Head Coach Matt Morris is in his fourth season with the Western Illinois cross country and track and field teams in 2009. Morris was hired full time as the men’s and women’s head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach on Sept. 1, 2006. He was named as the interim head coach of the entire track and field program in December of 2009.
In his short time at the helm of the cross country team, Morris has produced three women’s all-conference honorees and two male All-Summit League Second Team selections. He led the men’s team to the highest regional finish in school history in 2006 and 2008, finishing 21st both seasons. Morris also coached three conference champions and NCAA Regional Qualifiers. Kyle Mikowski in the 3,000 meter steeplechase in 2007, Jared Schmidt and Heather Wetzel in the 800-meter run in 2008.
Morris served as the head track and field and cross country coach at Loyola Sacred Heart High School in Missoula, Mont., for eight seasons prior to joining the Leathernecks. Morris led Loyola to six-straight Boys Class B cross country state championships (1999-05) and three Girls Class B cross country state championships. In 2005 he coached the boy’s and girl’s cross country and track and field teams to state titles.
He was an International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) accredited coach for the United States Track and Field team at the 2001 World Track and Field Championships and is a nine-time Montana Coaches Association Cross Country Coach of the Year.
Morris is a 1993 graduate of the University of Montana where he competed at the varsity level in track and field and cross country. During the 1992 season, he recorded a top-15 finish at the Big Sky Championships. He has a bachelor of science in Health and Human Performance and was the chair of the Health and Exercise Science department at Loyola from 1996 to 2005.
