Morgan State University is offering wrestling after a 25-year hiatus. In doing so, the institution is the only HBCU with a Division I wrestling program. The Bears started competing last week and scored 1-9 in matches against Hofstra and Bloomsburg.
Morgan States tapped Kenny Monday as head coach to help the team rebuild its program, which he said is no easy feat.
“Yeah, it’s a difficult, difficult thing,” he told theGrio. “It’s hard, but it’s getting better every day. It’s just getting the administration and the university up to speed on what wrestling looks like and what it feels like, the requirements, and the recruiting process. That’s probably the biggest hurdle other than just building the team.”
Not only was Monday an NCAA champion at Oklahoma State, he was also the country’s first Black wrestler to win an Olympic gold medal. He became a three-time Olympian by winning both gold and silver medals.
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Morgan State produced some of the top wrestlers in the nation, including 75 All-Americans. The Bears won three straight titles in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1963-65) and 13 titles in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, according to Sports Illustrated.
“We’ve got a pretty stiff schedule,” Monday said. “My focus was to get the kids against the best competition — teams in the top 15 and top 20 – to give them an idea of what it looks like going against some of the best kids in the country.”
The new wrestling team includes around 30 wrestlers, with most of them being freshmen.
Morgan State reintroduced wrestling thanks to the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Wrestling Initiative. The organization received a $2.7 million donation from former Princeton wrestler and investment firm CEO Mike Novogratz and plans on helping institutions beyond Morgan State in the future.
“It makes perfect sense,” Jahi Jones, HBCUW’s executive director, told The Baltimore Sun. “You have the first HBCU, and their program was dropped 25 years ago. And now it’s being coached by the first Black Olympic champion in the sport of wrestling. Just to know that this program is the first HBCU with a Division I program that will be coached by someone as high-caliber as Kenny Monday, it’s definitely a job well done, and we’re definitely excited about the future of Morgan State wrestling.”
