The Average Fan sat down with coveted UM head coach Jim Morris to take a look at the upcoming baseball season, reflect on the past 17 years of Morris baseball at Miami and much more. Here is a little taste:
The Miami Hurricane: Going into your 18th season here at Miami talk a little about coaching at UM in a city like Miami. What are the difficulties you have to face, if any? What are the advantages? What sets it apart from your other coaching stops?
Morris: Well, there is no question, being in a large metropolitan area like Miami, as a coach there are good things and there are bad things. Good thing is [that] there are a lot of players here: Strong influence of Latin kids and normally the Latin players’ number one sport is baseball, particularly the Cuban-American kids, which is why probably half our team is Latin, most of them being Cuban. It is a big advantage [that] baseball down here is very good. The good news is there are a lot of things to do. The bad news is there are lots of things to do. So you always have to just be concerned about trying to talk to your guys about doing things that are right and wrong, whether going to the Grove, the beach or wherever it may be. But overall I think it is a great place to live for me and for our players; to be here, to have a great school to go to and a great school for me to coach at. So I don’t think there is a better place.
TMH: What made you go into coaching? At what point did you know that this was what you wanted to do for a living?
Morris: I kind of thought … whoops … not so fast. I said a taste! For the complete interview go to http://www.themiamihurricane.com/2010/11/17/17-years-17-questions-with-jim-morris/ And yes, you’re damn right I just pulled the old cliffhanger move on you.