By Rus Baer

Sunday, March 25, 2012

John Morris was hired in May of 2005 to build a high school football program at Hallsville.

After almost seven years laying the foundation, the 38-year coaching veteran was voted out of his coaching and administration position last month by a 4-3 vote of the school board.

"My career has consisted of starting programs, restarting programs and putting life back into programs," Morris said. "Sometimes you have to make decisions that aren't the most popular in the world, but they're the best for the program.

"I don't do politics. I do what I think is right and make decisions on what I think is right, and if there are negative consequences, then I accept those consequences."

In four varsity seasons, the Indians won only one district game against winless Southern Boone in 2008 and compiled an 8-32 mark. The past two seasons, Hallsville finished 3-7 after winless district slates against state-ranked powers Centralia, Macon and Brookfield.

With the playoff format changing next season and Hallsville moving to the Tri-County Conference, Morris was looking forward to the next step of the Indians' excavation.

"The thing that upsets me more than anything else is I poured my life into this thing, and we were coming," Morris said. "We were getting close.

"Even if I'm the only one that thinks so, I think I've built a hell of a foundation for a pretty good program."

See the article here:
Hallsville makes coaching change