Lee Hull fired as football coach as part of Delaware State athletics leadership shakeup

Posted by Admin December 3, 2024 Football

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Less than two years after his arrival, Lee Hull is out as Delaware State University football coach.

DSU announced Tuesday it was parting ways with Hull, whose two-year stint yielded just two wins and, it turns out, little optimism about the immediate future.

Alecia Shields-Gadson, DSU’s athletic director since 2021, is also leaving “to pursue new opportunities,” according to the university. She has worked in DSU athletics since 2016, previously as a senior associate AD.

She’ll be replaced by Tony Tucker, a long-time educator who has been working at Delaware State as a senior associate vice president overseeing athletics since 2023.

Tucker sparked Wilmington High to the state basketball title and was Delaware Player of the Year in 1983, then starred at the University of Delaware after transferring from Rhode Island.

Delaware State has gone 2-21 overall and 0-10 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in football under Hull. The Hornets lost their five MEAC games this fall by an average score of 46-18. Only one DelState player, running back Jaden Sutton, made the All-MEAC first or second team.

The only victories were 48-0 last year over Virginia University of Lynchburg, a National Christian College Athletic Association school, and this season 17-15 over Sacred Heart, a fellow NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision outfit.

Delaware State has now endured 12 straight-losing football seasons and hasn’t won the MEAC since 2007.

The Hornets had gone 5-6 in 2021 and 2022, which seemed to indicate progress under coach Rod Milstead, the former DSU All-American offensive lineman who won a Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers. But he was dismissed after five seasons in charge, having gone 17-33 overall and 7-18 in the MEAC.

Hull was then hired in December of 2022, as Delaware State was enamored with his previous success as head coach at MEAC rival Morgan State. The Bears were 12-12 in his two seasons, winning a share of the MEAC title and making the NCAA playoffs his first season in 2014, when he was MEAC coach of the year.

Hull left for a brief NFL stint before returning to college football and had been offensive coordinator at MEAC rival Howard before moving to DSU, where he couldn’t repeat his Morgan State success.

Now Hull, 58, is out with Delaware State, again, searching for someone to resurrect its faded football fortunes.

His departure comes before the first day high school Class of 2025 graduates can sign to accept scholarships for next year. Adding to the challenge is that Delaware State opens the 2025 season at FBS-bound Delaware, which it has never beaten in 11 tries.

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.