|
2009 SOCON COACH OF THE YEAR Since taking over as the second head coach of the Samford women's basketball program in 2002, Mike Morris has taken the program to new heights. Over the last four years, the Bulldogs have posted four of the top-five win totals in school history, including the program's only three 20-win seaosns. In 2008-09, the Buldogs set a school record for conference wins with a 16-4 league record in their first year in the Southern Conference. The team finished with the second-most wins in program history with a 22-7 record. After the season, Morris was named the 2009 SoCon Coach of the Year. The award marked the second Coach of the Year award for Morris, as he was named the Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year in 2006. The 2007-08 Bulldogs set a school record for most wins in a season, posting a 23-9 overall record and a 15-5 record in OVC. The Bulldogs also posted their first-ever wins over Southeastern Conference (Alabama) and Big 12 (Missouri) opponents, and reached the semifinals of the OVC Tournament for a third year in a row. The 2006-07 season was another winning one with a record of 18-13 and another trip to the OVC semifinals. In the 2005-06 season, Samford posted its first 20-win season, finishing with a 21-8 overall record, and the Bulldogs were 15-5 in OVC play. For the first time since joining the league in 2003, the team reached the semifinals of the OVC Tournament. Morris has increased the team's win total in five of his seven seasons as head coach. In his first season (2002-03), the team won seven games, up from three the previous season. In his second season (2003-04), the Bulldogs posted 10 wins, only the second time in school history that the team posted double-digit wins. The 2004-05 squad won 13 games, and the 2005-06 team won 21 games. In 2007-08, the Bulldogs achieved another program-record with 23 games, up from 18 in 2006-07. Morris is in his 17th season overall at Samford, spending nine seasons as an assistant coach on the men's staff. While working with the men's team, Morris served as the team's top recruiter and directed Samford's summer basketball camps. He was on the bench for both Samford Atlantic Sun Championship seasons and NCAA Tournament appearances. Before his arrival at Samford in 1994, Morris served for three years as an assistant coach under veteran coach Lenny Acuff at Belhaven College. He coached at Belhaven for two seasons before joining Acuff's staff in 1993 at Berry College in Rome, Ga. In his first year at Belhaven, the Blazers finished with the most wins in nine years, compiling a 17-16 record. The next year, Belhaven went 18-15 and hosted the first round of the NAIA District Playoffs for the first time in 20 years. Morris played basketball for two seasons at the University of Alabama at Huntsville [UAH], where he was chosen team captain and team MVP his senior season. While at UAH, Morris was the NCAA Division II national champion in free-throw percentage, making 92.1 percent from the line. He played his first two seasons at Jefferson State Junior College in Birmingham. The Holly Pond, Ala., native earned a B.A. in psychology from Belhaven College in 1992. He has completed 24 hours toward his master's degree in administration from Jacksonville State. Morris is married to the former Melanie Nix of Huntsville, Ala. They have a son, Peyton, 16, and a daughter, Paige, 13. |
|||||||||||||||
