Will Morris enters his tenth season as the Head Women’s and Men’s Golf Coach at Occidental. "I love coaching golf at Occidental. We can offer an Ivy League quality education in a climate much more suitable for playing year round championship golf."
“We are proud of the many fine golf courses which we play. We play an outstanding group of courses which have hosted Regional, State and National Championships. We are so fortunate to have multiple courses to play and which serve as our home venues. In order to avoid academic conflicts, we even utilize a night lighted course in our weekly rotation.”
Both the men’s and women’s programs continue to improve under his direction. The Tigers have performed well in the SCIAC, which is perennially the strongest small college golf conference in the country, and the Tigers have been nationally ranked for the past several seasons.
For Morris, this will be his thirteenth year at Occidental. He also holds the position of the Coordinator of Community Wellness and has been the Associate Head Coach of the very successful men’s basketball program. He relinquished that position in order to put his full energy into the golf program.
During Morris’ years, the team has been honored by the Golf Coaches Association of America for its academic prowess. The Tigers have consistently sported one of the highest average Grade Point Averages in the nation.
The Tiger women have been nationally ranked throughout the past seasons and have set school scoring records several times during recent campaigns.
The Tiger men have had much recny success including wins over NCAA Division I and II institutions.
Morris has coached some very successful players including Dylan Jirsa. Dylan was the SCIAC Conference Player of the Year in 2017. Other all-SCIAC selections have included Colton Bares, Sam Miller and current senior co-captain Adam Elshamy. For the women, outstanding recent players have included Kristin Oberiano, Samantha Rocha, Katy Uchiyama, Brianna Kim, Maya Ghosh and current co-captains Maddie Greene and Rachel Aujero.
In recent years, the Tiger men have won several tournaments including the prestigious Elms College Invitational, the Cal Lutheran Invitational and last year, the PCH Invitational in Carmel Valley by 17 strokes.
Morris started playing golf at age 3 and grew up playing in the very competitive Southern California Junior Golf Association alongside future major champions Craig Stadler, Amy Alcott, Mark O'Meara, and Scott Simpson among others. His teacher was legendary instructor and multiple time PGA Champion Paul Runyan. Will was captain and MVP of his college golf team and caddied on the PGA Tour.
Morris was a sociology and anthropology major at Oberlin College before attending Law School at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He was an outstanding student as a Badger. He made Law Review, graduated with the prestigious Order of the Coif recognition, was awarded the American Jurisprudence award for Business Associations and received the Dean's Academic Achievement Award.
He practiced law for a number of years in the areas of Real Estate, Estate Planning, Probate, Tax and Transactional Business Law. He was on the Board of Directors of the San Gabriel Bar Association and Alhambra Chamber of Commerce.
He gave up the full-time practice of law to pursue his true passions - teaching and coaching. He has taught college classes in several subjects including Sports Law and Sports Business and Management.
Morris has coached a number of sports at both the high school and college level, winning numerous championships.
Will is very active in the community, youth sports and his children's schools. He currently is on the Board of Directors of the Pasadena Educational Foundation. He has also served as a Little League and YMCA coach. He has also been actively involved with the PTA, Annual Fund, School Site Council and Athletic Booster groups at Don Benito and Marshall Fundamental Schools in Pasadena. He has helped to raise over half a million dollars to support Pasadena public schools.
He is married to Janet, a member of a national championship team in volleyball from the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN. They have two children, Mo (age 23) a graduate of Syracuse University and Michael (age 19), a sophomore at Occidental. They reside in Pasadena.
