Ex-GW official hired as Bears athletic director
Scott to take over department in Nov.
Morgan State on Tuesday announced the hiring of Edward Scott as its athletic director. Scott is a former college athlete whose experience with NCAA academic and compliance policies will be crucial as he tries to l ead t he department through a trying period.
Scott previously served as senior associate athletic director at George Washington, where he has worked since last October. He will take over at Morgan State in November for interim athletic director Erlease Wagner. Former Bears athletic director Floyd Kerr retired June 30 after 11 years.
“I am honored and humbled to join Morgan State University as its new director of athletics,” Scott said in a release. “My wife, Tara, and I are excited to join the MSU family and for the opportunity to partner with the Baltimore community to make a positive impact on the lives of scholar-athletes at Morgan.”
Scott, who oversaw NCAA compliance, educational services, and studentathlete discipline and welfare at George Washington, will inherit a 13-sport athletic department trying to move past related problems.
Last year, at least 10 Morgan State football players were ruled academically ineligible before the team’s season opener after an NCAA review revealed shortcomings in mandated academic requirements. In April, the Bears failed to reach a satisfactory score in the Academic Progress Rate and were one of five NCAA programs barred from post- season play this fall. The ban came less than two years after the team’s first MidEastern Athletic Conference championship in 35 years.
Two other teams’ APR scores fell short of the NCAA benchmark. The men’s basketball team received a reduction in practice time for its low mark, while the men’s cross country squad was ruled ineligible for postseason participation this year.
In June, the school reassigned women’s basketball coach Donald Beasley to another position at the university over allegations that he had verbally abused his players. Beasley denied that he cursed at players and directed slurs at them.
Scott’s last season in Washington ended with university officials having to answer similar questions. In July, The Washington Post reported that several current and former George Washington men’s basketball players had accused coach Mike Lonergan, a former Maryland assistant, of verbal and emotional abuse. The school fired Lonergan last month.
At Morgan State, Scott also will be responsible for considering the feasibility of adding varsity men’s and women’s lacrosse programs. From 1970 to 1981, Morgan State had the only men’s lacrosse program from a historically black college or university. School president David Wilson has said he hopes the school explores restoring the program at the Division I level, a decision applauded by former players but complicated by cost and Title IX balance.