Morris Ends Tenure as PEA Football Coach
Athletics Department Chair William Glennon will return as head football coach at the Academy for the 2019-20 season, replacing Coach Robert Morris, who has coached the team for six seasons.
Throughout Morris’s tenure, Exeter football won 12 games. Morris met with team members last month to share that he would no longer coach the team. According to senior captain Kendal Walker, “[Morris’s] time as coach ending was based off of a metric of ‘outcomes.’” Walker added, however, that the team’s record is not indicative of Morris’s skill as a coach and leader. “Coach Morris taught me the value of hard work. [...] I regard him as one of the finest individuals I have ever met.”
Upper Gannon McCorkle said about Glennon, “He’s one of those really good guys. You can just sit down with him in his office and talk about things for hours. You need that in a coach to be comfortable with and actually play for him.”
Morris had planned to continue coaching for 15 more years. “The decision to no longer serve as the head football coach was not a voluntary decision that I made for myself,” Morris said. “This was a decision shared with me from the administration.”
The biggest challenge Morris faced while coaching was “playing teams in the league with different [high school] admissions standards,” he said.
Interim Principal William Rawson said, “I have enjoyed attending football practices and games this year. I have admired the commitment, spirit and tenacity of the players and coaches, including Mr. Morris and his entire staff. I have been proud of the team all season. I look forward to following the team again next year.”
Glennon served as the head football coach for 22 years before Morris assumed the position. In Glennon’s final year of coaching Exeter football, the team was undefeated until the postseason, and had its most recent win over Andover.
Glennon is currently building a coaching staff and reaching out to Ivy League and NESCAC coaches to seek out student athletes who are looking for an Exeter education. He will focus heavily on training the team’s offense.
Upper Gannon McCorkle said about Glennon, “He’s one of those really good guys. You can just sit down with him in his office and talk about things for hours. You need that in a coach to be comfortable with and actually play for him.”
Glennon’s goal throughout his tenure is “to beat Andover. There would be no one happier than me if every season, every team beat Andover in every contest,” he said. Glennon added that he hopes to continue Morris’s work of “bringing in kids of good character, and that are athletically talented.”
The triumphs of Morris’s tenure include athletes that continue to play in college and fostering the growth of underclassmen who arrive and progress through the football program.
Morris said he “came from a ‘football family.’ [...] There was never a doubt in my mind that I would be a coach. I cannot imagine a fall without it.”
Senior captain Jake Blaisdell said of Morris, “I think that connection that I’ve had with him has changed my outlook on football and it’s now something that I want to pursue.” After the team’s game against Andover, Blaisdell told Morris that he loved him. “He said that this friendship will last a very long time and that was a very special moment for me,” Blaisdell said.
Morris recalled a particularly poignant moment from the past season, when a ninth grader who had never played football before coming to Exeter assisted Morris in officially ending practice. “Our credo is ‘Together,’ and usually I engage in a call and response from the entire team. But on this day, I said, ‘Alex...are we apart?’ and he yelled, ‘No, Coach,” and then I said, ‘Alex, what are we?’ And he yelled, “WE ARE… TOGETHER!’,” Morris said. “It was great and it is things like that that everyone will long remember and cherish —far more than win/loss record and scores of games.”