He then spoke about how impressed he was with Rotary’s commitment to service and how that is what he teaches in his program. He believes that leadership manifests itself in service to others. He had his players go to the Beaulympics this past Saturday so that the community could see them involved, both participating and helping with the events. (During the “question and answer” session later, Dean Conwell thanked the coach for sending his players, saying that they helped make the event a rousing success! He said they participated in many events, including the eating contests, which did not seem to surprise the coach). Coach Morgan said that last spring, when they finally got to play 6 games, he had to go with a squad primarily made up of freshmen . He said he believes bringing in and developing high school recruits is the right way to build a program versus bringing in a bunch of junior college players for 1 or 2 years as a quick fix. He said that at the first game of the year they had to line up against a “Top 10” team while starting five freshmen on the offensive line. He felt they made incremental improvements through the season. In the game against Incarnate Word, they played well, but did not finish well. A week later, in the game against McNeese State, they showed that they had learned how to finish and came away with a victory.

Coach Morgan said they need to recruit better and that a big part of that will be showing potential recruits a reason to come to Lamar University and play football. He said that this year they will have the youngest team in the country, but a team that now has 6 games and 8 weeks of practice under its belt. He assured us that Lamar will eventually not only compete in the Western Athletic Conference but be conference champions. He encouraged us all to come to the home games, saying we will be impressed with these kids and the effort they put out. Coach said we will be impressed with the team and with the program. These are high-character players that will go all-out on the field. They will be a fun and exciting team to watch that the University, alumni, and the community will be proud of. As Uliana said in her introduction, “AWWWWW – PECK’EM! GO CARDS!”