Creston’s record-setting football season of 2023 has achieved another first.
The Iowa Football Coaches Association recently announced Creston head coach Brian Morrison has been selected Iowa’s 2023 Class 3A Coach of the Year.
The award will be presented at the awards luncheon at noon on March 2 during the IFCA annual coaches clinic at Prairie Meadows Casino, Racetrack and Hotel.
Morrison is the first Creston coach to receive this honor. The only other 3A recipients from Hawkeye Ten Conference schools have been Curt Bladt (1997 and 2005), Gaylord Schelling of Atlantic (2002) and Todd Bladt of Harlan (2021).
Creston, 11-1 and champion of District 6, did not reach the championship game like many of the past recipients, but the Panthers were ranked No. 1 during much of a 9-0 regular season and defeated Class 4A state champion Lewis Central, 22-20, in non-district play.
Panther offensive coordinator Garrison Carter, former head coach at ADM and three other schools, has been a member of IFCA for a number of years. He was the first staff member to hear of the announcement, noting Morrison’s humility in not sharing the news.
“This is an award based on nominations for regional and state coach of the year, and voted on by the membership,” Carter noted. “It can be based on outside expectations compared to where your team finished, a cumulative result of the whole season as well as career recognition. Brian has had success throughout his career.”
Creston Activities Director Scott Driskell was head coach at Earlham in the early 2000s when Morrison was beginning his teaching and coaching career. Morrison was his defensive coordinator for one year before Morrison joined Earlham Superintendent Tim Hood in a move to Creston in 2002.
“We were both green with very little experience, but I turned over the defense to Brian and he did a great job with it,” Driskell said. “I knew he wanted to move on to a larger 3A or 4A type school after growing up at Lewis Central and playing at that level. The ironic thing about this thing is that it’s an enormous honor, and yet Brian wants nobody to know about it. He doesn’t like the notoriety or the public persona part of being a head coach. He just wants the X’s and O’s of football and working with the kids. The more you win, the more attention you get.”
Chad Briley, longtime member of the Creston football staff under both Hall of Fame coach Dick Bergstrom (his coach as a Panther in the late 1980s) and Morrison, said the honor is a reflection of the program that has continued to excel with high principles under Morrison’s leadership, after succeeding Bergstrom.
“Brian would never take the credit, but this is a reward for the program he’s built and the staff he has put together,” said Briley, father of two state semifinal team members (Bryce in 2014 and Brandon in 2023). It’s a reward for the whole Creston football program, and he’s been a big part of that, obviously.”
A native of Council Bluffs, Morrison graduated from Lewis Central in 1994 and Wayne State University in 1999 with a major in special education and minor in coaching. He played linebacker at both Lewis Central and Wayne State, and remembers many hard-fought battles against the strong Panther teams of coach Bergstrom in that era.
After beginning his career at Earlham, Morrison was excited to have the opportunity to work and coach in Bergstrom’s Creston program. He began as inside linebackers coach in 2002 and became defensive coordinator in 2006, a position he still holds in addition to being head coach since the 2010 season.
Eight playoff years
Under Morrison’s leadership, Creston has won 80 games and made eight playoff appearances in 14 seasons, including district championships in 2011 and 2023. The Panthers were in the playoffs six straight seasons beginning in 2011, with semifinal appearances in 2014 and 2023.
Morrison was an assistant coach in the 2014 Iowa Shrine Bowl and was IFCA Regional Coach of the Year that season. He was named KMA Hawkeye Ten Conference Coach of the Year in 2023.
Coach Morrison and wife Tina, Creston Elementary Title I teacher, are the parents of two children, Ty and Adyson. Ty is a linebacker at Iowa Central Community College and Adyson is a junior at Creston Community High School.
In a statement provided to the IFCA when notified that he had been selected state coach of the year in Class 3A, Morrison cited several contributors to the historic 2023 season.
“The 2023 Creston football team was led by 25 seniors (most in Creston history). Our football team had high expectations and welcomed the challenging schedule. They persevered as a team throughout the course of the season and brought tremendous pride to the community. I would like to thank my coaching staff — Chad Briley, Steve Shantz, Casey Tanner, Garrison Carter, Brandon Phipps, Jon Thomson, Alex Tamerius, Nathan Haley and Tanner Web for being tremendous leaders and coaches. I am grateful I had the opportunity to lead this team and be a part of their success this year.”
Strong staff
Tanner, a product of the program as a player like many of the staff members, said Morrison worked for a strong staff in his early years that included John Rose, Galen Zumbach, Steve Birchard, Darrell Frain, Kevin Cooper, Shantz and Briley under Bergstrom, and he maintained that tradition by building a strong staff of his own that carried some of those coaches over to this day. He’s trusted offensive coordinators such as former Panther Ryan McKim, Frain, Briley and now Carter to direct the offense while he handles the defense. Thomson is in charge of special teams.
“Coach Bergstrom is still a legend to this day,” Tanner said, “but Brian came in and took a lot of the same mentality. Do the little things the right way. Whether you’re the best player on the team or one of the guys carrying the water bottles, everyone is held to high standards and made to feel they are an important part of the team.”
Briley said Morrison is a grinder during the weeks leading up to the season and especially on game weeks as a game plan is being formed.
“I work with the secondary, Shantzy has the line, Brian and JT (Thomson) have the linebackers and he gives us coaches free rein to do what we need to do with our position group,” Briley said. “It all meshes together as we talk and make decisions.”
Thomson and Carter both expressed gratitude for gaining Morrison’s trust in directing their units on the field.
“It would be very hard for me to coach under anybody else,” Thomson said. “He’s so organized, yet he doesn’t micromanage everything. When he gave me the special teams, he let me have the special teams. He trusts the coaches in what they’re doing.”
“I welcomed the opportunity to be a part of the program here because Creston will always compete year in and year out,” Carter said. “They will block and tackle well and it’s always a physical football team. He’s given me full autonomy on game night, but he’s the final decision maker.”
Aggressive style
Morrison’s teams are known to be aggressive in going for a first down on fourth down, or going for two points to win a game. That was the case in the 2014 quarterfinals as fifth-ranked Dallas Center-Grimes scored in overtime and kicked an extra point to go ahead 49-42.
McClain Haines caught a fourth-down touchdown pass from Alex Nielsen on the Creston possession, and Chase Shiltz scored the two-pointer for the 50-49 win. That was set up in advance through the coaches’ communication channels, just as Carter and other offensive coordinators have been given the green light to go for it on fourth down in advance during a possession.
“You don’t win a game by punting,” Morrison said matter-of-factly. “Based on where we are on the field and the game situation, I’ll let them know before third down that they have two plays here.”
Underrated defense
Players also respect Morrison’s standards of aggressive play and physical football. All-state defensive end Max Chapman said the defense may have been overlooked during a season featuring such an explosive offense, but the defense was critical in the most important games down the stretch.
“We like to play smash-mouth football and lay the hammer down to send a message,” Chapman said. “(Quarterfinal opponent) Webster City’s O-line was no joke, but our defense wanted it bad and came through.”
Chapman, a vocal leader in the locker room, said he’ll never forget Morrison’s pregame speech before the homecoming game against Harlan, one of two victories over that 3A powerhouse last season.
“He basically said, this isn’t just for you,” Chapman said. “This is for every Creston team that ever lost to Harlan. Everyone, including the last team to go to the Dome, will be cheering for you. He kind of talks in a monotone voice, but you can tell when it’s coming from the heart.”
Fellow senior Will Bolinger was an inside linebacker, the position coached by Morrison. He credits his coach for knowing how to get the most out of his players with different skill sets.
“He really picks up on the little things,” Bolinger said. “He knows how to take what you’re good at, and find other things to work on. Working with me and Austin (Evans), Milo (Staver) and Luke (Travis), he knows how to tweak each person and coach them up to become a better football player. He knows how to build a program. Obviously we didn’t get everything we wanted this year, but we went a lot further than a lot of people thought at the beginning of the season.”
Morrison said his favorite facets of coaching are evaluating an opponent with fellow coaches to build a game plan, and working on the field with the players. His program has had consistent high participation numbers in the 80s (grades 9-12).
Cooper said Morrison shows interest at all levels, which helps build those relationships. Cooper has coached at every level from middle school to varsity assistant.
Behind the scenes
“Coach Morrison does so much work behind the scenes that people don’t know about,” Cooper said. “Not only is he involved with the high school teams, but he also stays connected with the middle school teams, flag football (coached by high school players) and the junior padded league. His calendar is very full from July through October. That’s his commitment to the kids and the program.”
Now that he’s a colleague and not an opponent, Carter has seen Morrison’s work ethic up close.
“The respect he has from the kids goes back to his genuine humility and leading by example,” Carter said. “Coach Morrison is a grinder and works hard. He epitomizes Creston football.”