Football players, families and press gathered on Friday morning to welcome the new football head coach Damon Wilson alongside University President David Wilson and Dena Freeman-Patton, vice president and director for intercollegiate athletics.

The athletic department held a press conference in the University Student Center at 10 a.m. for the new hire after the position was vacant for four months. 

“The best indication of future success is past success and so, we did not want to go through a period of experimentation. Show me what you’ve done, show me a track record. And I will bet on the future based on that track record any day,” President Wilson said.

Damon Wilson coached at Bowie State University for 12 years where he won three consecutive CIAA championships before accepting the head coach position at Morgan. 

After a plethora of achievements at Bowie and his strong interest in the head coach position at Morgan, Coach Wilson was pleased that his interest was sustained. 

Coach Wilson checked every box in terms of being compatible with Morgan, according to President Wilson. 

“We have a person who’s won multiple conference titles in the conference, where he previously played, we have a person who has won multiple national awards for coaching in the D1 and HBCU space. We have a person who is no stranger to D1 football,” said President Wilson. 

Coach Wilson had an opportunity to take other positions but he said he “wanted to make sure that position was right.” 

One of his biggest goals in his new position is solidifying Morgan as an elite football team for the city of Baltimore.

“We’re going to make sure that we are Baltimore’s football team, we want to make sure that the city of Baltimore, we embrace the city and the city embraces us because we want to get everybody in this circle in the DMV area to support Morgan State football,” he said. 

Damon Wilson also plans to be active in the community and recruit more players within the local area and out of state. 

“We’re going to be active in the community, we’re going to involve the youth activities and that sort of thing so we can continue to put our Morgan brand out there. Morgan is a national brand so we’re going to recruit heavily in this area.” 

Lawrence Richardson, a senior linebacker for the football team, said that he is waiting to see what else Coach Wilson has planned for the team. 

Richardson said, “’I’m just waiting to see what else he has in store for us, what he got us to do, stuff like that.”

Speaking of changes to Morgan’s athletics, President Wilson also introduced new athletic director and vice president, Freeman-Patton at Friday’s press conference. 

Freeman-Patton’s hire on May 3 led to the hiring process for a head football coach.

Freeman-Patton said, “I had the awesome task of putting the pool together for the football coach, they did such a great job in hiring an ad so you know why not. And so we started that process. And looking for our next leader for the football program here at Morgan State.” 

Freeman-Patton said the athletic department was looking for more than just a coach, but someone who can rebuild the program and help develop the athletes at Morgan.

“And so with all of the things that President Wilson talked about, and that we were looking for, in our head coach, Coach Wilson rose to the top,” she said. 

With the two recent athletic hires, President Wilson said Morgan is remaking what college sports look like.