Morgan State Bears football

The Morgan State Bears football team competes in American football on behalf of Morgan State University. The Bears compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Championship Subdivision, currently as a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). The Bears play their home games at Hughes Stadium, a 10,000 seat facility in Baltimore, Maryland.

Morgan State began playing football in 1898, 31 years after the school was founded. The team's all-time record is 405 wins, 379 losses and 38 ties. 173 of those wins came between 1929 to 1959 when Edward P. Hurt was the head coach and the Bears won 14 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) championships. Earl Banks won four CIAA championships during the 1960s and an additional championship in 1971 after Morgan entered the MEAC. The Bears won another MEAC championship in 1979, but have not won any other championships since.

Coaches
The current head coach of the Morgan Bears football team is Donald Hill-Eley. Hill-Ely became head coach on February 8, 2002. A native of Suffolk, Virginia, Hill-Eley is a graduate of Virginia Union University (1991) and served as an assistant coach at Virginia Union, Hampton University, the Baltimore Stallions (Canadian Football League), the Toronto Argonauts (Canadian Football League) and Morgan State.

Eddie Hurt era
Coach Eddie P. Hurt took over the Morgan Bears football team in 1929, the next year his teams won the first of the 14 CIAA championships they would win with him at the helm. More importantly, Hurt, and his assistant coach Talmadge L. Hill, built a program that allowed black athletes to show case their talents where such a venue had been non-existent before. From 1931 to 1938, Hurt coached the Bears to a 54-game win streak without a single loss. During his tenure, Morgan's football teams completed 11 seasons undefeated and, in the 1943 season, opponents failed to score a single point against the Bears. Hurt is a member of the HBCU coaches Hall of Fame and in 1952 Morgan named its new $1 million gymnasium facility after him.

Earl "Papa Bear" Banks era
Earl Banks succeeded Hurt and took Morgan football to the next level. Banks was the Head coach from 1960 to 1973. He coached the Bears to a 31-game winning streak, three unbeaten regular seasons, four CIAA titles, a MEAC championship, and four bowl games. Twice during his tenure, Morgan led the nation in total defense. 35 of Bank's players went on to play in the NFL, including NFL Hall of Famers Leroy Kelly and Willie Lanier; two more players played professional ball in the CFL. Banks was inducted into five sports Halls of Fame including the College Football Hall of Fame in 1992.

Modern era
Only one coach has had a winning record at Morgan since the departure of Banks at the end of the 1973 season. The Bears had suffered 23 straight seasons with a losing record until the arrival of current Coach Donald Hill-Eley whose first team had a 7-5 record in the 2002 season.

Notable alumni
Fifty two former Morgan players have gone on to play professional football. Thirty eight players went to the NFL, eight to the CFL, three to the WFL and one each to the AAFC, the Arena Football League and the AIFA. At least one player has gone to the NFL every decade since 1950 from Morgan State.

Former Morgan Bears Len Ford, Leroy Kelly, Willie Lanier and Rosey Brown are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.