New basketball coaches at UMES look for winning foundation in first seasons

The basketball programs at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore are entering a new era for their 2024-25 campaigns. With new coaches for both the men's and women's teams, it's an opportunity to start new.

In April, Malikah Willis moved from an assistant at Kennesaw State in Georgia to take over the women's team. In May, Cleo Hill Jr. was named the men's head coach after six seasons at Division II Winston-Salem State.

"It was an opportunity that I've actually been waiting for," Willis said last week. "I wanted to get back in the MEAC, and I wanted to be at a place where I know we can actually grow towards winning a championship."

Willis has coached at a host of schools over her 20-plus years, including HBCUs at Elizabeth City State and Cheyney.

Willis said she expects to have 10 returning players from last year's Hawks team that went 15-15 and fell to Coppin State in the MEAC Tournament quarterfinals. Willis believes that one of her most important strengths as a head coach is building trust and relationships with returning players and recruiting new ones.

"I'm big on relationships. I'm big on identity also," Willis said. "Helping my players grow and understand that it's OK for them to be themselves, it's OK for your individual game and personality to come out on the court. I try to mentor as much as I coach. ... Of course I have some basketball philosophies and schemes, but at the end of it all I just want to win. So that's all going to be common, but what's more important to me is the whole person and the experience."

When announcing Willis' hiring, the UMES athletic department cited her track record as a recruiter, having helped bring in multiple top classes at West Virginia and Georgia Tech. In the new age of the transfer portal, Willis looks to use that to her advantage.

"If you don't evolve as a coach, a player, a person, then you're just going to be left behind," Willis said. "I don't think that the transfer portal is hard or difficult, because I've evolved into that. I actually enjoy it. I remember saying on my interview actually that I'm pretty much on here for 'Portal Combat,' that's what I call it. And we've been in the portal quite a bit. Some of it can get difficult when it comes to getting players in school, but it's very advantageous when it comes to the quick fix on your team."

And when it comes to goals for the team during her first season, competing at the top is the number one priority.

"There's no real grey area for me, I'm pretty much 1 or 10 or black or white," Willis said. "I really want to win a championship, and I'm going to keep saying that until it happens. I'm speaking it into existence and we're going to make sure that we believe it as a staff and as a team, and that's what I'm going to put out there for the goal."

Hill looks to bring winning culture to men's team

New men's coach Cleo Hill Jr. is used to winning.

At Winston-Salem State, Hill led the Rams to CIAA titles in 2020 and 2023, as well as a regular-season title in 2024. Before his time at Winston-Salem, he went 116-67 as head coach at Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., and won a CIAA title in 2011.

Now, Hill will look to bring his winning record to the Eastern Shore, a program that historically has not had a lot of success. Based on his past experiences, he feels he knows what it takes to build from the ground up.

"Every situation that I've gone in, from a player to coaching, fortunately and unfortunately, it's been due to losing programs," Hill said last week. "In high school as a player coming into a losing program, in college going into a losing program at North Carolina Central the year before I got there. The same thing with coaching at Cheyney University, they weren't winning, same thing with Shaw, as a head and an assistant. And the same thing at Winston-Salem State.

"So, I think I have the remedy to building a program, and that experience, I'm going to lean on, as well as my coaching staff. It's probably going to start with accountability, and the pillars to success are recruiting preparation and skill development."

As he looks to build the roster, Hill says that he has been in contact with some of last year's players about returning, as well as recruits and former players from his time at Winston-Salem

And when it comes to recruiting and building a roster, Hill looks to dig into the DMV area, the transfer portal and is interested in finding out more about the local talent on the Eastern Shore.

"It's going to be a priority. The Salisbury area, I hear its a hidden place for talent," Hill said. "So I have to get to know those high school coaches in the area. And even as far down as the middle school coaches. I'll invite them up for games, camps and clinics, and start building relationships in the local area. I think that's going to be important for our fans, our alumni and just the community to see some of their student athletes that they've watched from elementary school, middle school and high school, to see them come and play for the home team and wear the 'Hawk Pride' shirts."

There is a lot of time until the 2024-25 season begins in for Hill and his new team, and Hill feels that developing both on and off the court will be key towards the ultimate goal of winning a conference title and making history at his new home.

"When I say development, I kind of mean development in all phases, socially, academically and athletically. But keeping in mind the end goal is to hoist that trophy, at the end. That is the ultimate goal, to hoist that championship and go dancing. That's the goal I have, and that's the goal my staff will learn to understand, as well as my student-athletes. We do want to win a MEAC championship. Now."