East Carolina University Women's Tennis

Morris headed both the men's and women's teams and has now compiled an combined 343-259 record during his long and successful tenure in Greenville. For his coaching career, Morris owns an overall record of 506-349. He has guided the women's program alone to 264 victories and successful seasons in 13 of his 18 years at East Carolina, which includes the top seven single-season win totals in school history: a 17-9 mark in 2005, back-to-back school-record 19-9 and 19-10 finishes in 2006 and 2007, a 17-6 ledger in 2008, an 18-10 standing in 2010, an 18-9 clip in 2011 and a 17-9 mark in 2016. The 2016 campaign was historical in its own right, as the Pirates tied for the third-most victories in a single-season in program history with a 17-9 overall mark. On March 8, Morris won his 500th-career match as a coach in a 7-0 shutout against Minnesota State in a contest played in Puerto Rico. Freshman Celia Ruiz finished was a two-time American Athletic Conference Player-of-the-Week choice and finished off a brilliant debut season by being named to The American's All-Conference Team. Off the court, all 10 players listed to the league's all-academic team for posting grade point averages above 3.0 for the year. On April 1, 2014, Morris reached another milestone by picking up his 300th career victory when East Carolina downed Richmond 5-2 in Greenville. Morris also led his men's squads to .500 finishes or better in four of the last six years before hiring Shawn Heinchon to take over the Pirates' fortunes in the summer of 2005. After guiding East Carolina to record-setting 19-win seasons in 2006 and 2007, and a 17-victory campaign in 2008, Morris followed an admirable 15-7 rebuilding-year mark in 2009 with 18 triumphs the following two springs that included the program's third and fourth consecutive Conference USA Championship Tournament quarterfinal round appearance. Morris helped his Pirates match a team-best by racking up 19 victories in 29 matches during the 2007 campaign without the benefit of one senior on his roster before turning in a 17-6 season in 2008 that ended two rounds deep in C-USA's post-season tourney. In addition, ECU raced out to a 10-0 start that spring to earn its first Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national ranking in program history. In 2006, Morris directed the East Carolina women to a record-breaking 19-9 mark before advancing to the quarterfinals of the league tournament. A year earlier, he guided the Lady Pirates to a then-standard 17-9 ledger and a seventh-place C-USA finish. During the 2003 season, the Lady Pirates' second year of competition in Conference USA, East Carolina matched a then-school record for most wins in a season by going 16-8. Seeded ninth heading into the league tournament, ECU won three of four matches to finish in a tie for fifth place. The lone loss came to top-seeded Tulane. Following the 2003 women's tournament, Morris was awarded the Conference USA Sportsmanship Award. In 2002, the 12th-seeded Lady Pirates defeated Charlotte, stunned second-seeded DePaul before bowing out to South Florida. ECU's women finished the 2002 campaign with a 12-11 record and, including a regular season victory over Charlotte, won three of its five head-to-head meetings with C-USA opponents. Morris came to East Carolina from Barton College (formerly Atlantic Christian College), where he directed the tennis program as head coach from 1990 to 1998 after a stellar playing career there. In Morris' tenure at Barton, he guided his men's teams to six conference championships while his women's squads won four league titles. He was named Carolinas Conference Coach of the Year four times and earned NAIA District 26 Coach-of-the-Year honors once. Following the 1997 season, Morris was tabbed as the NCAA Men's East Regional Coach of the Year, making him one of four finalists for the NCAA Division II National Coach-of-the-Year award. At Barton, Morris coached eight All-America selections and eight conference players-of-the-year. As an undergraduate, Morris was Atlantic Christian's flight one singles player in each of his four years and earned All-America recognition twice. As a senior in 1979, he helped Atlantic Christian reach the NAIA National Championship. He advanced to the singles round of 32 his freshman year, the semifinals as a sophomore, the round of 16 as a junior, and the quarterfinals as a senior. His 105 career singles victories still rank as the Barton school record. In addition, he compiled a career mark of 17-4 in singles at the national tournament. His outstanding playing and coaching accomplishments at Barton, and his leadership to the East Carolina program, rightfully earned Morris a place in the North Carolina Tennis Hall-of Fame with his induction on Jan. 30, 2010 in Pinehurst, N.C. Morris' wife, Carol, is a former standout tennis player at the University of South Carolina and had several top 10 wins while playing on the women's professional tour. The couple has three children--daughter Chris (22) and sons Jack (20) and Al (16).