Published: May 28, 2009 05:41 pm      

Morrison heading to Coldspring

ORANGEFIELD — Coach “Mo” is trading in his orange to become a Trojan.

Blake Morrison, who has served as the Orangefield Athletic Director the last five seasons and who has coached at the school for nine years, has accepted an offer to be the defensive coordinator at Coldspring High School.

“It’s what is best for my family right now,” said Morrison. “We’ve been in this area a long time now and we’re ready to make a change. “We’re always going to have a special place in our hearts for Orangefield, spending nine years there. It really was the toughest decision I have ever had to make. Orangefield is a great school, it's a great community and it was difficult because of the kids. It was really hard telling the kids.”

The Bobcats went 12-34 under the direction of Morrison. Orangefield went 1-7 in 2008.

“Despite the records, the one thing I can say is our kids at Orangefield never quit,” the former head Bobcat said. “They always played hard no matter what and never gave up. They always battled and battled and I’m grateful for that.”

“Coach Morrison is a tremendous man and wish him all the luck in the word,” said Orangefield Superintendent Phillip Welch. “He built up some tremendous relationships with the kids and the staff here at Orangefield. He’s a tremendous person who was always great to get along with.”

Welch thought Morrison always went above and beyond his AD duties.

“Blake put in so many countless hours at school,” said Welch. “He did so many things that he didn’t have to do to benefit our kids. He was out here building and working on our new softball field constantly, putting in a ton of hours. When Hurricane Rita came in he was up here immediately, making sure structures were sound and checking on our kids. Same thing with Ike. He was right their beside the kids and community, helping the folks in Bridge City out.”

Morrison stepped up from defensive coordinator in the 2004 season after Kevin Flanigan left for Crosby High School. Flanigan’s last season, 2003, is the last year Orangefield has reached the playoffs.

As defensive coordinator for the Bobcats in 2001-03, Orangefield made the playoffs, thanks to hard-nosed defensive units. Morrison was also the Bobcats’ head baseball coach for a few years.

Morrison, who played baseball at Lamar University from 1988 to 1991, started his career in 1993 at Vidor, which is where he graduated high school. He spent five years at Vidor before going to Orangefield in 1999. He returned in 2001 after a coaching stint at Little Cypress-Mauriceville.

Morrison will join a Coldspring program that has been on the rise in recent seasons.

The Trojans, coached by Bryan Barbay, has qualified for the playoffs the last two seasons out of District 22-3A.

Coldspring has made it to the Class 3A Region III bidistrict playoffs two years in a row, falling to West Orange-Stark both times.

I've worked with Bryan before and we've been trying to get back together,” said Morrison. “The opportunity has been there for me but this time I decided to take it. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

The Orangefield School District has already posted the Athletic Director and head football coach job on its school website.

Morrison is the sixth coach on the Bobcat staff that will be switching jobs.

Offensive coordinator Mike Stewart took the Kountze head football job. Assistants Roy Farias and Eric Peevey are making the switch to Little Cypress-Mauriceville. Assistant Chris Theriot has ventured to Nederland High School while long-time assistant Chad Coulter has decided not to coach.

“We’ll start taking applications for the next couple weeks and then set up some interviews,” said Welch. “We have school board meetings set for June 22 and June 29. We’d love to have someone hired by June 29 but we’ll have to wait and see. One thing is, that whoever the new coach will be, he’ll probably have a chance to bring in some of his own people with him due to the vacancies we have at this time with our coaching staff if they match up with certain teaching fields.”

Eight other Southeast Texas high schools have hired new ADs and head football coaches in recent months, including Stewart at Kountze; Randy Crouch at Little Cypress-Mauriceville; Andrew Washington at Beaumont Central; Mike Bickham at Jasper; Eric Holton at Legacy Christian; Kenny Harrison at Port Arthur Memorial; Jeff Nelson at Beaumont Ozen; and Brandon Faircloth at Port Neches-Groves.