Blane Morgan (born 1977) is an American football coach. He was most recently the head football coach at Lamar University, a position he held from 2020 until 2022. Morgan also played college football as a quarterback at the United States Air Force Academy.
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1977 (age 46–47) Nacogdoches, Texas, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1996–1998 | Air Force |
| Position(s) | Quarterback |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 2003–2004 | Air Force (Assistant) |
| 2005–2006 | Air Force (WR) |
| 2007–2014 | Air Force (co-OC/QB) |
| 2015–2019 | San Diego State (QB) |
| 2020–2022 | Lamar |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 5–23 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Awards | |
| WAC Pacific Division Offensive Player of the Year (1998) All-WAC (1998) Second-team All-WAC (1997) | |
Early years
editMorgan attended Trinity Christian Academy, where he was coached by his father, Barry. He played safety, until being named the starter at quarterback as a junior, after his brother, Beau, graduated. He was a member of three state championship teams in four years, the last led by him at quarterback.[1]
College career
editMorgan followed his brother and accepted a football scholarship from the United States Air Force Academy. He saw no varsity playing time during his freshman season, playing instead for the program's junior varsity team.
As a sophomore, he was the fourth-string quarterback, tallying 11 carries for 56 yards.
As a junior, he was named the starter at quarterback after his brother, Beau graduated. He posted 63 of 123 completions for 975 yards, 4 passing touchdowns, 192 carries for 565 yards and 6 rushing touchdowns. He led the team to a 10–3 record. The Falcons were invited to play in the 1997 Las Vegas Bowl, where they lost to Oregon, 41–13.
As a senior, he posted 61 of 112 completions for 1,144 yards, 10 passing touchdowns, 145 carries for 508 yards and 15 rushing touchdowns. He led the team to a 12–1 record and the school's first outright Western Athletic Conference (WAC) title.[2] The Falcons were invited to the 1998 Oahu Bowl, where they won 43–25 over the Washington.[3]
Morgan won 20 out of the 23 games he started, which is the best record and the highest winning percentage (.870) for a starting quarterback in school history. The 22 total games the team won is a school record over a two-year period. He posted a 3–0 record against the other military service academies.
Statistics
edit| Season | Games | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Comp | Att | Pct | Yards | Avg | TD | Int | Rate | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | ||
| Air Force Falcons | ||||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Did not play | |||||||||||||||
| 1996 | 4 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 11 | 56 | 5.1 | 0 | |
| 1997 | 12 | 12 | 10−2 | 63 | 123 | 51.2 | 975 | 7.9 | 4 | 6 | 118.8 | 192 | 565 | 2.9 | 6 | |
| 1998 | 11 | 11 | 10−1 | 61 | 112 | 54.5 | 1,144 | 10.2 | 10 | 4 | 162.6 | 145 | 508 | 3.5 | 15 | |
| Career[4] | 27 | 23 | 20−3 | 124 | 235 | 52.8 | 2,119 | 9.0 | 14 | 10 | 139.7 | 348 | 1,129 | 3.2 | 21 | |
Coaching career
editIn 1999, he was a graduate assistant at the United States Air Force Academy. From 2000 to 2003, he fulfilled his military obligation at Laughlin Air Force Base.
From 2003 to 2004, he was a football assistant for the varsity and junior varsity team at the United States Air Force Academy. From 2005 to 2006, he was the wide receivers coach. From 2007 to 2014, he was the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.[5] During this period of time, the school posted a 59–44 (.573) overall record, including seven bowl game appearances (.750 record in those games), two nine-win campaigns and one ten-win season. In 2011, the team set a school single-season record by scoring 454 points, finishing second all-time in program history in completion percentage (60.3), third in rushing touchdowns (43) and fourth in passing touchdowns (16).
From 2015 to 2019, he was the quarterbacks coach at San Diego State University.[6] During this period of time, the school recorded a 48–18 (.727) overall record, including five Bowl game appearances (.500 record in those games), two 11-win campaigns, one 10-win season, and two Mountain West Conference championships.
On December 12, 2019, he was named the football head coach at Lamar University, becoming the school's 10th head coach since transitioning into a four-year institution.[7][8][9] With one year remaining on his contract, Morgan left the Lamar program at the end of the 2022 season. His overall record for his three years at Lamar was 5-23. His teams compiled a 3-16 record in conference play.[10][11]
Head coaching record
edit| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | STATS# | Coaches° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamar Cardinals (Southland Conference) (2020–2021) | |||||||||
| 2020–21 | Lamar | 2–4 | 2–4 | T–5th | |||||
| Lamar Cardinals (Western Athletic Conference) (2021) | |||||||||
| 2021 | Lamar | 2–9 | 0–7 | 6th | |||||
| Lamar Cardinals (Southland Conference) (2022) | |||||||||
| 2022 | Lamar | 1–10 | 1–5 | T–7th | |||||
| Lamar: | 5–23 | 3–16 | |||||||
| Total: | 5–23 | ||||||||
References
edit- ^ "Like many Air Force coaches, Carrollton's Blane Morgan is an alum". Retrieved March 23, 2019.
- ^ "Air Force Flies To WAC Title". Retrieved March 23, 2019.
- ^ "Air Force Matches Record 12-1 Mark". Retrieved March 23, 2019.
- ^ "Blane Morgan College Stats". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
- ^ "Football Names Blane Morgan Quarterbacks Coach". Retrieved March 23, 2019.
- ^ "Former QB, longtime coach Blane Morgan explains departure from Air Force". Retrieved March 23, 2019.
- ^ Shehan Jeyarajah (December 12, 2019). "Lamar football names SDSU QBs coach Blane Morgan head coach". Dave Campbell's Texas Football. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
- ^ John Taylor (December 13, 2019). "San Diego State loses QBs coach Blane Morgan to FCS head job". NBC Universal. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
- ^ Kirk Kenney (December 12, 2019). "Aztecs quarterbacks coach Blane Morgan hired as Lamar head coach". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
- ^ James Dixon (November 21, 2022). "LU Parts Ways with Blane Morgan". Lamar University Athletics. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
- ^ Matt Faye (November 21, 2022). "Lamar fires head football coach Blane Morgan after 3 seasons". Hearst Newspapers. Retrieved November 21, 2022.