Morris Scott will serve as Southern’s interim head coach for the 2017-18 season after stints as an assistant coach and then associate head coach for the Jaguars. Scott is in his 7th year on the Southern coaching staff. During his time on the Southern bench, the Jaguars have made two NCAA Tournament appearances (with two SWAC tournament titles - 2013 and 2016) and won a SWAC regular season championship (2014).
Since his arrival in Baton Rouge, Scott played a key role in the recruitment of Derick Beltran who was highlighted by the 2013 SWAC Tournament MVP and Pete Maravich Memorial Award Winner (honoring Louisiana’s Major College Player of the Year).
Since the 2013-14 season, Scott was ranked as one of the Top 5 assistants in the SWAC according to nextuprecruits.com.
After spending 2010-11 at Grambling State University, Scott came to Southern. During his time at Grambling, Scott helped to guide the program, which won only 13 games combined in the prior two seasons, to 12 wins and the school’s first Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) tournament championship game in over 20 years.
Prior to Grambling, Scott spent two seasons as an Assistant Coach at Southeastern Louisiana University where he was the academic lesion for student-athletes academic progress, recruiter for Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, and player development for the perimeter players.
Scott also served as the top Assistant Coach at Okaloosa-Walton (Fla.) College (currently known as Northwest Florida State College) helping the team to a 23-5 record and a JUCO top 25 national ranking. Scott was very instrumental in helping all seven sophomores receive their degrees and obtain scholarships to division one programs.
Additionally, Scott was the Head Boys’ Basketball Coach at Chipley (FL) High School where he guided the team to a 19-9 record and the District 2-3A championship, and he coached Middleton High School in Tampa, FL.
Scott also worked as a Graduate Assistant at Florida A & M University, where he assisted the Rattlers to the 2004 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title and NCAA tournament win over Lehigh in the play-in game before falling to top-ranked Kentucky in the first round.
A native of Fitzgerald, GA, Scott was also a member of the men’s basketball program at Florida A&M University for four seasons (1997-2001), where he was named to the First-Team Mid-Eastern Athletic All-Conference team in 1999 as a sophomore and led the Rattlers to the MEAC Tournament Championship and the school’s first-ever NCAA Tournament berth. Scott also was a member of the baseball program at Florida A&M as well (2000-2002), where he was also named to the MEAC All-Tournament Team in 2002.
Scott earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Physical Education from Florida A&M in 2002 and received his Master of Science Degree in Education with a concentration in Sports and Leisure Management from Florida A&M in 2005. He and his wife, Jennifer, have two children – Trey and Addison.
