Friday Features: Shorter's Morrison Putting Family over Football
Photo Credit: Rome New Tribune
By Chris Megginson
When Zach Morrison was named Shorter University’s third head football coach in January, his brother Austin was ready to move to Rome, Georgia with him, but he’d just signed a new lease.
“We’re going to get him to Rome next year,” Morrison said.
For Morrison, living close to his brother, 2 years younger than him, is important. At age 7, Austin was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, a disease which causes the loss of nerve cells in the spinal cord and weakens muscles closest to the spinal cord that result in limited motor function in the arms and legs. Austin’s hips began to throw out when he walked. By age 9, he was in a manual wheelchair, and then a motorized chair two years later.
Growing up, as the oldest of three boys, Morrison would help his parents with Austin. About five years ago, when Morrison received a call to leave East Jackson High School outside of Athens, Georgia for Statesboro High School, Austin, then in his mid 20s, asked to go with him.
“I went back to the principal and said, ‘hey, this is important to me. I know I’ve accepted the job, but this is big and it would be huge for my family if I can have him down here.’”
The principal agreed and allowed Morrison to work around his daily schedule to also serve as his brother’s full-time aid. He would wake up, go to a CrossFit workout, and then go to and from school to take care of his brother throughout the day, usually running from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. On Friday nights, he’d drive the van behind the bus to football games when his brother wanted to go with him.
“I think it taught me the most about patience and understanding that we really do have it well, even if we do have our struggles in our life, there are people that don’t have some of the abilities that others have,” Morrison said. “It was work, but it was also family … We loved every minute of it. We still tell stories from those two years.”
Since that time in Statesboro, after Austin chose to move back to Athens with his parents, Morrison had opportunities to break into college football coaching, first with a Division III opportunity outside Chicago and then a former NAIA Mid-South Conference foe in Kentucky. But he ultimately turned down both jobs to remain a high school assistant football coach.
“I didn’t want to be that far from my family … The way I was raised, we take care of our family first. That’s what I’m about, and that’s what I’m here (at Shorter) for,” Morrison said.
His family first attitude includes his Shorter University family.
After graduating from Central Forsyth High School with a football offer, Morrison went to a community college and received a call from his dad that Shorter was beginning a football player. Morrison drove up to Rome to meet with inaugural head coach Phil Jones and asked for a shot to be on the team.
Morrison earned a four-year starting role on the offensive line, beginning with the inaugural team in 2005 until the 2008 season, which included the program’s first conference title (Mid-South Conference West Division) and a trip to the NAIA playoffs. The Hawks also led the nation in rushing that season, completing a turnaround from 3-7 to 9-3 in four seasons.
A few years after graduating from Shorter, Morrison began the Shorter Football Letterman Club, which fundraised a scholarship to be granted to a student-athlete and has helped keep alumni, many now coaching, involved in the program. He attempted to model the program after the University of Georgia’s where his dad was a Letterman and an alum of the 1980 national championship team. Morrison was inducted into the Shorter Hall of Fame in 2013.
“I got here in 2005 and had a staff say, ‘We love you. We’ll take care of you. We’re going to build this whole program on relationships, and that’s relationships with the team, the administration, the community and Jesus Christ.’ I’d never had coaches say that to me. Having that said to me and then having living proof of those guys doing anything for us, I wanted it more than anything,” Morrison said.
That culture is what Morrison wanted to see once again at Shorter, and he told President Don Dowless in an email, talking a lot about inaugural head coach Phil Jones and what he thought the program should be. The email was forward to Shorter AD Tony Lundy, who was Morrison’s offensive coordinator, and Lundy took notice.
“We had 125 applications for the head coach position, and I knew we were looking for someone with a strong connection to the university. Zach’s name quickly rose to the top of the list, and we are so excited to have him lead our football program,” Lundy said in January.
Morrison, who was most recently head wrestling coach and a football assistant at Kennesaw Mountain High School, is excited to be back in Rome and to have wrapped up his first spring, which included the hiring of a staff, signing 75 incoming players and a spring scrimmage which drew more than 700 fans.
“This is my home. This is why I am the person I am today. That’s what I’m about and that’s what I’m here (at Shorter) for. We’re preaching to these guys, Shorter is such a different school,” Morrison said.
Tasked with turning around a program which went 0-22 the last two seasons, Morrison says he will tap into the patience he’s learned through his family, while building on the relationships and foundation in faith in Jesus Christ he’s built through his time at Shorter, which has the mission statement “Transforming Lives through Christ.”
Now 13 years after his first day as a player, Morrison says he is taking the same message he received from Jones to his team as head coach.
“When I had my first team meeting, I said, ‘This is who I am, this is what I represent, and these are the standards we’re going to live by and the expectations we have for the team. I had 10 guys lined outside my door the next day saying, ‘I want to tell you who I am and tell you about my family,’ and I thought this is awesome. This is who we’re supposed to be,” Morrison said. “We stand for living for God and a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.”
In his first three months, Morrison has taken the Hawks out into the community, from a team bowling night to the Rome Braves baseball opener to reading Dr. Seuss books at East Central Elementary School and an upcoming adult special needs night at West Rome Baptist Church.
“We’re trying to get out in the community. I want them to see us and know we’re here to represent ourselves,” said Morrison, who began his coaching career at Rome’s Coosa High School.
On the field, Morrison says the Hawks have been close, including playing a tight game for three quarters against Division II runner-up West Florida last year, but the message is “Are you satisfied?”
“The answer is no. Maybe that is why I was the player that I was because I was never satisfied. I wanted to be the best and I wanted to beat out everybody. That’s what we’re trying to teach these kids about is keep striving for more and more and more and you’ll get results,” Morrison said.
Being his first head coaching job, Morrison felt it was important to add assistants to his staff with college experience, including Chad Creamer and Blaise Holzer as defensive and offensive coordinator, respectively, and naming Jones as head football coach emeritus. He also hired Kelsey Pope, a former Samford University teammate of his youngest brother, Kasey, and Samford assistant Will Robinson, as well as Drew Burham, Nic Workman, Bake Robles, Kyle Rigney and Tyler Majewski to round out his staff.
The Morrison era at Shorter University will begin Aug. 30 when the Hawks travel to Birmingham, Alabama to meet NCAA Division I opponent Samford University in the season opener.
Follow Megginson on Twitter @jcmeggs. Email comments to megginsonjc@gmail.com.
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2017-18 Friday Features Archive
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Mississippi College
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Montevallo
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Valdosta State
September 22 |
West Georgia
September 29 |
Alabama Huntsville
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Union
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West Alabama
October 20 |
West Florida
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Delta State
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Christian Brothers
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Shorter
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North Alabama
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Lee
December 1 |
AUM
December 8 |
West Florida
Decemeber 15 |
Mississippi College
December 22 |
Lee
December 29 |
West Alabama
January 5 |
Valdosta State
January 12 |
Christian Brothers
January 19 |
Montevallo
January 26 |
AUM
February 2 |
Mississippi College
February 9 |
West Florida
February 16 |
North Alabama
February 23 |
Alabama Huntsville
March 2 |
Broadcasters
March 9 |
Delta State
March 16 |
Alabama Huntsville
March 23 |
Lee
March 30 |
West Alabama
April 6 |
Montevallo
April 13 |
Valdosta State