Reese Morgan retiring

[MoseSchrute]

Well deserved, but bad news for us. What he brought to the program more than likely can't be replaced.

 

[CP87]

Would love to have seen him at Iowa City West about a decade earlier. He would have been matching wits with Wally Sheets (Cedar Rapids Washington) Greg Purnell (Linn-Mar) Bob Timmerman (Dubuque Hempstead) and Tom Kopatich (briefly Dubuque Wahlert). All four in the Iowa coaches Hall Fame. Sheets in particular sent a lot of players to division 1 schools. Gary Clark, the Hobbs brothers, the Puk brothers, Kirk Abernathy, Bill Happel, Doug Burrell, Dedric Ward just for starters.

Didn't City High have a pretty legendary coach at that time as well?

 

[AreWeThereYet]

So where they going to put his statue?

 

[ohhawk]

I’d be surprised if Kelvin Bell weren’t promoted from assistant DL coach to DL coach. Like Seth Wallace when he moved to LB coach, I think Bell would relinquish his recruiting coordinator hat. That’s likely the position that will need to be filled.

To me that's the bigger challenge...... not that of replacing Morgan. Morgan did a terrific job but if his replacement is Bell I think we're in good hands going forward. My guess would be this retirement has been in the works for quite some time with regular season over, bowl game over, signing day over, some of the bigger recruiting weekends now over for awhile............seems like a good planned time to make the call.

 

[Robowe]

 

[Hawkfnntn]

I was pretty sure there'd be a pretty big out pouring for him retiring. How many lifelong assistants in college ball would be getting this sort of send off?

 

[Ree4]

 

[Ree4]

Didn't City High have a pretty legendary coach at that time as well?

Larry Brown was my coach at City. I hated what Reece did at West High, they were always tough. This is a huge loss to our program - I think Reece is one of the best coaches Iowa has ever had, especially with the contributions he had with recruiting and his ability to spot the diamonds. It's also sad that he won't be here for AJ's last year.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I had a similar experience with Coach Ferentz when I was coaching HS football, which played a big role in me becoming an Iowa fan (I am an out-of-state transplant). He was speaking at a coaching clinic, and he was supposed to be the final speaker. I think it was only scheduled to be about 30 minutes, mostly a "make an appearance and impress the attendees" sort of thing. He got up there and went on for over an hour on the intricacies of how they teach zone blocking at the college level and how he thinks it should be adapted at the HS level. He was very animated, he was physically demonstrating, he was happy to answer questions, and it was just clear that he loved to teach and to coach. I came away very impressed.

What state or where was this? Cool how this made you follow Iowa and become a fan.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Would have been interesting to see how successful he would have been coaching at a formidable D1 school. I bet he would have been.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Larry Brown was my coach at City. I hated what Reece did at West High, they were always tough. This is a huge loss to our program - I think Reece is one of the best coaches Iowa has ever had, especially with the contributions he had with recruiting and his ability to spot the diamonds. It's also sad that he won't be here for AJ's last year.

My thoughts exactly. I was also going to point out he seemed to be the guy who pointed out diamonds in the rough to Kirk and state we really need to look at this kid.

 

[Ree4]

My thoughts exactly. I was also going to point out he seemed to be the guy who pointed out diamonds in the rough to Kirk and state we really need to look at this kid.

I think Reece was the whole reason we gave The Outlaw a chance, was he not?

 

[4thngoal]

I’d be surprised if Kelvin Bell weren’t promoted from assistant DL coach to DL coach. Like Seth Wallace when he moved to LB coach, I think Bell would relinquish his recruiting coordinator hat. That’s likely the position that will need to be filled.

I think you might be right.
Bell is more than capable of the job.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

I think Reece was the whole reason we gave The Outlaw a chance, was he not?

Yup KF has said as much I think. Among others as well. I found it news worthy that Morgan pounded the table for David Johnson but KF made the call not to beyond the grey shirt they offered him... I think since then KF said when Morgan pounds the table he trusted his gut...

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I think Reece was the whole reason we gave The Outlaw a chance, was he not?

Who was The Outlaw?

 

[Ree4]

Who was The Outlaw?

Josey Jewell

 

[Northside Hawk]

Didn't City High have a pretty legendary coach at that time as well?

It was Larry Brown, as has already been noted. A hall of famer in his own right. Add in Pat Mitchell at Cedar Falls and Merv Habernicht at Bettendorf and eastern Iowa 4-A was loaded with legendary coaches.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Josey Jewell

Oh cripes! That's right.

 

[Ree4]

It was Larry Brown, as has already been noted. A hall of famer in his own right. Add in Pat Mitchell at Cedar Falls and Merv Habernicht at Bettendorf and eastern Iowa 4-A was loaded with legendary coaches.

I still see him every few months or so, always have a good time chatting it up

 

[Adam]

I think you might be right.
Bell is more than capable of the job.

Capable of teaching technique and gameplan to the D-Line? Sure, I don't doubt that. Capable of filling every intangible of Morgan for this program? Not even close. 10 years from now maybe.

Losing Morgan is like collapsing a heart ventricle. Morgan embodied the culture set in place at Iowa better than just about anyone. He literally disrupted blood from the source to the rest of the body. After the loss of Norm Parker and the exit of O'Keefe Morgan became the lynch pin of the old guard. Coupled with his uncanny ability to spot talent between the lines of obvious, his role to this program is not likely to be filled by any one person and certainly not immediately.

That said, it seems reasonable to think Bell gets the nod to move up. That leaves the Recruiting Coordinator position open. We need to find an absolute wrecking ball for this position. Many Iowa fans pine away for stellar recruiting and the hope that it leads to on field triumph. This moment in time could be the defining moment for such an occurrence.

It is my hope that Kirk senses the importance of this hire. It is my hope that Kirk breaks a perfectly good tradition of staying within the Iowa tree of hiring pool. This might be our best chance to close the recruiting gap between us an the habitual top 25 recruiting schools.

I think someone young, hungry and charismatic is ideal for this position. We have the image of the unwavering, unmoving rock that changes for nothing. While on one hand that is a good thing, but on the other it is a stale image. I really want to see a juxtaposition here. Let's look for someone who has the personality to rewrite this narrative to our recruits when needed. Someone who can more than get their foot in the door with 5* talent on a consistent basis.

I think we can all agree that Iowa could benefit from an elevated recruiting effort. This may well be our last hurrah under Kirk. Whoever he hires this time will surely be providing the last few classes of kids that Kirk will mentor and coach. If Captain want to ride out on a high horse, he should consider this hire to make or break his legacy.