Speedy Morris

William "Speedy" Morris (born April 26, 1942) is an American basketball coach.

Born in Manayunk, Morris acquired the nickname "Speedy" because he was one of the slowest kids in his neighborhood. Morris started coaching at St. John the Baptist Catholic School's CYO varsity basketball team. He then went on to coach at Roman Catholic High School.[1] Morris then spent 2 years as the head coach of the William Penn Charter School. Morris was then asked to be head coach of La Salle University's women's basketball team. He was head coach of the La Salle University men's team from 1986 to 2001, where he led the Explorers to four NCAA tournament appearances.

Morris's 238 wins are the most in school history. His best team was the 1989–90, led by Lionel Simmons and Doug Overton, which posted a 30–2 record and finished 12th in both major polls.

Morris was the first Division I coach to coach both the men's and women's program at the same school. While at La Salle, Morris coached future NBA players Simmons, Overton, Randy Woods, Tim Legler, and Rasual Butler. However, he was forced to resign in 2001 after eight straight losing seasons.

Soon afterward, Morris was hired at St. Joseph's Preparatory School in Philadelphia. The teams won Catholic League titles in 2002 and 2003. On February 7, 2011, he earned his 561st win in the Philadelphia Catholic League, the most of any coach in league history. On February 3, 2012, Morris earned his 900th win as Prep defeated Roman Catholic, a team he once coached. Morris is the first and only coach in Pennsylvania state history to win 300 games with two schools. He won his 1000th game on January 12, 2018. In December 2019, Morris announced that he would retire at the end of the season.[1] He wanted to continue coaching, but his battle with Parkinson's disease had taken its toll on him.[2]

Morris accomplishments:

• 32 Regular Season/Conference Championships...2 Alhambra Catholic Invitational Championships
• 5 NCAA Tournament appearances/ 2 NIT appearances (1987 Finalist)
• 11 time Conference/League Coach of the Year
• 3 time Philadelphia Big 5 Coach Of the Year
• 3 Time NABC District 3 Coach of the Year
• 1990 Eastern Basketball Coach of the Year
• First coach in the history of Division 1 basketball to go from coaching women to men.
• Only the 3rd coach in Division 1 Men's basketball history to win 100 games in his first four years ( Everett Case and Jim Boeheim are the other two)
• Speedy won the conference championship at each of his 5 stops in only his second-year head coach at each school.
• The only High School coach in Pennsylvania to win 300 plus games at two different schools ( Roman Catholic-347/ St. Joseph's Prep-366)
• The home Courts at both Roman Catholic and St. Joseph's Prep are dedicated to Speedy with his name painted on each floor.
• All time wins leader in the 100 plus year history of the prestigious Philadelphia Catholic League (713)
• All time wins leader in the history of Philadelphia High school basketball (754)
• NBA players coached: Mike Bantom, Dallas Comegy's Tim Legler, Lionel Simmons, Doug Overton, Randy Woods, Rasual Butler
• Over 100 of Speedy's High School players went on to play college basketball
• More than 35 of Speedy's former assistants, players, and managers have gone on to coach at the High School, Collegiate and professional levels.
• NBA/WNBA head coaches that played for Speedy: Jim O'Brien (Celtics, Pacers, Sixers), Cheryl Reeve (Lynx)
• 2014 Presented the "Lifetime Achievement" Award from the ECAC at the Madison Square Garden Holiday festival
• 2015 MAAC Honor Roll recipient presented at the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame
• 2016 Atlantic 10 Legend award recipient at the Barclay Center
• 2017 Morgan Wootten "Lifetime Achievement" Award presented by the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame
• 2018 The Philly 6 Coaches vs Cancer (Big 5 plus Drexel) honored Speedy by naming the "Speedy Morris Service Award" to be given annually to a person in honor of their dedication to Coaches vs Cancer and its mission
• 2019 awarded the Peter A. Carlesimo Award from Scranton University for his outstanding contributions to Catholic Athletics
• 2020 Awarded the Philadelphia Sportswriters Association's "Living Legend Award"
• 2020 The Philadelphia Catholic league coaches voted unanimously to name their annual coach of the year award the "William Speedy Morris Coach of the Year" award.
• All totaled, Speedy is in 11 Halls of Fame, including the Philadelphia Big 5 Hall of Fame, The Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, The Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, the MAAC Honor Roll, Roman Catholic High school's Hall of Fame, and LaSalle Unuversity's Hall of athletes.
• 2020 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame nominee