UNDER THE BANNER
What's Going On In and Around Black College Sports
BLAKE TO LEAD WSSU TRACK: Following a national search, Winston-Salem State Director of
Athletics
Dr. Chico Caldwell announced that Halcyon M.
Blake has been selected as the Rams' and Lady Rams' permanent head
track and field/cross country coach replacing departed interim head
coach Benny Morgan. Blake began her position at WSSU effective
January 17. WSSU has not fielded a track and field team since 2001
and will return to the track for their first season of competition this
spring (2006) in the CIAA. Blake comes to WSSU after serving as both the head coach for men's
and women's cross country/track at Methodist College
in Fayetteville, NC for the past five years. She has over 24
years of coaching experience. Prior to Methodist College,
Blake led more than 16 all-Americans while at the
UNC-Chapel Hill. As the mentor of the Pine Forest High School
programs in Fayetteville, NC, Blake's teams won state, regional
and conference titles. As an athlete, Blake attended
Kansas where she excelled as a sprinter and long jumper. Blake,
a three time Olympian, had the women's long jump
named after her in 1995 at the Kansas Relays. She won the
Triple Crown at the Texas, Drake and the Kansas Relays from
1981-1983 and is an 11-time All-American in the 4x400
meter relay and long jump. She still holds the women's long
jump record at the University of Kansas and the Kansas
Relays. "She is supremely qualified and will bring a level of
coaching and recruiting ability to a program that is beginning its
re-development stages," said Caldwell.
DATCHER NEW HOWARD AD: Nearly a decade after he first applied for the job, native
Washingtonian 
Dwight Datcher has been introduced as Howard's new
athletic director. Datcher had expressed interest in the job in the
mid-1990s, when he was the athletic director at the
University of the District of Columbia. Hank
Ford was hired at Howard in the fall of 1996,
and the following year Datcher became an associate athletic director
at Georgetown. He continued to follow Howard's athletic program
over the past nine years, and decided to seek the job shortly
after Sondra Norrell-Thomas stepped down this summer.
"They have the ability to do some great things here," said
Datcher, 53. "It's my job to try to guide them and lead them
through that." "We need to turn it up a notch, and I think he
understands that," said Howard President H. Patrick
Swygert, who said he and Datcher have already discussed the
possibility of a capital campaign to upgrade the school's
athletic facilities. "I think he understands we need to be more
competitive than we have been. . . . They've not had the
resources I think that they warrant and that they deserve, and
we're going to get at that as well." Datcher, a former assistant
men's basketball coach at Georgetown, has also served as
the athletic director for Division III Roger Williams, his
alma mater. He signed a five-year contract with Howard.
Terms were not disclosed. Vice Provost for Student Affairs
Franklin D . Chambers , who chaired the selection committee,
has served as interim athletic director since
Norrell-Thomas stepped down. Chambers, like Swygert, said Datcher's
local roots were a key factor in the hiring.
NEW UDC AD: The University of the District of Columbia has announced the appointment of Dr. Harold M. Merritt as its new Director of Intercollegiate Athletics. Merritt will join the staff of the only public university in the nation's capital in February following seven years of service as the Director of Athletics, Intramurals, and Athletic Facilities at the College of Staten Island (CSI) in New York City. "We couldn't be more delighted to welcome Dr. Merritt to the Firebird Country," said Dr. William L. Pollard, president of UDC. "He has the solid credentials and impeccable record of service that make him well-suited to assume the leadership of our athletics program." Merritt, who will begin his duties in February, will replace Dr. Kelly J. Higgins, who has served as interim director since November of 2004. Merritt is a former head men's basketball coach at Northern Arizona and Morris Brown.
© 2006 Azeez Communications, Inc.