COAL HILL (KFSM) – For the third straight season, Johnson County Westside enters the fall with a new football coach. This time Joseph Morse gets his turn after one season as head coach at Marshall.
“So far the transition has gone well,” Morse relayed. “They switched to a spread last year under coach Brill so they’ve picked up on it a lot faster than I imagine they did last year.”
Morse is a River Valley native, growing up in Alma before graduating from Arkansas Tech. The 31-year-old started his coaching career in DeWitt before learning from DJ Crane at Danville.
“It’ll be nice just having a chance for my friends and family to come see games and hopefully being able to get these guys back on the winning track.”
"The challenge is him fitting in and us learning new stuff," senior Peyton Estep explained. "But after a while it becomes pretty basic. I was impressed with the things he had us doing in the weight room."
"You never expect to have three coaches in three years," agreed quarterback Tanner Bryant, "and it's tough because they all bring in new stuff and nothing is the same."
"Our number one goal is to be prepared as a coaching staff every week and have these kids in the right position," said Morse. "Number two, we want these kids to get better every day and by the end of the year be better than we were day one."
After combining for a 5-14 record over the last two seasons, the Rebels begin their 2019 campaign on August 30 with a week zero home opener against Cedarville. And regardless of coach, both Bryant and Estep agree on the one team goal: make a run in the playoffs.
