Howard Bison

Updated 03/15/26

hubison.com

Location: Washington, DC

Enrollment: 9,800

Cost of Attendance: $64,000

Venue: Burr Gymnasium

Arena Capacity: 2,700

Conference: MEAC (1st)

Record: 23-10 (11-3)

NET Rank: 203

Committee Rank: 65

Tournament History

Appearances: 4

Final Fours: 0

Championships: 0

Win-Loss: 0-4

Most Recent: 2024, First Four, Loss as a #16 seed to fellow #16 seed Wagner, 68-71.

Howard University

howard.edu

Founders Library is an iconic building on the Howard University campus that has been declared a National Historic Landmark.

Photo by Derek E. Morton, under license CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped

Shortly after the end of the Civil War, members of the First Congregational Society of Washington considered establishing a theological seminary for the education of black clergymen. Within a few weeks, the project expanded to include a provision for establishing a university. Within two years, the university consisted of the colleges of liberal arts and medicine. The new institution was named for General Oliver Otis Howard, a Civil War hero who was a founder of the university.

Notable alumni include Vice-President Kamala Harris, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and actors Chadwick, Anthony Anderson, and Phylicia Rashad. Bill Cosby went to Temple. I wonder if Temple lists him under notable alumni.

About the Bison

Howard actually has bowling as a DI sport women's only though, including a Jewel Johnson from Harrisburg and four rollers from Chicago.

Affectionately referred to as "The Burr," the Burr Gymnasium is home to the Bison men's and women's basketball and women's volleyball teams. Opened in 1963, it is named after John Harold Burr, Jr., former basketball, swimming and track and field coach as well as chairman of the physical education department from 1923 to 1958. Burr rose to prominence as a pioneer in Black participation in the sport of soccer and contributed to Howard's dominance in Historically Black College and University championships during the 1950's.

Howard has been coached by Kenneth Blakeney since 2019. He has taken the Bison to the NCAA Tournament in 2023 and 2024, losing both times as a #16 seed in their first games. Blakeney spent decades prior to that as an assistant coach at eight other schools. As a player, he was part of Duke's national championship teams in 1991 and 1992 and a senior co-captain in 1995.

The 1994-95 Duke team, however, was forgettable. The team began the season with promise, ranked No. 8 in the preseason AP pool, rising as high as No. 6., but then Coach K got old in January, he took a leave of absence for the remainder of the season due to a back injury and exhaustion. Despite having a talented roster that included Steve Wojciechowski (later a coach at Marquette), Jeff Capel (current Pitt coach), and Chris Collins (current Northwestern coach), Duke finished 13-18 overall and 2-14 in the ACC, dead last the most losses in Duke history.

I guess that Duke class was better at coaching than playing.

But only by a little bit.