10-23-2022 W2W - Flipbook - Page 42
Dena Freeman-Patton
Vice President/Director of Athletics,
Morgan State University
When Dena Freeman-Patton became Morgan State
athletic director in June, her second order of business
was to hire a head football coach. The first? Ask the
players what they sought in a boss.
“I met with the team to talk about what they needed
in a coach. I also put a player on the search committee,”
Freeman-Patton said. “That’s how I work. I’m not going
to come in and arbitrarily choose their new leader without getting feedback from them.”
Once the coach, Damon Wilson, signed on, the
players thanked their new AD for seeking their input.
That helped squelch any preconceptions about Freeman-Patton, 48, the first female AD in Morgan State’s
155-year history.
Not that she couldn’t meet gender bias head-on. All
her life, the Baltimore native has been flanked by strong
and assertive women, from an aunt who’s a retired
Army colonel to two athletic directors at Lake Clifton
High to three female college ADs who mentored her
on the job.
Freeman-Patton had sought such clout early on. At
Lake Clifton, she was senior class president and captain
of three sports teams.
“I work best in those [leadership] situations, and I do
it mostly for others,” she said. “In high school, I’d [keep
tabs on] other student-athletes. I’d fuss at the boys’
basketball players and ask, ‘Are you doing what you
need to do in the classroom so you can go to college?’
The coach, Charlie Moore, began calling me ‘coach.’ His
players didn’t mind the nagging; they knew the advice
was coming from a good place.”
It’s a mindset she brings to Morgan State.
“I want to prepare student-athletes for life after
college,” she said of her career development plans for
the school. “We’ll help them network, get internships
and build leadership skills.”
While attending Liberty University, where she
majored in sports management, Freeman-Patton
interned with the Baltimore Stallions in 1995 when
they won the Canadian Football League’s Grey Cup.
That experience earned her kudos and hardened her
resolve to reach the top. In 2018, as deputy AD at California State-Bakersfield, she was named Administrator of the Year by Women Leaders in College Sports.
While her move to Morgan State made headlines
(“I’m honored that it happened but, in 2022, gender
shouldn’t be that big a story”), Freeman-Patton said
that, overall, her efforts supersede both sex and race:
“I do advocate for women and African Americans
but, in the end, my reach goes further. I care about
people in general.”
42 | 2022 | WOMEN TO WATCH
Vice President/Director of Athletics, Morgan State University, Dena Freeman-Patton. HANDOUT