Morgan State University Athletics

Ramona Riley-Bozier enters her first season as the assistant director for intramurals and wellness at Morgan State University after spending 34-years at the head volleyball coach.

Riley-Bozier's 34-year coaching stint had come to define Morgan State volleyball, as she was easily one of the most decorated coaches in the history of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and is one of the most accomplished coaches in any sport in the history of Morgan State athletics.
 
The winningest coach at Morgan State (481), Riley-Bozier guided MSU to nine MEAC regular season titles, four MEAC Championships, three NCAA Tournament appearances and five MEAC Coach of the Year honors during her career at her alma mater.
 
Morgan State captured its first MEAC crown in 1992, five seasons after Riley-Bozier took over the program. That was followed by championships in 1997, 1998, and 2000.
 
The 1997 championship team was a history making contingent. After capturing the conference crown, Morgan State went on to defeat Grambling State in an NCAA Play-In match. That victory earned the Lady Bears the distinction of becoming the first Historically Black College or University to earn a trip to the NCAA Division I Tournament.
 
While she was proud of what her team accomplished in '97, she wanted to continue to push the program to higher limits. The Lady Bears went on to collect MEAC titles in both '98 and 2000 and represented the MEAC again in the NCAA Tournament on both occasions.
 
Under her leadership, the Lady Bears were a particularly dominant force in the MEAC's North Division. At one point Morgan State won 88 consecutive MEAC North Division matches between 1994 and 2003.

During her undergraduate day, Bozier was a two-sport star. She shined for the Lady Bears on the volleyball court and on the track. A native of Kansas City, Missouri, she came to Morgan State after transferring from the University of Missouri and made an immediate splash for MSU.
 
Bozier was a key component of the record setting relay teams that turned heads in the national track community. Bozier, who was a three-time All-American and a top performer in the MEAC, recorded personal-bests in the 100 meter dash (11.2) and the 200 meter dash (23.8). She became one of the top triple jumpers for Morgan with a career-best jump of 36'11 and also holds the UMBC Meet record in the 60 meter dash, which she set in 1983. That record still stands today.
 
Bozier ran the first leg on Morgan State's legendary 4x100 meter relay team which in 1986 set the school record, burning up the track in a time of 44.47 seconds, which still stands today. The squad also won the Penn Relays and finished second that year at the Division I National Championships. A picture of Bozier, along with fellow teammates Rochelle Stevens, Wendy Vereen and Elthyn Tate rests at the Sports Legends Museum located at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
 
Her athletic gifts were not limited to the track. She was also an enormously talented volleyball player during her days at Morgan State. Bozier, who is one of only 11 volleyball players in the history of the program to have registered 1,000 career kills, was inducted into the Morgan State Hall of Fame in 2003.
 
In addition to her volleyball coaching responsibilities, Bozier was also the softball coach at Morgan State for seven seasons. And it's no coincidence that she is the program's winningest head coach in that sport too at Morgan State with 161 victories.
 
In 1998 Bozier guided the squad to a then school record 25 wins. That record would stand for 20 years, until the 2018 team set the mark with 28 wins. In 1999 she led the Lady Bears to their first appearance in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference softball championship game.