Ed Davis Jr. has been with Morgan State’s Women’s Basketball team for 13 years. On March 13, he announced his retirement from being head coach following the MEAC basketball tournament in Norfolk, Virginia.
Davis was the head coach for nine years but started as an assistant coach and for five years, he was under the late Donald Beasley. Davis’ record places him in Morgan’s top three women’s basketball coaches in university history with 120 wins.
“I’ve been in the MEAC since 2000 … My career has been blessed,” said Davis. “I can’t go back and worry about the negative, I can only think about what we do on the positive side. For me to see girls out there from Delaware State and Bowie State that means a lot to me. These girls are now 30 and 40 years old and they’re still coming back to support me.”
Davis turned around Morgan’s women’s basketball program when he became the head coach. Under his leadership, the team claimed their first MEAC regular season title in 2021 and earned a spot in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament in 2023.
Davis had coached junior guard Gabrielle Johnson every year since she’s been in college and smiled when recalling memories from her earlier years with him.
“My freshman year I was on the all-rookie team but my sophomore year, even though I was in a slump, he never gave up on me. He kept encouraging me, he kept me up through a lot of tough times,” said Johnson. “So, you know me and him — we’re locked in for life.”
Redshirt freshman Naya Ojukwu is one of seven transfers to the team and one of five brought in this season.
“It was a very chaotic year with a lot of adversity, but just being able to have a coach that you can talk to and go to … his door is always open that means a lot,” said Ojukwu.
Davis worked his way through the coaching ranks before getting his first division-one head coaching position. He started as a Washington D.C. high school head coach, moved up to Bowie State where he would be inducted into the school’s hall of fame. From there, he went to Delaware State and his 2006 to 2007 tournament team was inducted into the school’s hall of fame as well.
Davis is one of the most decorated coaches in MEAC and said he’ll miss “winning championships” the most.
Morgan has not announced who the next next head coach of the women’s basketball team will be.
