Q&A: Morris Reflects On 500 Wins
October 06, 2016 | Women's Tennis
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina Director of Tennis and Head Women's Tennis Coach Tom Morris took time to reflect on his impressive coaching resume, which included his 500th-career win in March of 2016.
Q: What has been the best or toughest part of coaching both the men's and women's teams, to only coaching one of them?
TM: In the 18 years I've been at East Carolina, we've accomplished so much and come so far. When I started here, we were trying to be competitive in the CAA (Colonial Athletic Association). We've come a long, long way in terms of what we've been able to do with scholarships, travel, level of competition and a variety of other things our administration has provided us. It's a whole different scenario for tennis now than when I first arrived here. For a long time, I was coaching both men's and women's tennis without an assistant, and today, I'm coaching one team with a full-time assistant coach. When I was coaching two teams with only a few graduate assistants, I felt like I was just directing traffic or trying to react to the biggest fire and put that one out first. It kind of forced me to fix things and not build, but if you see where we are now, I think we're really building a program. We're able to concentrate on the things we really want to.
Q: What are the most important qualities you look for in student-athletes you're recruiting?
TM: It starts with the student-athlete. You want to recruit the best players, but you look at what kind of grades they have. You don't want to have to wonder if someone is or isn't going to be able to make it through a semester. We're at a point where it's a relief to not have to worry about that, but sometimes those things happen and you can't forsee it happening. We have routines in place where we have study hall every night when we're traveling. Our team won the Pirate Points Award and they decided to use the money for that to buy a portable router system so that when we're on the road, they'll all have access to the internet. They're committed to their studies. I think if you can find those kids that are as motivated academically as they are athletically, you don't have much to worry about.
Q: Which memories during your coaching tenure will stay with you forever?
TM: What I remember more than anything else are the things that happen away from the courts. There are situations that I laugh about and remember them. I remember a lot of matches, but I tend to remember the losses because they hurt more and they're engrained in my memory. It's the matches that got away somehow. But then the funny things that happen while traveling or during a match, and I can't recall who won or lost those matches, but I remember those moments.
Q: In the wake of all your coaching success, what goals do you still have set out for yourself?
TM: We made the decision a few years ago that we're going to begin playing more difficult schedules and our records reflected that. Our philosophy has always been to just keep getting better and when we do that, winning and losing will take care of itself.
Q: Are there certain aspects of East Carolina University that people don't know about until they get to Greenville?
TM: I can't stress enough how special a place East Carolina is and the kind of family environment we've created for our student-athletes over the years. It's a place where you can grow as a person and be a part of something that continues to grow so big that when you look back years down the road, you won't believe how far it has come.
Q: What has been the best or toughest part of coaching both the men's and women's teams, to only coaching one of them?
TM: In the 18 years I've been at East Carolina, we've accomplished so much and come so far. When I started here, we were trying to be competitive in the CAA (Colonial Athletic Association). We've come a long, long way in terms of what we've been able to do with scholarships, travel, level of competition and a variety of other things our administration has provided us. It's a whole different scenario for tennis now than when I first arrived here. For a long time, I was coaching both men's and women's tennis without an assistant, and today, I'm coaching one team with a full-time assistant coach. When I was coaching two teams with only a few graduate assistants, I felt like I was just directing traffic or trying to react to the biggest fire and put that one out first. It kind of forced me to fix things and not build, but if you see where we are now, I think we're really building a program. We're able to concentrate on the things we really want to.
Q: What are the most important qualities you look for in student-athletes you're recruiting?
TM: It starts with the student-athlete. You want to recruit the best players, but you look at what kind of grades they have. You don't want to have to wonder if someone is or isn't going to be able to make it through a semester. We're at a point where it's a relief to not have to worry about that, but sometimes those things happen and you can't forsee it happening. We have routines in place where we have study hall every night when we're traveling. Our team won the Pirate Points Award and they decided to use the money for that to buy a portable router system so that when we're on the road, they'll all have access to the internet. They're committed to their studies. I think if you can find those kids that are as motivated academically as they are athletically, you don't have much to worry about.
Q: Which memories during your coaching tenure will stay with you forever?
TM: What I remember more than anything else are the things that happen away from the courts. There are situations that I laugh about and remember them. I remember a lot of matches, but I tend to remember the losses because they hurt more and they're engrained in my memory. It's the matches that got away somehow. But then the funny things that happen while traveling or during a match, and I can't recall who won or lost those matches, but I remember those moments.
Q: In the wake of all your coaching success, what goals do you still have set out for yourself?
TM: We made the decision a few years ago that we're going to begin playing more difficult schedules and our records reflected that. Our philosophy has always been to just keep getting better and when we do that, winning and losing will take care of itself.
Q: Are there certain aspects of East Carolina University that people don't know about until they get to Greenville?
TM: I can't stress enough how special a place East Carolina is and the kind of family environment we've created for our student-athletes over the years. It's a place where you can grow as a person and be a part of something that continues to grow so big that when you look back years down the road, you won't believe how far it has come.
Wednesday, April 25
Monday, January 23
Wednesday, September 07
Tuesday, July 19
