By Ariyana Griffin,
Special to the AFRO
Howard University’s athletic director, Kery Davis, has been selected as a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Athletics Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). This prestigious accomplishment for an athletic director is the first for the university.
Davis has made improvements to the athletic department since joining in 2015. Under his leadership, the Bison have won 31 conference or national championships, led by women’s volleyball’s six conference championships, including five in a row from 2015 to 2019.
The 2023 athletic season was indeed a comprehensive championship year for the Bison on the fields of competition. They swept the MEAC’s (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) highest honors by winning the 2022-2023 MEAC All Sports honors, the Talmadge Hill Men’s All Sports and the Mary McLeod Bethune Women’s All Sports awards.
Davis remains heavily hands on, now the MEAC’s sixth athletic director, he also currently serves as chair of the MEAC Football and Television committees, and sits on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee, NCAA Legends and Legacy Selection Committee, and NCAA Basketball Rules Committee. He also gives his time to various initiatives with conference staff and league officials.
“It’s extremely gratifying and humbling to see the tremendous work and the achievements of Kery being recognized through this prestigious award,” said Sonja Stills, Commissioner of the mhid-Eastern Athletic Conference. “He is a true example of excellence in leadership. I’m grateful that he leads one of our elite eight institutions during a period of extraordinary achievement, both athletically and academically.”
It is important to Davis that student-athletes are prepared on and off the court. He has helped students to reach academic success and has since won awards for graduation rates and for students having the highest department GPA. Howard has 500 student athletes and 21 collegiate sports, making it the most sports available out of all HBCUs.
“Kery provides tremendous value, not only to Howard University and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, but the impact his work has on the student-athletes, on his campus, across our league, and the nation exceeds the boundaries of one school and one conference,” Stills said. “We are truly fortunate to have him as a part of the MEAC Nation.”
He not only works to ensure student athletes walk across the stage, but he is also responsible for making sure they are fashionable on campus. In recent years, Howard became one of six HBCUs to sign a direct partnership with Jordan Brand for football and basketball.
The partnership has brought facility enhancements, exclusive merchandise and apparel. Howard has also merged with sponsorship deals with national brands, including AT&T, Rocket Mortgage, Nissan, Mielle Organics, and Nuna Baby, Inc.
The improvement, growth and development in the department under Davis’ leadership is what the university calls a “renaissance of Bison Athletics.”
