Morehouse athletic director Harold Ellis went on “Inside the HBCU Sports Lab” and basically told the SWAC and the MEAC to keep his name out of their mouths — or rather, to start putting it in their mouths, because he’s coming for them.
Ellis isn’t some outsider making noise for attention, either. He’s a Morehouse guy through and through — the only Maroon Tiger to ever have his jersey retired, a guy who averaged better than 24 points a game across four years and dragged Morehouse to the 1989-90 Division II Final Four before spending three seasons in the NBA with the Clippers and Nuggets. So when he says Morehouse doesn’t belong boxed into Division II anymore, that’s not bluster from a suit who never laced them up. That’s a guy who’s lived every level of this sport.
The comments landed right after Ellis was named the top mid-major athletic director in Dr. Kenyatta Cavil’s inaugural Division II/NAIA HBCU rankings, on the heels of Morehouse taking home the SIAC’s men’s all-sports award. He even called out Jackson State’s Ashley Robinson and Howard’s Kery Davis by name as the Division I peers he’s measuring himself against.
Now, nothing is official. Morehouse is still SIAC, still Division II, for right now. But this is the kind of talk that’s followed Morehouse for years given the name recognition the school carries nationally, and Ellis just made it a lot louder. Whether the money and facilities ever catch up to the ambition is the real question — but don’t be surprised if this becomes a running storyline all season.