It’s been a decade since Fred Morris last coached basketball in Winston County but he’s back to make an even bigger impact than before.
Morris was once the head boys basketball coach at Grace Christian School before taking the girls basketball coaching job at Neshoba Central. It was there over the last eight years that Morris built a winner in Class 5A.
The Lady Rockets went 125-79 and won a state championship in 2017. Morris hasn’t been afraid of taking on challenges, but his next role at Louisville High School is quite different. He arrived at Neshoba Central inheriting a losing program. He comes to LHS taking over a dream fresh off a Class 4A state championship.
“I received a call that they needed a coach and they wanted that coach to be me,” Morris said of his job opportunity. “They told me that the job was mine for the taking and I welcomed it as a challenge. I know they were very successful under coach (Kenyon) Ross for the past several years and it’s a challenge for me to maintain that standard of excellence.”
This is Morris’ third high school coaching job in the states after coaching professionally overseas in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Japan and Korea for eight years. There is no challenge that this coach sees as too large, but he knows that the Lady Wildcats will be a work in progress in his first season.
Ross’ squad last year had one of the best seasons of any team in Louisville history. They went 27-4, won the state title and had multiple players continue their careers in college. But they also have to replace some of those talented players this year and Morris is excited to see who steps up.
Areyanna Hunter, Kiersten Ball, Ajira Thompkins, Amaria Pruitt and Kameron Rogers are the players that the coach is putting his trust in as the starting five. It’s a good mix of youth and seniority as Ball and Hunter come into their junior seasons and the other three will be in their senior year. The group will have a target on their backs after winning it all.
“After I won the championship at Neshoba, the following year we got every team’s best shot. I’ve tried to warn them that you have to come out every game and play your best,” Morris said. “I’ve challenged them to be better than they were last year as a team and individuals.”
The defensive-minded head coach has gotten a lot out of his teams in the past and expects much of the same here this season at his new post.
He’s seen several weeks of his team to know that there won’t be many nights where other teams will have more talent than they do. What he wants this team to focus on this season is themselves and taking care of their own business. They’ll get a chance to showcase that in game one this weekend against New Hope at the Choctaw Central Classic.
“We can be as good as we want to be. If we lose games, it will be because of us,” Morris said. “We have to learn to handle adversity when things aren’t going right. We have to stick together and weather the storm and keep fighting. We’re in a tough district with Choctaw Central, Northeast and Kosciusko can make a run. 4A will be the toughest classification in the state this year and I hope that they know this. When you’re a champion, every team that plays you have you circled on the scheduled.”
