For Shoreline’s Marv Morris it’s always been about the JOURNEY. A quote used by Morris often to focus his teams on making the most of each day building something special was, “it’s the striving, not the arriving.” Each season was its own adventure that built a group of young men who learned to trust and depend on each other into a TEAM.
Coach Morris loved baseball as much as he loved basketball. He was the head baseball coach at Shorewood, Roosevelt, and Cleveland High Schools. Marv had a very satisfying and successful run at Cleveland where he won multiple Metro baseball titles earning state tournament trips for the Eagles.
During many of his baseball years, Coach Morris served as an assistant basketball coach. He assisted Ben Snowden at Roosevelt helping to coach a young future NBA star in James Edwards. Marv also assisted Fred Harrison at Cleveland High School where they won back to back state titles in 1975 & 1976 with arguably two of the best teams ever in the State of Washington. Morris moved north to Shorewood in the 80’s where he assisted Gail Pintler.
It wasn’t until the 1989-90 season did Marv Morris become a head basketball coach accepting the job at Shorecrest High School. It took Coach Morris and his staff of Larry Stewart and Greg Tacon only three seasons to build the Scots into a state power. Shorecrest lost to Mt. Vernon in the 1992 2A State Championship Game, but went on to reach the state tournament the next four seasons winning three state trophies and fi ve consecutive WESCO titles.
Shorecrest was known for their toughness, execution and team defense. Those were traits that would follow Marv to King’s High School in 2000-2001 where he returned following two seasons off from coaching. King’s is a Christian School. A strong man of faith, Coach Morris was excited for the opportunity to share his faith to help mold the young men he coached.
“I’m really high on helping mold the character of the young men I coach and their commitment to doing well” said Morris. Many of Marv’s players during his time at King’s would also have the opportunity to be his students in his Healthy Lifestyles class where the life lessons would continue off the basketball court.
The combination of sharing faith and life’s knowledge was a winning recipe as Marv led the King’s Knights to back to back state titles in 2001 & 2002. State titles, multiple league and district titles,
and coach of the year awards, made King’s a special experience for all involved. Morris would finish his career back at Shorewood High School where he spent three solid seasons reviving the Thunderbird Basketball Program to respectability in WESCO.
Marv Morris was ahead of his time when it came to coaching athletes. He never bought into the heavy handed approach. Instead, Morris built relationships and empowered his student athletes to believe in something higher than themselves by playing for their teammates. He often hosted and led “I Appreciate Meetings.” The meetings would consist of each player saying something about a teammate that made being their teammate enjoyable. “I feel that complements mean more coming their teammates than from me” said Coach Morris of the I Appreciate Meetings.
Team and relationship building was always at the forefront in that Marv always led his teams to play for each other and never out of fear of their coach. Many coaches talk about the team coming first, but Morris’ squads always embodied it. Marv rarely screamed or yelled. His approach may have taken longer to get results, but in the long term, it paid off . Through the many years Marv Morris coached with the loving support of his wife Carolyn, it has always been about the striving, not the arriving. Focusing on the journey and not the destination not only produced great teams led by great young men, but a Hall of Fame Career.
