DURANGO – November 7, 2017 – Fort Lewis College President Dr. Dene Thomas announced today that Interim Head Football Coach Joe Morris has been promoted to Head Football Coach.  Morris was named Interim Head Coach on June 30, 2017.
 
"Coach Joe Morris has surpassed my expectations this football season, and he deserves the respect of a permanent title," said Thomas. "Head Football Coach Morris is going to get on with the job of recruiting spectacular student-athletes for the 2018 season."
 
The Skyhawks enter their final game of the regular season on Saturday with a 5-5 overall record, and a 5-4 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference record.  The Skyhawks are on a two game winning streak and have won four of their last five games, including a 35-24 Homecoming win over then-ranked No. 12 Colorado State-Pueblo on Oct. 14.
 
"I am extremely excited to be given the reigns to lead our program into the future!" said Morris.  "It's my goal to bring Durango and FLC closer by giving the town and people of Durango a great product to go see every Saturday in the fall.  Thanks to Barney Hinkle, Lynne Andrew and President Dene Thomas for giving me this opportunity.  I really can't wait to hit the recruiting trail and spread the good word about FLC, Durango, and Skyhawk football."
 
FLC will play host to Dixie State University at Ray Dennison Memorial Field at 12 p.m. If the Skyhawks win, it will mark their 12^th winning season since becoming a four year program in 1963, and their fourth winning season since 2005.  Morris was a team captain in 2005, the defensive line coach in 2006, and the defensive coordinator in 2015.
 
A 2005 graduate of Fort Lewis College, Morris was a four-year starting linebacker for the Skyhawks from 2002-05.  He returned to his alma mater for the second time in his coaching career in 2013. 
  
Morris, who coached the defensive line in 2013 before being promoted to defensive coordinator in December 2015, is in his ninth year overall as part of the Skyhawks coaching staff.

From 2006-2009, Morris was an assistant coach for the Skyhawks, spending three seasons as defensive coordinator (2007-2009) and one year as defensive line coach (2006).  
 
Between stints as an assistant coach for the Skyhawks, Morris spent the 2011 and 2012 seasons as an assistant coach for the defensive line at Colorado State University.  Prior to joining the Rams coaching staff, Morris was head coach at New Mexico Highlands University during the 2010 season.