Last October, Morgan State University announced they were reviving their once dominant wrestling program.
After a 24-year hiatus, the HBCU institution was jump-starting the dormant program thanks to a $2.7 million gift from HBCU Wrestling and billionaire philanthropist Mike Novogratz. One of the largestest private donations received by the university, it will fund the program and up to nine full scholarships annually.
This made Morgan State the sole HBCU instituion to field a D1 varsity wrestling program.
Financing secured, the next steps were to find a coach and field a team.
On Tuesday, they handled the former by hiring Olympic gold medalist and one of the biggest names in Black wrestling history and the sport, Kenny Monday.
Monday, the first Black wrestler to win Olympic gold, has a long and impressive resume dedicated to the sport.
He is a 3x Olympian who won gold in 1988 and silver in 1992. He is also a World Champion (1989), a 4x USA Free Style Champion (1985, 1988, 1991, 1996) and three-time All-American and NCAA Champion (1984).
For all of his accomplishments, Monday was inducted into the National Wrestling (2001), Oklahoma Sports (2003) and United World Wresting International (2016) Halls of Fame.
Kenny Monday gives Morgan a highly successful and big name individual to relaunch their wrestling program with.
“After conducting a nationwide search of the best talent in wrestling coaching, we are confident that in Coach Kenny Monday, we have selected the right person to restore Morgan’s wrestling program,” said Dena Freeman-Patton, vice president and director for intercollegiate athletics at Morgan. “Coach Monday brings the gravitas and experience to lead a Division I program and attract the top talent in the nation to come to Morgan. We look forward to having him start as soon as possible and build a championship-ready wrestling team.”
Monday has years of coaching experience and can’t wait to tackle the challenge ahead of him.
“I’m extremely grateful and honored to be named as the head wrestling coach at Morgan State University. Bringing the wrestling program back to an HBCU after 25 years is exciting for me and the entire wrestling community,” said Coach Monday. “I want to thank President Wilson and Athletic Director Dena Freeman-Patton for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to build an incredible program. Every experience in my career has prepared me for this moment, and I can’t wait to get started. Go Bears!”
Monday officially begins on August 24th and the program’s first full season is slated for 2023-24.
