By: Auzzy Byrdsell, Editor-in-Chief, & Kobe Scales, Sports Editor 

After a disappointing 1-9 finish to the 2023 football season, Morehouse College Athletics Department has fired head football coach Gerard Wilcher, offensive coordinator Stan Clayton and defensive coordinator Charles Alexander of the coaching staff. Assistant head coach George Copeland and quarterback coach David Clowney remain on staff. 

The players were informed by the coaches this morning, Nov. 6. The team is scheduled to meet with Morehouse athletic director Harold Ellis at 7 a.m. tomorrow on Nov. 7. 

“Please know that I tried every day to uplift my beloved Morehouse,” Wilcher said in a statement released today. “Statistically, we improved in almost every category.”

Details surrounding the reasoning behind the coach’s dismissal are being investigated by The Maroon Tiger.

“We just want some stability, that’s really it,” junior defensive back Ronald Davis III said. 

This comes two days after Wilcher secured his first win as the head coach of the Maroon Tigers over rival Clark Atlanta University Panthers.

If Morehouse football has a new head coach by the start of next season, it would be the third consecutive season with a different head coach. Last season, the team also finished 1-9 under the leadership of former head coach Rich Freeman. 

Morehouse football has not had a winning season since 2018.

“I just hope they don’t take forever to find a new coach like last year,” Davis said. 

Wilcher was not announced as this season’s head coach until Feb. 7 of this year. Wilcher ’92 played football here and had a previous coaching stint as an assistant with the Maroon Tigers. 

“We played a challenging schedule with only two home games and even though we asked numerous times, we were not given the resources to have a strength and conditioning program,” Wilcher said in his statement.

Wilcher entered this season with 25 years of coaching experience at the Division I and NFL ranks. 

The Maroon Tiger will continue investigating further details on the coach’s dismissal. 

Copy Edited by: Kobe Scales, Sports Editor