Joe Morris can drop interim from his title after Fort Lewis College named him the school’s head football coach for the 2018 season Wednesday morning.
“Coach Joe Morris has surpassed my expectations this football season, and he deserves the respect of a permanent title,” FLC president Dr. Dene Kay Thomas said in a news release. “Head Football Coach Morris is going to get on with the job of recruiting spectacular student-athletes for the 2018 season.”
Morris was named the interim head coach during the summer after former head coach Ed Rifilato stepped down because of health reasons. Morris has guided the Skyhawks to a 5-5 overall record and 5-4 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
“I’m extremely excited,” said Morris, who learned the news Tuesday. “I always treated it the entire time like I would be the head coach next season, so I’m going to keep trying to build for the future here at Fort Lewis.”
Morris was a starting linebacker for the Skyhawks from 2002-05, and was a team captain his senior season. He worked on coaching staffs at Colorado State University and New Mexico Highlands University with different stops at FLC along the way.
“I love the fact that coach Morris is an alum. He bleeds blue and gold like I do,” said FLC athletic director Barney Hickle, who is also an FLC alum. “He has a passion and a love for Fort Lewis College and Durango, Colorado, that’s awesome and it comes across in everything he does. I look forward to a lot of success from Joe and the Fort Lewis College football program moving forward.”
The Skyhawks have been hot of late, with wins in three of their last four games, including the team’s signature win of the year when they beat then-No. 12 Colorado State University-Pueblo 35-24 on FLC’s homecoming.
Hinkle said Morris’ work ethic and the way he interacts with the players was a big factor in keeping him in charge for at least another year.
“First of all, hopefully it’s for a lot longer than just a year,” he said. “Coach Morris, in my estimation, has done a tremendous job. I love the way his team works, his work ethic, his coaches’ work ethic, and I think most importantly the way his players react and respond to him. They respect him.”
FLC will host Dixie State University at noon Saturday for the Skyhawks’ season finale at Ray Dennison Memorial Field. A win would give the Skyhawks their 12th winning season since becoming a four-year program in 1963.
Once the season concludes Saturday afternoon, Morris will dive into recruiting his first class as head coach.
“We’re gonna get out and scour the state of Colorado the best we can because we want to take care of our own backyard, and we’ll recruit some different areas,” Morris said. “We’ve always recruited transfer guys, so we’ll continue to do that a little bit, but we really want to recruit the state of Colorado. I’m from Denver and the Front Range, so I’m always partial to get as many of those guys as we can while keeping any Durango or local kids we can. We sure like guys like Isiah Mayberry.”
The head position at FLC is a bit of a dream job for Morris and his family. Like Morris, his wife Kelsey is an FLC alum and the two have built a life for themselves and their infant son Joseph, who was born in early September, in Durango.
“(Kelsey) was fired up. We love Durango and have friends here, and being able to continue to coach at the alma mater is a tremendous opportunity,” Morris said. “I feel very fortunate and I’m grateful to Dene Thomas and Barney Hinkle and (FLC athletics administrator) Lynne Andrew for the opportunity. My wife and I are extremely excited. We live right next Riverview Elementary and hopefully this gives us a chance to walk our son over to school in the future.”
kschneider@durangohearld.com
