Bill Davis Returns To Savannah State; AD and Compliance Officer Replaced

SAVANNAH, GA -William R. "Bill" Davis Sr has been named head football coach of the Savannah State University Tigers. Davis replaces Steven Wilks, who resigned in January of this year to take a coaching position at Illinois State University. Davis' first day as head coach will be on March 28.

"When you look at the history of Tiger football, it is very clear and apparent that the glory days were enjoyed while Coach Bill Davis was at the helm," SSU President Carlton E. Brown stated. "When I learned that Coach Davis had submitted an application for the position, I thought this might be an excellent chance for SSU to recapture the glory that the student athletes and others richly deserve. After consulting with the coaches and available student athletes, I called who I considered to be the best candidate to guide the football program from NCAA Division II to Division I."

Effective immediately, the school also announced the appointment of an interim athletics director and interim associate AD/compliance officer.

Charles J. Elmore, a long-time professor at SSU, was named interim AD and Kim Bynum, an instructor in SSU's Department of Recreation and Park Administration, was tabbed as interim associate director/compliance officer of Athletics.

A national search will commence to replace Jerome Fitch and Marion Mendenhall, Director of Athletics and associate director, respectively, who have been relieved of their responsibilities at the university

"I am confident that these leadership changes will contribute a significant measure of stability to the Athletics program at SSU as we continue to go forth in our quest for Division I status," stated President Brown, Who announced the changes during an afternoon media conference.

A native of Union, South Carolina, Davis coached the SSU Tigers from 1986 to 1992, earning a spot in the NCAA Division 11 playoffs for the first time in 1992 when the Tigers finished the season with a record of 8-4. During his seven years at Savannah State, Davis compiled a 49-24.0 record and was named SIAC Coach of the Year (1986, 1989) and Sheridan Broadcasting Network National Black College Coach of the Year (1989).

Davis left Savannah State in 1993 to become head football coach at Tennessee State University, a Division I-AA institution. He resigned after three years and later coached at Johnson C. Smith University in North Carolina. Most recently, he has been an assistant football coach and teacher at Lewisville High School in Richburg, South Carolina. He earned his bachelor's degree at Johnson C. Smith University in 1965 and a master's degree from Indiana University in 1968.

Elmore, a humanities professor and coordinator of the university's Mass Communications Program, is not new to the duties of Athletics Director. Elmore served as the university's Athletics Director in an interim capacity twice before, once in 1989 for approximately six months and again in 1993 for approximately two months before being appointed to the post permanently in April of that year. Elmore earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry and biology at Savannah State in 1967, and went on to receive the Master of Arts degree in print and broadcast journalism and doctorate of philosophy from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. In 1997, Elmore was named the Georgia Board of Regents' Distinguished Professor at Savannah State University.

Bynum, who joined the SSU faculty in 1997, has been coaching since the age of 18. While attending the University of Louisville (Kentucky), where she earned a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1989, Bynum was a junior coach for a high school girls' basketball team that won the state championship in 1989. Bynum continued her studies at the University of Louisville where she earned her master's degree in athletic administration in 1991. She has coaching experience at both the NCAA Division I and Division II levels.

Savannah State University sponsors a total of nine intercollegiate sports for men and women. Women's teams include basketball, tennis, track and field, volleyball, and cross-country. Men's teams are football, baseball, basketball, and track and field. SSU competed in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, an NCAA Division II league, until the fall of 1999 when permission was granted to seek membership at the Division I level in the NCAA.

Front Page

Newsroom Index