Congratulate the Thomas Jefferson High graduate named Prairie View’s next athletic director

Published 3:14 pm Wednesday, June 17, 2020

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Native Port Arthuran Dr. Donald Reed has been selected as the next athletic director at Prairie View A&M University.

The university on Wednesday (July 17) announced his hire, which will take effect July 15. Reed, a Thomas Jefferson High School graduate, most recently served as senior associate athletic director at the University of Buffalo in New York.

Reed emerged from a national search as the successful candidate to replace Fred Washington, who resigned last August. Alicia Pete has served as interim athletic director.

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“Among a competitive field of candidates, Dr. Reed impressed the Search Committee with his record of accomplishments, breadth of experience, commitment to student-athletes and managerial acumen,” Prairie View A&M Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Timothy Sams said. “These attributes will greatly benefit our athletics program.”

Reed’s father, Dr. Louis Reed, is a former administrator in the Port Arthur Independent School District. Dr. Melvin Getwood, an assistant superintendent in the district, considers Louis Reed one of his mentors and added he “can’t think of a more deserving man” than Donald Reed to receive the PVAMU appointment.

“Donald’s dad coached me, taught me and he’s still one of my mentors,” Getwood said. “Donald is like a little brother. He has worked with students and [been] trying to get them to graduate. I think he’s come up in an environment that promotes athletics and academics.”

Prairie View A&M is an NCAA Division I historically black university located northwest of Houston. The university enrolls nearly 10,000 students and competes in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, which includes next-door rival Texas Southern University.

The athletic department at PVAMU has a $17 million operating budget. The men’s basketball team, which won the SWAC tournament in 2018-19, has won 27 straight games at home and held a 19-13 record (14-4 in the SWAC) when the 2019-20 season was stopped by the coronavirus pandemic.

Reed previously served as associate athletic director at Iowa State University and managing director of developmental programs at Arizona State University. According to a PVAMU news release, he has experience in strategic planning, budget management, policy making and athletics leadership. He also has in-depth knowledge of NCAA Academic Progress Rate and Federal Graduation Rate guidelines and best practices.

During Reed’s time at Buffalo, that university set a record of 13 consecutive semesters of 97 percent of teams reaching a grade-point average of 3.0 or better. Reed is also actively involved in the NCAA legislative review process.

Reed holds a doctorate in educational management and development from New Mexico State University, a master’s degree in education and sports administration from the University of North Texas and bachelor’s degree in marketing from North Texas.

About I.C. Murrell

I.C. Murrell was promoted to editor of The News, effective Oct. 14, 2019. He previously served as sports editor since August 2015 and has won or shared eight first-place awards from state newspaper associations and corporations. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, grew up mostly in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

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