Morehouse College basketball loses tenured head coach, assistant

Add Morehouse College to the list of basketball programs that enter the offseason with a coaching shakeup, as head coach Doug Whittler and assistant head coach Terrell Polk are departing the institution. First reported by Black Sports Insiders’s Keisha J. Kelley, Morehouse College President David A. Thomas released a statement about their departure.

“”We sincerely thank Coach Whittler and Coach Polk for their years of dedication, leadership, and service to Morehouse Athletics. Their commitment to developing our student-athletes on and off the court has impacted the program and the young men they’ve mentored….This moment of change brings an exciting opportunity to usher in new leadership…A national search for our next head basketball coach will begin immediately,”

Whittler had an impressive four-year tenure at Morehouse marked by success. He finished his tenure at Morehouse with a remarkable 76-40 overall record (.655) and a 59-21 conference record (.734). He took over as interim head coach in 2021 following the passing of former head coach Grady Brewer. Under his leadership, Morehouse College claimed three consecutive SIAC East Division Regular Season titles from 2022 to 2024.

In his debut season, he guided the Maroon Tigers to a 21-7 record and matched a school record with an 18-game winning streak. His performance earned him the full-time head coach position by March 2022. Perhaps one of his most notebale accomplishments in his tenure with the team happed this season, as Morehouse beat Howard University in an MLK Day matchup in a huge upset that had the HBCU sports community buzzing.

The win over Howard was significant, especially as there has been chatter that Morehouse could possibly make a move to Division I in the near future. The next head coach could likely lead that transition to the Division I level while also continuing to build successful teams in the AUC in a ever-changing college athletics landscape.