Former Fordham head coach is a steal for Tigers
By: Justin Feil
Liz Feeley remembers well coaching against Kevin Morris.
Feeley was the head coach of the Colgate University women’s basketball team five years ago before coming to Princeton University. Morris was the Fordham University coach then.
"We coached against each other when he was at the top of the league," Feeley said. "He did a great job. Defensively, it used to bug me all the junk defenses he threw at us. We’ve been colleagues and friends for a long time."
Now Morris has joined the Princeton University staff as an assistant coach.
"It was a good run at Fordham," said Morris, who was an assistant coach there for two years before serving as head coach the past seven years. "But it was time to move on. It worked out that I was aware of the potential at Princeton and that was my first choice."
Morris replaces Daphne Robinson, who stepped down to pursue another career after a season in which the Tigers went 9-19 overall, but closed winning five of their final seven Ivy League games to finish 6-8 in the Ancient Eight. It won’t be Morris’ first Ivy stint either. Before working at Fordham, Morris was an assistant at Harvard for three years after graduating from the University of Scranton (Pa.). The West Caldwell native is returning to his home state, to a school he’s always respected.
"It’s a great opportunity to work at not only one of the great schools in the country, but also a school that puts a lot of emphasis on the student-athlete," he said. "You’re going to be working with a high quality athlete.
"Recruiting is a big challenge in Division I, and at Princeton, you’re at a situation where every student-athlete has heard of Princeton. That doesn’t happen everywhere. The school’s reputation gets you in the door."
Though Fordham has not played Princeton in Morris’ time there, he is familiarizing himself with the style of play and helped in recruiting athletes during July.
"When I think of Princeton, I think they play team-oriented basketball," he said. "I want to help that continue. I’m impressed with how Coach Feeley runs the offense and I’ll be learning how they best utilize all five of their players."
Morris spent much of this past week helping to oversee the Princeton girls’ basketball camp. Wednesday he paused to give a 40-minute talk to the entire 250-camper group on some of the ways to improve their shooting. To help him demonstrate, Morris had Princeton sophomore Allison Cahill and 2000 PU graduate Kate Thirolf work through each drill, and then had volunteer campers go through some of the exercises.
"I’m amazed to see the growth in the women’s game," said Morris, who other than one season as the head boys’ coach at West Essex High School, has only coached women since his graduation from college. "We’re dealing with a generation that, if there was a third-grade boys’ basketball league, there’s a third-grade girls’ basketball league. The difference in the skill level has so elevated now. It’s really amazing. The speed and size might still be different, but the skill in the women’s game has, in my opinion, caught up with the men.
"Working with women just kind of developed for me. The coach at Scranton was good friends with the Harvard coach. It was never a conscious decision (to just coach women) but it’s kind of developed and I really enjoy it."
Morris met some of the current Princeton players who were working the basketball camp this week, but it won’t be until September that he sees most of the team. In the meantime he’s adjusting to wearing the Orange-and-Black and looking forward to helping contribute to a winning program. At Fordham he won a Patriot League championship as an assistant and one as a head coach and went to the NCAA tournament before helping Fordham in its transition to a stronger Atlantic-10 Conference.
"At Fordham, my goal was always to win the season championship, win the post-season tournament and get to the NCAA tournament," Morris said. "There’s no post-season tournament here, so we have to win the regular season to go (to the NCAAs). But always, my goal is for us to fulfill our potential."
Feeley is well aware of Morris’ coaching record. She’s hoping it helps put Princeton back at the top. The Tigers tied for the regular season title two seasons ago.
"There’s no question in my mind that we’d work well together," the four-year coach said. "He knows the caliber of player and caliber of student we look for and he’s well versed in that. It was definitely a steal for us.
"You get steals in recruiting. Princeton definitely got a steal in the coaching ranks with Kevin Morris."