Dec. 21, 2001
By STEVE BAILEY – AP Sports Writer
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) It isn’t easy for Guy Morriss to choose one>particular play or game that marked the high point of his first season>running Kentucky’s football program.
It’s much easier for Morriss to put his finger on the moment hethought to himself that it couldn’t get much worse.
“Walking off the field at South Carolina after getting beat 42-6 wastough,” Morriss said. “It was our first time to travel after what hadhappened on Sept. 11 and, for some reason, we just weren’t ready to play physically or mentally.”
But a remarkable thing happened on the way to Kentucky’s secondconsecutive 2-9 season. Following the drubbing at the hands of theGamecocks, the Wildcats pulled together and made runs at some of theSoutheastern Conference’s top teams.
SEC champion LSU, Mississippi State and No. 6 Tennessee all neededlate touchdowns to beat Kentucky. And a 56-30 victory over Vanderbilt,which had beaten the Wildcats 24-20 the previous year, snapped a 15-gameconference losing streak dating back to the 1999 season.
“That last stretch of games, when you could really see how much we’dimproved as a team, will stick with me,” said Morriss, who took overthe program in February following the resignation of Hal Mumme. “Theguys really could see themselves progressing – getting better and moreconfident every week – and that was great to watch.
“It was really rewarding to see the kids have success, even if itdidn’t necessarily translate into wins and losses.”
President Lee Todd and athletics director Larry Ivy also noticedthat progress and gave Morriss a vote of confidence following theWildcats’ season-ending 26-15 loss at Indiana on Dec. 1.
In announcing that Morriss would return next season, Ivy said heexpected +Morriss+ to be around to complete his five-year contract.
“He has four more years to get the job done, and we fully expect himto complete the four years,” Ivy said. “We are very pleased with whatthis staff has been able to accomplish this year.
“From the LSU game on, we were as competitive in the SoutheasternConference as anyone. We had two teams playing in the SEC championshipgame in LSU and Tennessee that we lost to by a combined seven points. Ithink it’s obvious we were very competitive.”
Ivy, Todd and the players all credit Morriss and his staff for theturnaround. Morriss kept the squad believing that hard work andattention to detail would produce positive results.
Hard work and dedication are more than abstract philosophies toMorriss+, a 15-year NFL offensive lineman that played in two SuperBowls with the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots.
“My father instilled in me a blue-collar work ethic that has stuckwith me to this day,” said Morriss, a Colorado City, Texas native andAll-Southwest Conference guard at Texas Christian University. “As aplayer, I knew I wasn’t the most gifted athlete on the field. But I wasnever going to let anybody take my job or get the best of me becausethey outworked me.
“If I can teach these guys anything, it’s that you’ve got to punchthe clock and be ready to give everything you have every single day. Theonly chance we have is if we work hard and play together as a team.”
Out of the mouths of many coaches, such words would be considerednothing more than `coachspeak.’ Those who know +Morriss+, however,understand that those values have shaped him as a teacher and as aperson.
“Three things struck me about Guy right away his consistency, hiswork ethic and how he treats people,” said Todd, who replaced formerpresident Charles Wethington in July. “If you do those three thingsright in just about any profession, chances are you’re going to besuccessful.
“He’s not flamboyant or cocky or arrogant. He’s one of the mostdown-to-earth and friendly people you’ll ever meet. And he’s the type ofperson that once he sets his mind to something, he’s not going to stopworking until he gets it done.”
To a man, Morriss’ players say they can’t imagine anyone elseleading them on to the field week after week.
“Coach Morriss is your basic strong, silent type,” said linebackerRonnie Riley, who redshirted following a knee injury early in theseason. “You don’t see any doubt in his eyes at all. Ever. He’s a force,not only in our locker room but in our lives.”
One word seems to surface repeatedly when talking to the playersabout Morriss: honesty.
“He’s a perfectly straight up and honest guy,” said quarterbackJared Lorenzen, who lost the starting job after the first game butearned it back midway through the season. “With Coach Morriss, whatyou see is what you get. You’re not going to hear any excuses or doubletalk, and I think players respect him for that.”
With NCAA sanctions looming for violations committed during Mumme’stenure, including a probable reduction of scholarships and recruitingvisits, Morriss knows it’s going to be difficult to sustain theprogress the team made this season.
But despite the 2-9 record, Morriss said he considered his firstseason as a head coach a successful one.
“I’m very proud of what we accomplished this season,” he said. “Youalways want to win more than two games. But these guys never, ever quiton the coaching staff or on each other, even though there were severaltimes when it would have been easy to do that.”
