Howard To Name Former WR New Football Coach

By MARK F. GRAY

Howard University is apparently headed back to the future for their next football coach. Bowie State offensive coordinator and former Bison wide receiver Gary Harrell is expected to be named head coach as early as Tuesday according to sources close to the program.

Harrell was an all-MEAC receiver and member of Howard’s 1993 Black College National Championship team and was inducted into the school’s hall of fame in 2005. He finished his playing career at Howard as the school’s all time leading receiver and began his coaching career there in 2002 as receiver coach.

“It’s a step in the right direction for the football program,” said Maryland State Delegate Jay Walker, his quarterback during their time at Howard. “There are a lot of alumni who are pulling for him to restore the glory to Bison football”.

Several of his collegiate records still sit atop Howard’s all time list. Harrell’s 184 career receptions rank number one in Bison history while his 13 receptions and four touchdown performances are tops on the single game list as well.

As a pro Harrell was signed as a free agent by the New York Giants and played for the Frankfurt Galaxy of the World League. He also spent two seasons with the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes.

Harrell has experience coaching in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference after serving as quarterbacks coach at Morgan State following a tour of duty at Texas Southern under his former coach Steve Wilson. For the last two years he was the offensive coordinator at Bowie State. In 2009 the Bulldogs played for the CIAA championship.

“He has a competitive drive that not too many people know about,” Walker said. “He is not only a good recruiter, he is a great recruiter also”.

Harrell will inherit a program that has won only two of their last 20 games and has not won a MEAC game over the last two years.