Head Coach Bill Morgan

Bill Morgan is in his 28^th  year of coaching at the University of Connecticut - fifth season as head coach of the University of Connecticut women’s cross country/track and field programs, after serving as an assistant coach for 22 years and as interim head coach in 2003-04. In 2007-08, Morgan led his program to the 'Triple Crown' in indoor meets, winning the BIG EAST, New England and ECAC Team Championships. Along the way, Tamara Highsmith and Carin Knight both earned All-America honors in their respective events. Both the Huskies' cross country and track and field programs earned NCAA Division I All-Academic recognition as it was the fifth consecutive honor for the cross country program and fourth for the track and field program.

Under his leadership and under the direction of former distance coach Kim McGreevy, the cross country team enjoyed a benchmark season in 2006, as Jillian Sullivan became the cross country program's first All-American and first Academic All-American.

The 2006-07 season marked a very successful year for the Huskies, as Morgan led his program to numerous team records and championships. Not only did Jillian Sullivan become UConn's first ever All-American for the women's cross country program, but the team received its fourth consecutive NCAA D-1 All-Academic Team honor.

In track and field, Morgan's Huskies were spectacular in winning the ECAC Championship title (the largest conference in the country), becoming only the ninth program to win in the 30-year meet history.  UConn placed third in the sixteen team field Big East Indoor Championships, the team’s best finish in 20 years.  In winning the New England Indoor Championships for the 26^th time, Morgan was honored as the Coach of the Year as multi-eventer Tamara Highsmith earned honors as Athlete of the Meet. On their way to an ECAC title, seven indoor records were set. 

For the outdoor season, Morgan's program produced its first NCAA Regional Champion in freshman high jumper Carin Knight along with four BIG EAST Champions. His team placed fourth at the BIG EAST Championships, their best outdoor finish in 12 years. The program  produced 11 NCAA Regional qualifiers along with two ECAC Athletes of the Week in Amanda Martin and Jillian Sullivan. Again, Morgan's team made history, marking seven new program records in their outdoor performances.

Morgan specializes in coaching field events and multi-events, for which he has gained a national reputation for excellence after guiding numerous UConn athletes to collegiate, national and Olympic Trials successes. Morgan was an assistant coach during the BIG EAST Conference Championships of 1986 and 1995 along with 23 New England Championships. His total of 142 conference champions includes the programs first NCAA Regional Champion, 25 ECAC, 70 New England and 46 BIG EAST titles.

Over the years, Morgan's programs have earned numerous team titles, highlighted by the ECAC Championship in 2007 for indoor track, as well as the BIG EAST Championship title in 1986 and 1995. The Huskies have been the BIG EAST Championship runner-up a total of eight times, four in outdoor competition and four in indoor.

Morgan has been a part of many memorable program highlights since taking the helm of the women’s track and field program – none more significant than his team’s status as an All-Academic Team.   The 2006 cross country team was named an All-Academic Team for the fourth year in a row, while in 2006-07 the track team earned All-Academic Team honors for the third straight year. To earn these distinctions, the team must have a cumulative G.P.A. of at least 3.0. Individually, Sullivan was named an NCAA Academic All-American.  Seven individuals were subsequently named to the All-Academic Individual Team – a ‘top 10’ representation in the country among D-I universities.    

With Tamara Highsmith competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships and Carin Knight, Jessica Foreman, and Jillian Sullivan competing at the Outdoor Championships, Morgan continues the team’s progress toward national recognition.  Morgan coached five-time All-American, Deirdre Mullen to a conference record-breaking performance in the high jump.  Mullen cleared 1.83m (6’)to capture first in the high jump and set a BIG EAST Championship record while following that performance with a 1.88 (6’ 2”) jump at the regional championships.  As impressive has been alumnus and 4 time All-American Bethany Hart who became UConn’s first Winter Olympian during the 2006 Winter Olynpics in Turin, Italy – 3 months after competing on our USA World Team as the country’s second ranked hammer thrower in Helsinki, Finland.

As interim head coach in 2003-2004, Morgan’s cross country team placed 4th of 41 teams at the New England Championship for its best finish in nine years.

His indoor track and field squad captured the New England Championship while placing sixth out of 44 teams at the ECAC Championships. Nicola Hines became Morgan’s first “track” conference champion as she won the 500-meter at the New England Indoor Championships and also coached April Garner to the New England and ECAC Championships in the hurdles. The season concluded with six individual conference champions, two school records and an All-American. The outdoor season proved to be just as exciting. Morgan produced two conference champions in the discus and the high jump, three NCAA regional qualifiers and an Olympic Trials qualifier while adding three school records.

During his tenure at Connecticut, Morgan has coached nine All-America performers to 19 All-America titles, the most recent being Deirdre Mullen during the 2005 campaign.  Morgan also coached Nicole Toney in the triple jump in 2001 and NCAA Runner-Up Tamika Toppin in the high jump.  Prior to that, he coached Toppin in the high jump (1998 and 1999), Bethany Hart (1999 and 2000) and Wendy Berutto (1997) in the hammer throw, long jumpers Carol Galloway (1985) and Cheryl Brantle (1992), Terry Roy in 1992, 1993 and 1995, and high jumper Ronna Deffer, a NCAA National Outdoor Championship finalist in 1992.

Morgan’s athletes have taken part in four Olympic trials. In July of 2000, he accompanied Hart and Toppin to the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento where Hart was the top collegian in the competition. The two were his fourth and fifth student-athletes to qualify for the trials. He also coached Roy, Brantle and Berutto to the U.S. Olympic Trials in Atlanta in June of 1996, Roy to the 1992 trials in New Orleans and most recently, Mullen to the trials in Sacramento, Calif. in 2004.

In 2004, Mullen became his second national team member as she earned a bronze medal at the NACAC Under-23 Championships in Sherbrooke, Canada. One of Morgan’s former athletes, three time All-American Terry Roy, also became the Junior National Champion in the heptathlon while participating in the World Junior Championships in Korea. Morgan’s work with Amy Parkosewich moved her from a freshman walk-on to an NCAA outdoor qualifier and nationally ranked discus thrower during her career at UConn.

Morgan has taken part in the USA Track and Field Women’s Junior Elite Throws Camp in San Diego as well as the USA Track and Field Women’s Elite Heptathlon Summit in Tucson, Arizona, along with All-American Roy. He has also written published articles on topics related to imagery in sport. In 2002, Morgan was acknowledged as an AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year for distinguished service at the University of Connecticut.

Morgan presently resides in Storrs. He recently retired after 30 years of public school teaching; 29 of those in the Columbia School District as a physical education instructor.  Horace W. Porter School was recognized as the only school in the state to have received the Outstanding Achievement Award on the Connecticut State Physical Fitness Assessment Mastery Test for an unprecedented six straight years.  Morgan was an undefeated track and field coach at Porter School for five years, going 51-0 in dual meet competition. Among the many age-group athletes he has coached, Morgan developed three national champions in the shot put, discus and pentathlon. Morgan received his Bachelor of Science degree in health and physical education from Southern Connecticut State University in 1972 and received his master’s degree from SCSU in the same field of study in 1973. In 1986, he received an advanced degree in sport biomechanics from UConn.