Red Raider coach honored for a “Super” 36 years
Published May 10, 2019
MELROSE—Melrose Red Raider football coach Tim Morris was inducted to the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association (MHSFCA) Hall of Fame on Sunday, April 28 at the Doubletree Hotel in Westborough, joining six others inductees at the 33rd annual event.
Morris, a 2017 Coach of the Year, was honored for his 36 years of coaching at Melrose High. He has the distinction of being the only Melrose High football coach to bring a Super Bowl title to Melrose after his 2017 team went 13-0 and secured a state title. Morris has brought the Red Raiders to three Super Bowls, including a 2015 team who was also undefeated going into the Super Bowl and finished 12-1.
COACH TIM Morris and past and present MHS players, coaches and administrators celebrated his induction. Front row: Trevor Rudolph, Paul Capaldo, Tom Kasprzak, Bill Tighe (former coach, LHS), Sonny Lane, Patrick Morris, Timothy J. Morris. Middle row: Nathan Lusas, Dave Blanchard, Bill Hirschfeld, Coach Tim Morris, Michael Morris, Matt Montani, Mark Deauschke. Back row: John Babula, Wayne Pandolph, Stephen Fogarty, Jason Merrill and Sean Morris.
Entering his 25th year as head coach, Morris has helped Melrose win the Middlesex League championship seven times. Much of the Red Raiders’ recent success started in 2013, when it won three straight league titles, four Northwest Sectional championships and back-to-back Super Bowl trips in 2014-2015.
Morris has earned several prestigious awards over the years, including the Boston Globe Coach of the Year award in 1998, Middlesex League Coach of the Year in 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2007. He was named Patriots Coach of the Week in 1999, 2004, 2007 and 2017. He has also been named coach of the Shriner’s All Star Classic four times.
The 1978 MHS alum and former Red Raider played ball at Bridgeton Academy and Springfield College. Morris is also a state champion coach with the Melrose Red Raider wrestling team, who clinched the Div. 3 title in 2017.
“I’m in great company,” Morris has said of the honor. “There is a fraternity of Melrose coaches that preceded me. It makes it more special to join their ranks. It’s like a family.”
The coach was flanked by his wife, sons and a slew of former athletes and colleagues at the event. He noted, “Football teaches life lessons that never change. Getting to see these kids grow, come back and pursue coaching themselves, that means more than anything.”
