Head Coach

Brian Morris

Brian Morris begins his second full season as head coach of the Aquinas women's basketball program in the 2020-21 campaign. Morris took over as interim coach for the second half of the 2018-19 season and has led AQ to a 34-18 record since becoming the Saints head coach. In the four seasons Morris has spent on the Aquinas coaching staff, the Saints are 77-49 overall.

Morris was chosen to lead the Aquinas women's basketball program in June 2019 and became the fifth head women's basketball coach in AQ history. This is Morris' first head coaching position at the college level. An assistant coach for the Saints since the 2016-17 season, Morris took over the Saints program for Linda Nash, who is the winningest coach in program history with 378 wins during her 23 seasons at Aquinas.

Morris was Aquinas' interim head coach over the final 21 games of the 2018-19 season, guiding the Saints to a 17-4 record over that span and a runner-up finish in both the WHAC regular season standings and the WHAC Tournament. Aquinas also advanced to the NAIA National Tournament and finished the year with a 25-9 record and as the #21 ranked team in the country.

It was AQ's first trip to the NAIA postseason since the 2009-10 campaign and the program's first appearance in the WHAC Tournament championship game since the 2007-08 season; that was also the last year in which Aquinas recorded 25 victories. The Saints finished seventh in the NAIA in scoring defense in 2018-19, giving up just 56.5 points per game, and 19th in the country in defensive field goal percentage.

Aquinas has received more than dozen conference awards over the past four seasons, including five All-WHAC First Team selections and four more players named to the Second Team. Morris has coached three WHAC Defensive Player of the Year award winners (2019-20: Mo Williams, 2018-19: Carley Andrews, 2017-18: Momo Neal) and an NABC Third Team All-American (Michaela Faber in 2018-19).

In his first two years as an assistant coach and the so-called defensive coordinator at Aquinas, the Saints' defense took center stage. The 2016-17 Aquinas team led the country in defensive three-point field goal percentage, ranked second overall in the NAIA in defensive field goal percentage, third in defensive rebounds per game, and 11th in scoring defense. AQ was also 11th in the NAIA in 2017-18 in scoring defense and 19th in defensive field goal percentage.

Aquinas increased its win total in the first three seasons of Morris' time with the Saints, improving from 17 wins in 2016-17 to 18 victories in 2017-18 to 25 wins in 2018-19. The 25 victories in 2018-19 are just two wins shy of the school record of 27 triumphs in 1984-85.

Prior to his career at Aquinas, Morris spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Davenport, helping the Panthers to a 128-11 record, a national championship runner-up finish, four WHAC regular season titles, and four conference tournament championships. Morris also led the Davenport junior varsity team for two seasons.

He also served as the girls' varsity basketball coach at Union High School from 2008-12 and the girls' varsity softball coach at Creston from 2005-10. Morris also spent 2003-05 as a coach for Grand Rapids Public Schools in the roles of middle school head coach, junior varsity head coach, and varsity assistant coach.

In the 42 years of Saints women's basketball, Nash (23 seasons) and Patti Tibaldi (17 years, 340 wins) have manned the sidelines for a combined 40 seasons and more than 700 victories. Wanda Wamsley (1977-78) and Mary Takas (1990-91) served one year apiece as AQ's head women's basketball coach, with Morris now becoming the fifth head coach in program history.

A graduate of Cornerstone, Morris is originally from Grand Rapids, where he attended and graduated from Wyoming Lee High School.