After just one season as the head football coach of his alma mater, Gerard Wilcher has been fired by Morehouse.
In a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, Wilcher highlighted adversity his program fought through that had a significant impact on the team.
After a hard fought 8 months, my time has come to an end at my Alma Mater, Morehouse College.
Please know that I tried every day to uplift my beloved Morehouse. Statistically, we improved in almost every category. We played a challenging schedule with only 2 home games and even though we asked numerous times, we were not given the resources to have a strength and conditioning program.
I was hired after the recruiting season and had no recruiting budget. However, the College has made the decision to no longer retain me rather than give us support and resources we need in order to be successful.
Overall, I would like to thank my team who fought through so many adversities and never wavered in their belief. And although we were underfunded in scholarships, we were still able to retain the Big Cat Trophy with a 35-21 win over Clark Atlanta University.
Wilcher returned to Morehouse in what was his first head coaching job, replacing Rich Freeman, who had been the team’s coach for 16 seasons.
He had spent the past 20 years as an assistant for multiple programs with previous stops, including Cheyney (PA), Boston College, Cornell, Delaware State, and most recently at Rice.
Although the Maroon Tigers ended the season on a strong note with their only win of the season against Clark Atlanta in the Battle for the AUC, it was a rough year for the team elsewhere.
Of Morehouse’s eight losses against Division II opponents, seven came by double-figures, including four losses by margins of over 20 points.
On the other hand, Morehouse’s two home games were the fewest of any Division II HBCU football team.