The whispers of a potential move to Division I have now become a complete topic of conversation for Morehouse College.
Prior to the Maroon Tigers’ HBCU NYC Classic battle with Howard, new head football coach Terance Mathis confirmed that discussions are in progress about Morehouse moving up a level and likely joining the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
“There has been talk about moving up, and we’re preparing ourselves for that,” Mathis said during the coaches’ press conference. “If that is the future of this program, we’ll be ready when it happens.”
The MEAC has soldiered along since mass defections from Hampton, North Carolina A&T, Bethune-Cookman, and reigning HBCU national champion Florida A&M shrunk the conference nearly in half; there are now eight full members and six schools with football programs.
As a Delaware State graduate who nervously awaited (and likely still can await) the results of my Alma mater’s flirtation with the Northeast Conference, my first thought initially was, “This does not help the MEAC in any way.”
As a student journalist turned alumni, I watched Savannah State and Winston-Salem State struggle mightily to maintain a Division I budget before returning to Division II, while North Carolina Central was the exception.
My initial thought has turned into a “well, it’s worth a shot,” simply because with the ongoing conference realignment wars, the MEAC cannot afford to fall any further behind the Southwestern Athletic Conference, even as that conference is a full-house with 12 solid members.
It also helps that Morehouse has two very important things going for themselves.
The number one and most important factor is a strong, healthy, and giving alumni base. Morehouse men love their school and, in recent years, have donated to and secured funding for various big-ticket projects on campus.
The allure of Division I would fire up the stakeholders even more, and having former professional athletes like Mathis and Morehouse alum/athletic director Harold Ellis (a former L.A. Clippers and Denver Nuggets forward) on campus in high-profile athletic department roles is a signal that they’re serious about this potential move.
Number Two, naturally, is location. The MEAC has longed for an Atlanta presence for years; those of us old enough to remember Morris Brown playing MEAC schools in just about every sport felt their inclusion was inevitable before financial woes halted the school for over a decade. Morehouse has no such problems. While it would lead to more expensive travel for the other eight schools, Morehouse has the resources to make the move and upgrade facilities as they go.
Another concern is from a football-only standpoint—Morehouse has not had the best of luck recently, with their last winning season coming in 2018. The Maroon Tigers have not won a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title since 1991.
Adding schools just to add them without an eye toward competitive balance feels like a fool’s errand. Then again, that could be solved with more alumni engagement as well as giving a coach more time to recruit players in this new era of college free agency.
Of course, nothing official is currently available, but if this turns out to be true, the MEAC is being proactive instead of waiting for the schools they want to decide whether they’re coming or not. Morehouse is a school they need for the long-term viability and success of the conference. Let the conversation begin.
