Lehigh Head Coach Goes to Navy

Former Naval Academy assistant coach and current Lehigh head coach John Morrison has been named as the new head coach for the Navy women's swimming program, it was announced today by Navy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk.

"Returning to Navy has been a dream since the first day I began as an assistant under Dick Purdy," said Morrison. "The Academy is a great institution. The natural beauty speaks for itself, but the real beauty is in the people associated with the Naval Academy. From the mids to the support staff, the Academy attracts and breeds great people and the people make the institution first class. I am proud and humbled to be back, even though leaving Lehigh and growing relationships there is difficult.

"Most important in my return is that I have an opportunity to recruit, coach, and instruct at an institution with a fabulous mission."

"John Morrison believes in the mission of the Naval Academy," said Navy men's head coach Bill Roberts, who was an assistant coach for the men's program before returning to the Naval Academy last year to lead the Mids to the 2004 Patriot League title. "Similar to Coach Purdy, Coach Morrison is going to lead with honor, integrity and loyalty."

"I am very happy for both John and the Naval Academy," said Dick Purdy, whose retirement after 19 years as the program's head coach created the vacancy Morrison is filling. "I think the two are a perfect fit for each other. John has a sincere admiration for the mission of the Naval Academy and understands the relationship between the team and the overall goals of the Academy. He was very successful during his years as an assistant coach here in not only helping the swimmers as athletes, but also in assisting them in every facet of midshipmen life.

"I am confident he will continue the program's success and help take it to even greater heights."

Morrison served as an assistant coach to Purdy for four seasons beginning in the fall of 1993. The duo coached the Mids to a 33-14 record and to Patriot League titles during each season.

"It will be difficult to fill Coach Purdy's shoes, but we will work hard to maintain our win streak over Army and win championships," said Morrison. "We have the staff, the facilities and, most of all, the mids to do it."

After leaving the Naval Academy, Morrison served as a volunteer assistant men's coach at Tennessee during the 1997-98 season in which the Volunteers placed fourth at the NCAA National Championship, followed by one year as an assistant for both the men's and women's teams at Rutgers. Morrison began serving as the head coach and aquatics director at the Ocean County YMCA in his hometown of Toms River, N.J., for two years starting in 1999 before being named the head men's and women's swimming coach at Lehigh in 2001.

Morrison coached the Mountain Hawks to a combined 31-26 record during his three seasons in Bethlehem. Lehigh's men's team won the 2002 Patriot League title and also placed second and fourth in his tenure, while the women's program produced fourth, third and fifth-placing showings at the league championship under his guidance.

In addition to the program's success in the pool, Lehigh swimmers and divers totaled 30 places on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll during Morrison's three seasons.

A successful athlete in his own right, Morrison earned four letters in swimming and in golf while a student-athlete at Toms River High School and, this spring, was selected as a member of the school's inaugural Hall of Fame class. He would go on to earn four letters in swimming at North Carolina, helping the Tar Heels win a pair of Atlantic Coast Conference titles in the process and graduating with a bachelor's degree from the school in 1990.

Morrison would enter the coaching ranks in 1991 as an assistant swimming coach at Washington & Lee where he helped coach four NCAA Division III All-Americans. He also assisted with the school's 1992 water polo team that won the Eastern Championship and served as the interim golf coach.

John and his wife, Amy, have a four-year old son, John, and a one-year-old daughter, Avery.