Chris Morris named Golden Bears football head coach
Three-time Grey Cup champion and University of Alberta alumnus Chris Morris has been chosen to turn around the Golden Bears football program. "At the University of Alberta, we expect our coaches to be passionate leaders and educators," stated Ian Reade, director of Athletics. "We expect our coaches to advance the world of sport through student-athlete development, but also through sport development. We believe we have found an individual with the capability to do both." Morris, originally from Scarborough, Ont., takes over a program that hasn't won a Canada West conference title since 1981, and has missed the playoffs in seven of the past 12 seasons while putting together a record of 38-58 (.395), including 0-8 in 2012. "Sometimes people overcomplicate success, but what I've found, in every phase of my life, is that success comes down to outworking the people you're in competition with," said Morris. "If this program is going to become the top program in CIS, then as the head coach of this program, I have to outwork every other CIS head coach." Morris began his football and post-secondary education paths at the University of Toronto where he received a bachelor of physical and health education (1995), was twice named a CIS all-Canadian and won the J.P. Metras Trophy as the country's most outstanding down lineman in the country in 1990. Morris played in the East-West Shrine Bowl, normally reserved as a showcase for American university standouts, before getting drafted eighth overall in the 1992 Canadian Football League draft by the Edmonton Eskimos.
