Morgan named new Goldsboro basketball coach

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 11, 2007 2:53 PM

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The search is over.

Goldsboro High has a new men's basketball coach.

School athletic officials introduced Tod Morgan as the newest Cougar during a reception Tuesday evening. He takes over for Randy Jordan, who resigned in July to become the basketball coach and athletics director at Cary Academy.

The Wayne County Board of Education approved Morgan's hiring a week ago.

Jordan's resignation shocked Morgan, who has spent the last three seasons at Class 4-A New Bern. When the opening was posted, Morgan immediately expressed his interest to current athletics director Rod Peterson and principal Pat Burden.

"I didn't anticipate Coach Jordan leaving any time soon and I was excited about getting an interview because I knew there would be a huge interest among quality basketball coaches in the state," said Morgan. "The basketball program has a great tradition, especially when you think about some of the coaches who have walked those sidelines -- Dave Odom, Norvelle Lee, Charlie Stevens, Randy Tilley and Coach Jordan.

"I felt like it was a good place to go and be a basketball coach."

Morgan compiled 106 career victories during stops at Cape Hatteras, Greene Central and New Bern. His Bears finished 17-9 this past winter and earned the program's first postseason berth in 12 years.

"We've had the same system in place and it's worked everywhere we've been," said Morgan. "I feel like we can bring that here, put the athletes into our system and have some success here. I've been blessed to be a lot of places and be around a lot of good coaches.

"We've learned to do things the right way and we've probably learned more during losses."

Morgan inherits a program that posted 96 victories and reached the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A title game in 2003 during Jordan's six-year reign. The Cougars are coming off a 15-12 campaign, which included a second-round appearance in the 2-A playoffs.

Part-time starters Tim Hobbs, Tavon Murchison and Kevonta McDuffie are expected to return this season. Jordan said before his departure that Aric Sinclair might be the "surprise" player on the team this winter.

Aware of the athletes who venture through Goldsboro, Morgan expects to play an up-tempo style game fueled off defensive pressure. Once the team settles into a halfcourt set, they'll run a variance of the motion offense.

Establishing the system from varsity down to middle school is important and keeping that consistency will be a challenge, according to Morgan. When a huge senior class graduates, Morgan hopes he can reload and not endure a few lean years many programs encounter when the talent pool becomes shallow.

"When we do that, we can get to the point where we can sustain excellence and that's what we're all striving for," said Morgan.