Whatever it takes is the motto Phillip Morris is going to live by this season.
While that credo might sound simple, it has come to fruition after four years of waiting, learning, and upheaval at Columbus High School. In that time, Morris has worked for four boys basketball coaches — Sammy Smith, Luther Riley, Gary Griffin, and Anthony Carlyle — at the school and has experienced a lot of highs and lows.
Morris, 28, feels all of it has prepared him to step into his new role as head coach of the Columbus High boys basketball program.
“Stability starts from the bottom up with the middle school kids,” Morris said. “The seniors who are part of this year’s group are the first guys I coached here. Me being here with them kind of gives them a comfortable feeling that there is a familiar face and a guy you know.”
On July 16, the Columbus Municipal School District’s Board of Trustees voted to allow Carlyle out of his contract to become the new boys basketball coach at Yazoo City High. Carlyle also will be athletic coordinator for the Yazoo City School District.
On July 30, the CMSD Board of Trustees voted to promote Morris to head coach at Columbus High. The move means Columbus, which won the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 6A State titles in 2015-16 and 2017-18, will have its fifth head coach in five years.
That is a daunting task for Morris, who came up through the Columbus High system with Gary Griffin and then played point guard for former Columbus High coach Sammy Smith. But Morris, who is from Columbus, said he hopes to provide the stability the program hasn’t been able to maintain in recent years.
“It has been tough,” Morris said. “I think we have had our ups and downs, but overall it has been experience. I am just blessed to be in the position.”
At 6 p.m. Monday, Morris will unveil his team for the 2018-19 season as part of Purple Madness, which coincides with the first official day of practice for MHSAA teams.
The event, which Riley helped start prior to the 2015-16 season when he coached Columbus High to its first boys basketball state championship, also will feature coach Yvonne Hairston’s Columbus High girls basketball team, a skills challenge, a 3-point shooting contest, and a slam dunk contest.
In 2009, Morris averaged 9.2 points, 3.9 assists, and 3.0 rebounds per game for the Falcons (17-7). He signed to play basketball at Southwest Mississippi Community College in Summit and then went on to play at West Alabama. But Morris said a heart condition ended his playing career and pushed him into coaching.
Morris, who is a physical education teacher at Columbus High, used to work as a STEM (science, technology, engineering, match) and ECS (Exploring Computer Science) teacher at Columbus High. He credits former West Alabama men’s basketball coaches Mike Newell and Mark Downey for helping him get his start in the profession. He said he returned to Columbus after working at West Alabama to help his mother, Janet, who was sick. He said coach Smith happened to have a job as a middle school basketball coach, which made the transition back home a little easier.
“I want to build it from the ground up,” said Morris, who also coaches cross country at Columbus High and middle school track and field. “I want to build it from the elementary school on up. … When you play ball all of your life you know how to play.”
In the last four years, Morris said he has learned a lot from each coach and has incorporated it into his style, which he feels will be even keeled but intense when it needs to be. He said he understands he has a young and inexperienced team following the graduation of two-time Gatorade Player of the Year Robert Woodard II, who is a freshman at Mississippi State, so he will need to be patient.
“We have a lot of new faces people don’t know about, guys who have been around but don’t have experience,” Morris said. “I have some seniors, but they really haven’t hit the floor except in blowouts games and in junior varsity games. I think it has been a challenge trying to get them experience without them having game situations.”
Morris said he and assistant coach Jonathan Pope are working to develop a defensive mind-set in the Falcons, much like the team had under Riley and last season under Carlyle. He said there is no excuse not to play defense because it takes effort to play on that end of the floor.
Morris thanked people in the community for supporting him to be the school’s next head coach. He hopes everyone will get behind him as he begins the work to find and to develop the next Gatorade Player of the Year from Columbus.
“Robert Woodard is a once-in-a-lifetime type of guy,” Morris said. “We just have to build. I am not saying we’re not going to have another Robert Woodard, but his type of talent you haven’t see that type of talent every day. You have to get the guys you know and build on what they have and take those pieces and put them together.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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