Less than two years after his arrival, Lee Hull is out as Delaware State University football coach.

DSU announced Tuesday it was parting ways with Hull, whose two-year stint yielded just two wins and, it turns out, little optimism about the immediate future.

Alecia Shields-Gadson, DSU’s athletic director since 2021, is also leaving “to pursue new opportunities,” according to the university. She has worked in DSU athletics since 2016, previously as a senior associate AD.

She’ll be replaced by Tony Tucker, a long-time educator who has been working at Delaware State as a senior associate vice president overseeing athletics since 2023.

Tucker sparked Wilmington High to the state basketball title and was Delaware Player of the Year in 1983, then starred at the University of Delaware after transferring from Rhode Island.

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Delaware State has gone 2-21 overall and 0-10 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in football under Hull. The Hornets lost their five MEAC games this fall by an average score of 46-18. Only one DelState player, running back Jaden Sutton, made the All-MEAC first or second team.

The only victories were 48-0 last year over Virginia University of Lynchburg, a National Christian College Athletic Association school, and this season 17-15 over Sacred Heart, a fellow NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision outfit.

Delaware State has now endured 12 straight-losing football seasons and hasn’t won the MEAC since 2007.

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The Hornets had gone 5-6 in 2021 and 2022, which seemed to indicate progress under coach Rod Milstead, the former DSU All-American offensive lineman who won a Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers. But he was dismissed after five seasons in charge, having gone 17-33 overall and 7-18 in the MEAC.

Hull was then hired in December of 2022, as Delaware State was enamored with his previous success as head coach at MEAC rival Morgan State. The Bears were 12-12 in his two seasons, winning a share of the MEAC title and making the NCAA playoffs his first season in 2014, when he was MEAC coach of the year.

Hull left for a brief NFL stint before returning to college football and had been offensive coordinator at MEAC rival Howard before moving to DSU, where he couldn’t repeat his Morgan State success.

Now Hull, 58, is out with Delaware State, again, searching for someone to resurrect its faded football fortunes.

His departure comes before the first day high school Class of 2025 graduates can sign to accept scholarships for next year. Adding to the challenge is that Delaware State opens the 2025 season at FBS-bound Delaware, which it has never beaten in 11 tries.

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.

MUNCIE, Ind. — An Indianapolis man who was drunk when he caused a fatal head-on crash on Interstate 69 in Delaware County was sentenced Monday to 24 years in prison.

Walter Saucedo-Mendoza — who will observe his 32nd birthday this week — had pleaded guilty in Delaware Circuit Court 1 to two counts of causing death while driving while intoxicated and a single count of criminal recklessness.

According to Indiana State Police, Saucedo-Mendoza’s Kia Forte was traveling northbound in the interstate’s southbound lanes on Nov. 12, 2023, when it collided head-on with a southbound Chevrolet Malibu driven by Victoria Elaine Cox, 32, of Fort Wayne.

Cox and her husband, Evan Daniel Cox, 26, were pronounced dead at the scene, near the 234-mile marker and the Indiana 32/67 interchange in Daleville.

Authorities said Saucedo-Mendoza’s blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.186 soon after the collision. In Indiana, a motorist with a BAC of 0.08 or higher is considered intoxicated.

More: Two killed in head-on crash on I-69 in southwestern Delaware County

State police said the Indianapolis man’s car was traveling at 88 mph at the time of the crash.

At Monday’s hearing, Judge Judi Calhoun imposed a pair of 11-year sentences, to be served consecutively, for Saucedo-Mendoza’s DWI convictions.

He received a two-year sentence, also to be served consecutively, for the criminal recklessness conviction, which stemmed from damage sustained by a third vehicle.

Calhoun said she took exception to references to the interstate crash as an “accident.”

“This wasn’t an accident,” the judge said. “It was a crime.”

Calhoun said Saucedo-Mendoza made decisions both to become intoxicated and to then drive.

She said the “carnage and destruction” from his actions would “never be forgotten.”

Deputy prosecutor Steve Sneed recommended that the Indianapolis man receive a maximum sentence of 26 years and six months in prison.

He said Saucedo-Mendoza’s crimes had taken “two wonderful, amazing, truly gifted individuals from this Earth.”

According to Sneed, the Indianapolis man began his wrong-way trip up the interstate’s southbound lanes in Hamilton County and traveled through Madison County before his deadly encounter with the Fort Wayne couple near Daleville.

Four witnesses — the parents of both crash victims — testified about the devastating impact the couple’s deaths had on both family and friends.

Angela Schaefer, Victoria Cox’s mother, urged Calhoun to “please send a message to society” in sentencing Saucedo-Mendoza.

“He snuffed out one of the brightest lights who ever walked this Earth,” she said of her late daughter.

Evan Cox’s father, Dobie, also urged the judge to send “a message that says choosing to get behind the wheel impaired … will not be tolerated.”

Saucedo-Mendoza said he was “extremely remorseful for my actions.”

He indicated he was contending with personal problems at the time of the crash and maintained he had not consumed alcohol since that time. He also said he since had undergone counseling and attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

“I understand there are no excuses for what happened,” he said, also noting that he was seriously injured in the collision.

His defense attorney recommended the Indianapolis man receive a 10-year sentence.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.