Morgan's reign dribbles into its fifth season

By Phil Witte
Daily Forty-Niner

Everything fell into place in Wayne Morgan's fourth year at the helm of the Long Beach State men's basketball team with a 24-6 season, the highest win total at The Beach in 26 seasons.

Morgan's overall record is firmly on the positive side at 60-54 after last year's campaign, which included a 15-1 record in the Big West, the school's best since an undefeated year under Lute Olson in 1973-74.

Last year's National Invitational Tournament berth also marked the team's first visit to the postseason since 1994-95.

For his success last season, the National Association of Basketball Coaches named Morgan the District 15 Coach of the Year.

"I'm pleased to have won because I was selected by my colleagues as the best coach for last year," Morgan said.

A 1973 graduate of St. Lawrence College, Morgan spent 12 years as an assistant to Jim Boehiem at Syracuse before becoming the Beach's
14th head coach in 1996.

Prior to Syracuse, Morgan was an assistant at Xavier, Dartmouth, Ithaca and St. Lawrence and head coach at Duchess Community College in New York in the mid-70s.

Graduation rates are often bragging points for college coaches, and Morgan is no different. All four of last year's graduating seniors left with degrees and four more are expected this year.

"I'm very proud of all four of them," Morgan said. "We anticipate all four of this year's seniors to get degrees and also, our cumulative grade point average of 2.73 is very high for a Division I school."

Morgan's respect for his players and his will to win are the driving source behind the 49ers recent success, said assistant coaches Reggie Warford and Ronnie Dean.

"The best word to describe coach Morgan is driven," Warford said. "After his wife and three kids, he loves his job more than anything else.

"Sometimes at 8:00 on a Friday night I'm getting ready to get home to my wife and kids and Coach will want to come in and discuss how to beat teams we're not going to play for seven months," Warford said. "He's a bottom line guy and he gets the job done, but he wouldn't ask his kids to do anything he wouldn't do."

Dean is entering his second year under Coach Morgan.

"I think he's a player's coach who is fun to play for," Dean said. "He treats his players with much respect and he's the kind of coach you'd want your son or daughter to play for."

All of that is not to imply Morgan is soft on his players.

"He's definitely an old school coach and we live strictly by his rules," forward Travis Reed said. "It's either his way or the highway."

Under Morgan, the 49ers are headed back to the heights achieved under Jerry Tarkanian 30 years ago when the team won four straight conference titles and posted a record of 7-5 in four NCAA tournament appearances.

"The program has the potential to be as big as the administration wants it to be," Morgan said. "As we win, The Pyramid will become a vogue place to be and our fan base will increase because the people of Southern California will support a winner."

Caroline Limuti/Daily Forty-Niner
Wayne Morgan