Behind the Mic with Joe Zagacki
The 2018 season is the 25th and final year for Jim Morris.
First of all, that is hard to believe. Time goes by quick when you are having fun and certainly, he has maintained a level of fun for University of Miami baseball. He picked up right where Ron Fraser left off.
I always admired how Coach Morris did not mind being in the shadow of Coach Fraser early in his career because he meant so much to baseball and to the University of Miami. He was an icon in this town.
Coach Fraser was here before Pat Riley and before the Marlins and Panthers. He was on the same playing field as Don Shula.
Coach Morris embraced everything that Coach Fraser had built up. He did not come in and say it has to be my way. He knew what Coach Fraser did was the right way and he just continued along the same path of making sure Miami was on television, had a high level of play and took his teams to the postseason.
Coach Morris won two college world series, which could be one of the hardest championships to win now because of the breakdown of the tournament.
Coach Morris will always be remembered for winning the College World Series twice. I also think he has done a tremendous job in adapting his roster to the game.
He had great sluggers like Pat Burrell and Zack Collins that could launch the ball out of the ball park. He played for the homerun. Then his roster changed and he had to play small ball so he was able to manufacture runs. Then they changed the equipment and he went to really small ball because of the new bat. Then they changed the equipment again when they changed the ball, so now he is somewhere in between being able to hit homeruns but also run the bases.
His defense through the years was very good. He was always a pioneer for college baseball in adopting what major league baseball does. I don’t think a lot of guys in college ball would designate just one guy the way he did.
His ability to manage the roster and manage the game was ahead of everyone else and kept Miami in the forefront and to be able to do it for 25 years is ridiculous.
Look at the records he put together. He has some of the best records, all-time, in the history of college baseball.
To do it year after year, he doesn’t receive enough credit for that. I think a lot of his peers in college baseball are going to take a second and look over in that dugout and say “Man. That guy has achieved something really special.”
I had the privilege to work with him for 25 years behind the mic.
Baseball is very unique to broadcast, especially when you get to postseason. As the season unfolds and you end up in the post-season after a game you’ve just lost, you have to come back either that day or the next day.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve sat in the dugout with him in between games when Miami was facing an elimination game. One of the things I always admired about Coach Morris is that in those situations, in the heat of the battle, facing elimination, back to the wall, he has never wavered in 25 years.
He is one of the most competitive guys I’ve ever been around. You might not recognize it or acknowledge it, but it would always shine through in those special moments when we were sitting in the dugout twenty minutes before the next biggest game of all time, facing elimination.
You would feel his competitive spirit, his fire but also, his ability to be calm and communicate that to his players.
I’m not sure what the record would be in those elimination games, but I would bet that it is way above 500 and that there is a high level of success.
His teams would peak at the right time. I think you would see that in his competitiveness. At the end of the year, in those special moments when he was facing elimination or in a clenching game, he has been one of greatest closers of all time.
