After spending 13 seasons at the helm of the Bowie State football program, Damon Wilson is making the leap from Division II to Division I as the new head coach at Morgan State following three consecutive conference titles with the Bulldogs.
Former Morgan State head coach Tyrone Wheatley left for a role as the running backs coach with the Denver Broncos, creating the opening at head coach.
“I think Morgan’s capable of being a powerhouse program in the FCS,” Wilson said on Glenn Clark Radio May 27.
Following his playing career at Bowie State, Wilson joined the Bulldogs’ coaching staff in 1999 as an assistant coach for five seasons. Wilson left Bowie State to become an assistant at Texas Southern from 2004-2006 before coming back to Bowie State to be the Bulldogs’ running backs and special teams coach in 2007. Wilson then spent the 2008 season as the running backs coach for Prairie View A&M before returning for a third stint at Bowie State, only this time as the head coach.
Wilson brought sustained success to the Bulldogs during his tenure as the head coach at Bowie State (2009-2021). Wilson made the Division II playoffs five times, was named the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Coach of the Year three times, and in his final year coaching Bowie State, was named the American Football Coaches Association’s National Coach of the Year for Division II, the first CIAA coach to ever win the award.
Most recently, the Bulldogs won three consecutive CIAA conference championships (2018, 2019 and 2021), not including the 2020 COVID year.
“My staff [at Bowie State] did a great job … recruiting and making sure the young men had success in the classroom so we weren’t turning over rosters every year,” Wilson said. “We built it the right way, and our student-athletes bought into what we were preaching.”
Leaving Bowie State was “one of the toughest professional decisions” that Wilson has made not just in his coaching career, but in his life as a whole.
“I talked through the situation with a number [team] leaders, and some of the comments they said to me really, really put my heart at ease, put my mind at ease,” Wilson said. “Having their support meant the world to me.”
Wilson takes the reins for a Morgan State football program that has lacked any sort of consistent success in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference since 2014, when the Bears were co-champs of the conference. The Bears have not had a winning season since 2014 and have finished below .500 in conference play every year since 2015.
Morgan has won the MEAC championship four times since joining the conference in 1970, but just once in the last four decades.
“It’s not just about building a good team, we’re trying to build a good program,” Wilson said. “With the rich history that Morgan State has in its athletic program and its football program in particular … we want to tap back into that.”
Because of his time at Bowie State, Wilson believes he’s more prepared and has a greater understanding for what it takes to have sustained success at an HBCU than some of the past coaches throughout the years at Morgan.
“I do understand the culture, I do understand the dynamics of our area with regards to recruiting, [and] I do have the relationships in the area. … I think [for] some of the guys that had the opportunity, it was new to them and they had to make necessary adjustments,” Wilson said.
Looking to create a similar powerhouse at Morgan that he did at Bowie State, Wilson’s expectations for the Bears are high.
Neil Boudreau, who started at quarterback for Morgan last year, has run out of eligibility, making sophomore Duce Taylor, who appeared in six games last year, the top returner at the position.
Morgan State’s top two running backs from a year ago, senior Alfonzo Graham and junior Jabriel Johnson, return to lead the Bears’ backfield. Top receiver Wesley Wolfolk ran out of eligibility, creating an opportunity for sophomore Andre Crawley to play a big role for the Bears this year.
On the defensive side of the ball, Morgan State welcomes back a number of starters from last year’s crew. Junior linebacker Lawrence Richardson, the Bears’ 2021 leader in tackles (68) and interceptions (2), returns as the star of Morgan’s defense. Lineman Elijah Williams, who led the Bears in sacks (4.0) as a freshman, also returns.
“We’re going to be physical, we’re going to be disciplined, we’re going to be exciting,” Wilson said. “Every week that we go into the field, if we take that approach, we’ll have an opportunity to win a football game.”
For more from Wilson, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Bowie State Athletics