Morgan State University Athletics

Denise Thompson joined the Morgan State University athletics department's executive staff in May of 2025 as the Associate AD For Strategic Communications & Brand Advancement.

Thompson comes to Morgan State after spending two years as the Senior Associate AD for External Operations and Senior Woman Administrator at Manhattan College. During her time at Manhattan, Thompson served as the sport administrator for women’s basketball, softball, women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s golf and rowing. She also spent three months as the acting athletic director. Thompson collaborated with university development offices and external partners to strategically expand athletic programs, communications and enrollment growth, resulting in nearly $1 million in increased resources in 2024. She negotiated contracts and sponsor deals, leading to a new ticketing operating system and an increase in revenue generation of 90%.
 
Prior to Manhattan, Thompson spent time at the University of Delaware, where she held the title Associate AD for Communications, Creative Services, and Multimedia. While with the Blue Hens, Thompson executed and led an overall strategy to effectively brand and promote Delaware’s 21 Division I programs. Under her leadership, team Twitter accounts saw substantial growth, including football, men's basketball, and women's basketball, all experiencing more than 50-percent growth. The Delaware athletics website went from 724,000 views to over 1.2 million. She also campaigned for two separate plays to be No. 1 on ESPN Top Plays.
 
Before arriving at Delaware, Thompson served as the Assistant Commissioner for Communications and Externals Affairs for the Big Sky Conference. While at the conference level, Thompson was the officer in charge of news conferences/announcements and all appearances by the commissioner. She increased ticket revenue, corporate sponsorship donations, and halftime performance acts for the men's and women's basketball conference tournaments during that time. She also served as the sport administrator for cross country and track and field. Thompson spearheaded the conference's efforts in the yearly promotion of diversity and inclusion, Black History Month, and National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
 
Thompson also had a stint at Northern Arizona University as the Assistant Athletic Director for Communications. Thompson served as the official spokesperson for the athletics department and was responsible for the department's creative vision by designing media guides and game programs. She also oversaw the launch of a new athletics site in 2017.
 
Thompson graduated Cum Laude from Fairleigh Dickinson University, where she was a four-year member on the track and field and cross country teams and served as captain. She then earned a Master of Education in Sport Management from Texas State University.
 
Thompson is a member of the College Sports Communicators, where she was honored with the 2020-21 CoSIDA President's Award. She was a 2024 NCAA Pathways Program participant and a 2024 Marquis Who’s Who In America.