our values were always the same.”

Although Scott is leaving Morgan, he said he will take the lessons he learned from the university with him to UVA.

“I learned at Morgan State you can be who you are and you should never apologize for that and I’m going to take that with me to UVA,” Scott said. “It’s because of what I learned at Morgan State that I can go in there and be who I am and feel confident.”