As Delaware State football coach Lee Hull continues restoring the Hornet program to its former glory, he is excited about the school’s infrastructure upgrades, including the announcement of an indoor training facility, which would be the first in HBCU football.
“When I first took the job, the administration talked about how the lack of facilities hurt recruiting,” Hull said. “The administration is putting money into the program; they understand that this is a critical time for DSU football and DSU athletics. If we want to win games and get the recruits we need here, they have to put some money into it. Now you have what the players and recruits need to see.”
The new indoor facility will feature a 50-yard indoor turf field, team rooms, and coaches offices. The indoor training space is the crown jewel of the first phase of DelState’s ambitious Athletic Facilities Transformation project, chaired by DSU alum Steve Ewing, who donated $1 million last December to the athletics program. Joining Ewing on the committee are former NFL wide receivers Darnerien McCants, also a Delaware State alum, and Donald Driver, who starred at Alcorn State.
Upgrades are already in place at Alumni Stadium. The Hornets unveiled a new scoreboard and logo at the 50-yard line at last weekend’s homecoming game. New locker rooms have also been installed for both home and visiting teams.
Hull is confident that these upgrades will help him and his staff recruit the players the Hornets need to be successful.
“The last two years, we’ve had guys on campus, then they go to other places and those have all the bells and whistles. It had nothing to do with the coaching staff, the team, or anything like that,” he explained. “This will help us with recruiting tremendously because we’ll be the only HBCU with an indoor facility.”
The indoor training facility is scheduled to be completed within the next two years.