January 27, 2023 FUMA Athletics Newsletter

The Blue Devil Report from Fork Union Military Academy's Athletic Department is your source for weekly updates on the Fork Union Blue Devils. Here's the latest from @FUMAathletics.

Want to view past issues of the Blue Devil Report? Find them all on our website.

Contents:

• The H. M. Sullivan Chair of Excellence for Prep Football
• FUMA Athletics Recap
• Feature Stories: Indoor Track & Field & Swimming & Diving
• Up Next in FUMA Athletics
• Alumni Spotlights: Eddie George & Marques Hagans
• Have You Joined the Athletic Director's Club?

125 for the 125TH

THE H. M. SULLIVAN CHAIR OF EXCELLENCE FOR PREP FOOTBALL

A case for your support.

Established to honor the dedication and service of H. M. 'Micky' Sullivan, Fork Union Military Academy Class of 1967, to his alma mater, this endowment fund will stand in perpetuity to support the position of Head Prep Football Coach.

Micky Sullivan came to Fork Union Military Academy from Huntington, WV, graduating with the class of 1967. After returning to FUMA for a postgraduate year he received a football scholarship to East Tennessee State University. He was a member of the 1969 squad that won the Ohio Valley Conference championship and Grantland Rice Bowl. He graduated in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science degree in history.

During his time at the Academy (1975-1980 & 1983-2017), Coach Sullivan taught math and driver's education and served as a member of the Commandant's Depmtment. He also was an assistant coach for the postgraduate football team, the prep basketball and baseball teams, and the track team, as well as head coach for the junior prep basketball, prep lacrosse, and prep wrestling teams.

He became head prep football coach in 1986 and during a tenure running through the 2012 season compiled a record of 200-118-3, winning nine state championships, 12 Prep League championships and nine VISFA Coach of the Year awards.

He served as Athletic Director from 1995 until his retirement, impacting all areas of the Academy's sports programs through his support of coaches and enthusiasm for cadets.

Micky and his wife Kathy, married in 1971, have three daughters, Kate Melton, Emily Morris and Laura Owens, and five grandchildren, Addison, Drew, Neely, Kellen and Brody.

Endowed Chairs of Excellence have a significant impact on the Academy because they provide funding for salaries and benefits that would otherwise come from the operating budget. Gifts to these accounts will establish a corpus from which a Board of Trustees approved percentage will be drawn each year to help finance the position. Chairs of Excellence are considered fully funded upon the Academy receiving $1,000,000 in donations on its behalf.

Gifts of at least $12,500 will be credited towards the Academy's campaign to receive 125 major gifts in celebration of its 125th anniversary. Gifts may be cash or a cash equivalent, marketable securities (including options), life insurance policies, 401(k)/IRA beneficiary status, real estate (with or without restrictions such as life estate, but subject to acceptance by the Academy), or in any other form acceptable to the Academy, and may be made by individuals, families, corporations, foundations, or groups such as Academy graduating classes or collections of former teammates. Gifts may also be made anonymously or in the name or memory of another individual.

Coach Micky Sullivan is widely known as the architect of the Fork Union Militaty Academy Prep Football program, and the establishment of this fund will allow his name to remain tied to the position of Head Coach forever, thus ensuring that the impact he had on generations of cadets on the field, in the classroom and in the barracks continues.

Talented educators like Micky Sullivan are not only a key factor in the Academy's athletic success but teach and reinforce the mission of Fork Union Military Academy through their interactions with the Corps of Cadets. Please help us ensure we continue to attract and retain the best and brightest educators by supporting our Chairs of Excellence project.

Scores from the past two weeks:

Friday, January 13

• Junior Prep Basketball vs. Collegiate School • L, 28-54
• Prep Basketball vs. Collegiate School • L, 37-66

Saturday, January 14

• Middle School Basketball vs. Fluvanna Country • L, 10-47
• PG Basketball at First Love • L, 75-111

Monday, January 16

• PG Basketball vs Hargrave Military Academy (MLK Classic) • L, 66-84

Tuesday, January 17

• Wrestling at Cosby Quad Meet • Canceled

Wednesday, January 18

• Track & Field vs. Fred Hardy Invitational • No Team Score

Thursday, January 19

• Swimming vs. Fork Union January Invitational • W, 3-1

Friday, January 20

• Middle School Basketball vs. Woodberry Forest School • L, 19-54
• Junior Prep Basketball at Woodberry Forest School • L, 22-58
• Prep Basketball at Woodberry Forest School • L, 39-60
• Diving vs. FUMA Diving Invite • No Team Score

Saturday, January 21

• Wrestling at VISAA State Dual Tournament • W, 1 | L, 1
• PG Basketball at Combine Academy • L, 71-102

Tuesday, January 24

• Junior Prep Basketball vs. St. Christopher's School • L, 26-68
• Prep Basketball vs. St. Christopher's School • L, 60-65

Wednesday, January 25

• PG Basketball vs. Massanutten Military Academy • L, 84-94

Please make sure you continue to check the athletic website on a weekly basis, for all game updates.

If you haven't already, please download the Fork Union Athletics Mobile App for all game day information right at your fingertips!

Up Next in FUMA Athletics:

Friday, January 27

• Junior Prep Basketball at John Paul the Great High School • 4:30 PM
• Prep Basketball at John Paul the Great High School • 6:00 PM

Saturday, January 28

• Wrestling at Coach K Memorial Tournament (Orange County) • 9:00 AM
• Track & Field at Bulldog Invitational • 10:00 AM
• Swimming at 17th Annual JV Championships • 2:00 PM
• Junior Prep Basketball vs. Saint Anne's Belfield • 2:00 PM
• Diving vs. January FUMA Diving Invite • 3:00 PM
• Prep Basketball vs. Saint Anne's Belfield • 3:30 PM
• PG Basketball vs. Winston-Salem Christian Postgrad (Hargrave Military) • 9:30 PM

Sunday, January 29

• PG Basketbal vs. Middle Georgia Prep (Hargrave Military) • 5:00 PM

Tuesday, January 31

• Junior Prep Basketball at Collegiate School • 5:30 PM
• Prep Basketball at Collegiate School • 7:00 PM

Wednesday, February 1

• Prep Basketball at Stuart Hall • 6:00 PM

Friday, February 3

• Swimming & Diving at Prep League Championships • 5:30 PM

Saturday, February 4

• Wrestling at Prep League Championships • 9:00 AM
• Track & Field at the 60th East Coast Invitational • 10:00 AM
• Swimming & Diving at Prep League Championships • 10:00 AM
• PG Basketball vs. Scotland Campus (PA) • 7:00 PM

Sunday, February 5

• PG Basketball vs. Experience Academy • 7:00 PM

Tuesday, February 7

• Junior Prep Basketball vs. Trinity Episcopal School • 4:30 PM
• Prep Basketball vs. Trinity Episcopal School • 6:00 PM

Friday, February 10

• Junior Prep Basketball at Saint Anne's Belfield • 4:30 PM
• Prep Basketball at Saint Anne's Belfield • 6:00 PM

Saturday, February 11

• PG Basketball at Massanutten Military Circuit • TBA
• Track & Field at Prep League Championships • 12:00 PM

Sunday, February 12

• PG Basketball at Massanutten Military Circuit • TBA

Ed Reed missed the mark and the mission in his split with Bethune-Cookman University

By: Shalise Manza Young | Yahoo Sports Columnist | Mon, January 23, 2023

'He didn't understand exactly what he was getting himself into,' Eddie George said of Reed.

Eddie George is a 1991 alumnus of Fork Union Military Academy and a member of the Board of Trustees.

Some things can't be fixed quickly.

And they sure can't be fixed through an Instagram Live rant.

Those are sentiments Ed Reed either didn't consider or didn't understand when he began his brief and bizarre tenure as head football coach at Bethune-Cookman University, a tenure that ended Saturday, before he'd even signed a contract.

But not before he'd taken to social media more than once to scream and shout about the school and its administrators like a 15-year-old upset about the school cafeteria choices. To be clear, Reed wasn't entirely wrong: It's not egregious to expect your new office to be cleaned out of the prior coach's stuff, and Bethune-Cookman, like many Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), has funding issues, not to mention it suffered flooding and damage due to Hurricane Ian just a few months ago.

But when your campus issues run deep, making sure the football team's practice field is state-of-the-art isn't near the top of the list of priorities. On Monday, several B-C students were protesting and calling for the Board of Trustees to step down because of mold in dorms and other concerns (not a problem exclusive to Bethune-Cookman or HBCUs).

Few people understand that like Eddie George. For all the attention Deion Sanders demanded by blessing Jackson State with his presence, George's hiring at Tennessee State in 2021 flew under the radar. That's partially because George doesn't have a film crew following him at all times as Sanders did.

Tennessee State is a project George took on willingly and with the understanding that improvements take time. He also doesn't appear to view the HBCU program solely as a stepping stone on his way to something better.

"I didn't want anything to do with coaching because I saw the stress and all of the challenges that coaches go through on a day-to-day basis," George explained last week on the Memphis-based "Rise & Grind" podcast. "But I asked myself the question: Will this make a change in the lives of the young men? ... To be asked to be the leader of an HBCU and change, change a lot of the things that's going on, not just on the football field but what's happening away from it."

George also understands why TSU faces major hurdles: The state withheld funds from the school for decades, money it owed the school under federal law. Tennessee State, like several public HBCUs, is a land-grant institution, schools that were founded primarily to teach and advance the fields of agriculture, science and engineering. Under the Second Morrill Act of 1890, signed by President Benjamin Harrison, land-grant colleges received federal funding, and states that hosted such schools were supposed to match the amount of federal monies.

But in Tennessee, the state legislature decided it would take a 75/25 approach to its two land-grant institutions: The University of Tennessee would get 75% of state funding, and Tennessee State would get 25%. Also, UT, a predominantly white institution, always got its monies; TSU didn't. A state audit in 2021 found that the state had been in violation of the Second Morrill Act for decades, and TSU was owed up to $544 million. Gov. Bill Lee included $250 million for Tennessee State in his 2022 budget, and that money will be used to upgrade and repair buildings.

"The bigger issue that the school is fighting is the land-grant money," George said. "That is something that can be a huge shot in the arm for our institution. We have to be responsible enough to take that money and put it toward infrastructure, put it toward new buildings, put it toward a robust endowment that can continue to build, to grow and to set up other funds that's going to deal with maintenance and the everyday use for our student-athletes."

George is pushing for a football ops center to be built, which would centralize everything for the football team and other athletics programs. Currently, he said, his players are everywhere throughout the day, with locker rooms in one place, practice in a different part of campus and team meeting rooms in still another.

While TSU has gotten an upgrade for some of its home games — playing in Nissan Stadium, where George played as a member of the Tennessee Titans — wins haven't come just yet. The Tigers were 5-6 in his first season in 2021 and 4-7 last year. That said, while they lost to Sanders' JSU team, the final score was 16-3, marking the fewest points Jackson State, which averaged nearly 40 points per game, scored all season.

TSU opens its schedule this fall at Notre Dame, a big deal for the school and the athletics program's coffers. It's the first time in the storied history of Notre Dame football that it will play an HBCU team and the first time it will play an FCS team.

The thing is, Reed likely would've gotten improvements for the football facilities — and possibly beyond — in time. Surely he has deep-pocketed connections and corporate acquaintances who could've helped, as Reed's friend and apparent inspiration Deion Sanders got Walmart to do, with the retail behemoth building Jackson State a new practice field when he was coaching the Tigers.

But you can't go in guns blazing, with what looks like a savior complex, and expect the institute to genuflect and make immediate changes. It's unclear whether Reed did his homework before pursuing the job at BCU and truly understood the realities of what he was entering into, but all evidence points to him being unaware. Even in his exit meeting with players — live on Instagram, of course — he railed against B-C athletic director Reggie Theus, who is also the head men's basketball coach, saying it's not possible to do both jobs and bringing up his alma mater, the University of Miami, as an example of how he knows that.

If Reed thought Bethune-Cookman's athletic department finances were anything close to Miami's ... well, he didn't do any research ahead of time.

"It's frustrating. He didn't understand exactly what he was getting himself into," George said of Reed. "When you get under the hood and you see what's going on and you do see the mold in the apartments, you see the mold in the dorm rooms, you see the facilities, the locker room is not the best, it's not clean, it's all of those things.

"But guess what? That's why you're there. And I choose to do it through action. I choose to do it through hey, let me roll up my sleeves and get in front of these people, corporations, the president, the politicians and say, basically, 'What are we doing here?' Here it is 2023, and it looks like these buildings are still in the 1950s."

George speaks as someone who is completely invested, not just in a football program but also in the well-being of all of TSU's students, which will soon include his son, Eriq, who committed this month to play for his father. Eriq George is a D2-AAA All-State defensive end who received several scholarship offers from BCS and FCS programs.

Contrast George's approach — he's making it clear that improvements are necessary, both for athletes and the student body at large, but is not humiliating school leaders on Instagram — to Reed's rants.

Many HBCU grads and those who have taught or coached at HBCUs will tell you the schools have a higher mission. Created as a response to lawful systemic segregation, HBCUs don't just produce the majority of Black judges, doctors and lawyers in the United States; they also offer students an oasis of sorts where being Black is the norm and is celebrated and they don't feel like they're constantly under the microscope of the white gaze and struggling with the micro- and macro-aggressions of anti-Black bias.

But HBCUs do have problems, many of them rooted through decades of systemic neglect. George understands that. It doesn't seem that Reed does.

"If this is the problem, then what is the plan to make it better?" George said. "My own son is going to Tennessee State University, so I've got to make it work. I must make this work. I've got to see that change happen. It's much bigger than football. It's providing a quality of life that these students absolutely deserve.

"The football games are one thing. But the quality of life and the experience and the education that we can provide to our students for years to come is much more important."

Marques Hagans Added to Penn State Football Coaching Staff

Veteran coach will serve as offensive recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach

Marques Hagans is a 2001 alumnus of Fork Union Military Academy.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State head football coach James Franklin announced the hiring of Marques Hagans (pronounced Marcus) as offensive recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach for the Nittany Lions. Hagans comes to Happy Valley after spending 11 seasons at his alma mater, Virginia, in a variety of roles.

"We are excited to add Marques to our family," said Franklin. "He is a veteran coach, whose experiences playing both quarterback and wide receiver at the highest levels will bring tremendous value to our program. Marques has a proven track record of developing receivers throughout his career and has worked alongside many coaches I respect. Marques is a relationship-based leader, whose family values align with the culture of Penn State. We are thrilled to welcome Marques, his wife, Lauren, and sons, Christopher and Jackson to Happy Valley."

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to be led by James Franklin and work with his tremendous coaching staff," said Hagans. "I am excited to be part of the tradition of Penn State Football, to uphold the standard of excellence and to work relentlessly to compete for championships. My wife, Lauren, and our boys cannot wait to get to Happy Valley."

After a five-year NFL career, Hagans returned to Virginia, his alma mater, in 2011 and joined the coaching staff as a graduate assistant. He remained with the Cavaliers for 11 seasons, most recently serving as associate head coach and wide receivers coach.

During his time in Charlottesville, Hagans coached 10 of the top 15 players in career receptions at Virginia, led by Olamide Zaccheaus and his program-record 250 receptions and 2,753 career receiving yards, which is second in school history. Zaccheaus is currently with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons.

In 2022, Hagans guided Keytaon Thompson to third-team All-ACC honors after ranking 12th in the country in receptions per game (6.6) and 53rd in receiving yards per game (72.4) in a season shortened by injury.

In 2021, Virginia was the only school in the country with five different receivers topping 500 receiving yards. The Cavaliers averaged 392.6 passing yards and had four receivers with more than 600 receiving yards. Thompson and Dontayvion Wicks earned All-ACC accolades that year with Thompson pacing the squad with 78 catches to go with 990 yards, while Wicks set a school record with 1,203 receiving yards on 57 catches, averaging 21.1 yards per catch.

Hagans also guided Lavel Davis Jr., who ranked second in the nation and led the ACC with 25.75 yards per reception in 2020. Davis sat seventh among FBS freshmen with 515 receiving yards and tied fifth among freshmen with five receiving touchdowns.

In 2019, Hagans helped Virginia win the ACC Coastal Division and make its first appearance in the ACC Championship game. UVA played in the Orange Bowl and ranked 24th in the final College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings. That season, the Cavaliers had three receivers with 70+ catches, including Joe Reed (77), Hasise Dubois (75) and Terrell Jana (74). All three finished in the top 5 in the ACC in receptions. Reed earned first-team All-ACC honors as an all-purpose player. According to Pro Football Focus, Dubois made 75 grabs with zero drops.

Zaccheaus concluded his senior campaign in record-breaking fashion with a program-record 93 receptions, which was first in the ACC and fifth in FBS in 2018. He became UVA's third player with 1,000+ receiving yards in a season, finishing with 1,058 yards. In 2017, the Cavaliers made program history with its first trio of 600-yard receivers in a season as Zaccheaus (895), Andre Levrone (689) and Doni Dowling (647) each reached the milestone.

Hagans spent the 2011 and 2012 seasons at UVA as a graduate assistant, working with the offense.

A four-time letterman at Virginia from 2002-05, Hagans currently sits No. 10 all-time in passing yards with 4,877 and seventh in total offense with 5,779 yards. He was selected as a wide receiver in the fifth round (144th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams. He spent three seasons with the Rams before being picked up by the Kansas City Chiefs and Indianapolis Colts in 2008. Hagans spent the 2009 and 2010 campaigns with Washington.

A native of Hampton, Virginia, Hagans graduated from Hampton High School where he led the Crabbers to the Group AAA State Championship as a junior in 1998.

Hagans graduated from Virginia with his bachelor's degree in anthropology in 2005.

Hagans and his wife, Lauren Swierczek, have two sons, Christopher Dex and Jackson Watford. Lauren was a women's basketball player at Virginia.

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