DOVER — Delaware State University has made some major changes to its athletic department.

The school announced Thursday that both men’s basketball coach Eric Skeeters and women’s basketball coach Dave Caputo will not be returning next season. DSU also announced that athletic director Dr. Scott Gines will be retiring at the end of the school year.

Both Hornet basketball programs continued to struggle this winter, in a season impacted by the pandemic. The DSU men’s team went 3-16 overall with two of its wins coming over NCAA Division III schools. The Hornet women went 3-12.

Skeeters was the DelState head coach for three seasons with his teams going 16-64 overall, 8-35 in the MEAC. He joined the Hornets after a stint as an assistant at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and was on staff when UMBC became the first No. 16 seed to defeat a one seed in the NCAA Tournament when it knocked off Virginia.

The Hornets have already had three veteran players, Myles Carter, Pinky Wiley and Ameer Bennett, put their names in the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Delaware State was ineligible for the MEAC men’s basketball tournament this year due to low APR scores.

In his three seasons at DelState, Caputo led the Hornets to a record of 22-51 overall, 15-27 in the MEAC. The women’s best season came in 2019-2020 when the Hornets finished 8-8 in conference and 12-18 overall.

The 12 wins were the most overall victories for the program since the 2008-2009 season.

The women did not play in the MEAC tournament after the end of their season was canceled in February due to COVID-19. health and safety protocols.

“Each Coach is talented and passionate about developing student-athletes; we are confident that they will continue to have very successful careers and wish them well in their future endeavors,” DSU president Dr. Tony Allen said in an e-mail sent to the school’s alumni.

“These changes have and will continue to require a healthy debate — nothing great happens without it. What we know for sure is that our rich tradition, storied history, and proud alumni have made Delaware State University a North Star for tens of thousands of students and will continue to attract the kind of talented professionals who can motivate them to find their highest aspirations and follow their dreams.”

The letter said that interim coaches for both basketball programs will be named on Monday with a search to follow.

Gines has been Delaware State’s AD since July, 2018. He came to Dover from Texas A&M-Kingsville, where he’d been an administrator since 2009.

DelState’s Chief Operating Officer, Cleon Cauley, will chair the search for Gines’ permanent replacement. Alecia Gadson has been named the school’s interim AD.

Gadson has worked at DSU since 2015 and is currently the school’s Assistant AD and Compliance Officer. She was previously the athletic director at Coppin State University.

Dr. Allen wrote that Dr. Gines has “set a solid foundation for that future growth.

“Dr. Gines is an accomplished professional who took charge of the most diverse athletics program of any HBCU in the country and made it more accessible to an even greater number of student-athletes,” said Dr. Allen. “He was particularly adept in growing participation in our women’s sports, a long overdue and monumental task.”

During Gines’ three-year term at Delaware State, the athletics department achieved a 3.00 cumulative grade point averages over four consecutive semesters. Gines reorganized the department, increased home competitions to record totals, completed multiple conference benchmarking studies, saw corporate revenues increase 300 percent with the launch of Hornets’ Sport Properties, and completed an 11-chapter gender equity plan, according to DSU.

DSU women’s student-athlete participation increased 46 percent from 2018-19, and the department recently introduced its 13th women’s sport program.

“I grew up in a small college town, the son of an institutional fund raiser, and next door to a head coach,” Gines said in a statement. “If my Dad were alive, he would say, ‘Scott dreamed of being a college head coach as a little boy, and he did it’. That’s only partially true. By God’s grace the opportunities unfolded, and I am eternally grateful — no one does it alone.

“When I interviewed at DSU I said, ‘we’re going to run to people first — our staff and student-athletes,’ and that every sport is ‘the’ sport. Together we did those things and re-established a firm foundation for comprehensive success.

“I am grateful, but it’s time,” added Gines, a former baseball coach. “I coached over 600 games, directed nearly 100 sessions of camp, and navigated thousands of competitions administratively. The faithful heroes are my wife Ginger, our adult children, and our granddaughters — I look forward to how God wants to expand our territory in the next chapter of our life.”