More than a week after Delaware State parted ways with Lee Hull as football coach, at least one former Hornet football player has drafted a letter in support of the man Hull replaced.
Steven Tadlock, a former linebacker at Delaware State College in the 1980s, shared a letter within a DSU alumni group on Facebook, supporting a potential return to the program for former head coach and DSC great Rod Milstead.
“This is not a petition or a demand, just a letter in support of our fellow Hornet football alum to get our football program back to where it should be,” Tadlock posted in the DSU Stinging Hornets football booster club group.
Milstead, a three-time all-MEAC offensive lineman who played in the NFL with the Super Bowl XXIX champion San Francisco 49ers and Washington Commanders for six seasons, coached the Hornets from 2018 to 2022. The Hornets compiled a 17-33 record overall and 9-30 in MEAC play.
The Hornets finished 2021 and 2022 with identical 5-6 overall and 2-3 MEAC records before he was let go in November of 2022. Hull, who previously coached at Howard and Morgan State (winning the conference title in 2014), was hired in December of 2022 and recorded a 2-21 record in two seasons with a 0-10 record in MEAC games. Hull was fired on Dec. 3 in a major shakeup that included the departure of athletic director Alecia Shields Gadson. She has since been replaced by Tony Tucker.
The letter highlights the team’s academic success under Milstead, including a program record for the highest GPA and most MEAC All-Academic selections.
The letter also suggests ways to help Milstead win the recruiting war within the state of Delaware, especially now that rival University of Delaware is moving from the Coastal Athletic Association and FCS to FBS and Conference USA beginning next season.
“One of the ways Coach Milstead would ensure that our program is pointed in the right direction again while surpassing previous achievements is to infuse the staff with new blood and new ideas. Coaches from Delaware, who know Delaware, will be on board with coach Milstead to ensure our success. This would mean top notch in State recruiting as a FOCUS of our program, new and innovative offensive schemes, with a potential successor to Coach Milstead already on the staff,” the letter explains.
“This gives us our pathway forward: the combination of a new direction, grounded by real experience to WIN NOW, and the stability of a DSU Hall of Fame level succession plan in place for the longer term.”
