One of more than a dozen new teachers on campus, Seth Morrow coaches football, soccer, and baseball as well as teaching health classes. He recently graduated from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, OK where he played baseball for three years. He also attended Wichita State University in Wichita, KS, and briefly attended McLennan Community College in Waco where he also played baseball. Wingspan recently sat down with Morrow to find out more about one of the newest Redhawks.
Wingspan: What made you want to teach?
Morrow: “What made me want to teach was when I was growing up, I thought I had really good teachers and I was fortunate enough to go to a really good high school down in San Antonio called Reagan High School. And a lot of those teachers really had a big influence on my life. Not just academically but also anything outside of school, they helped you, they were there for you. And also my mom has been a teacher for 25 years and she teaches at Liscano Elementary. Just seeing what she’s dealt with throughout her career, she loves it, she loves the kids but it can also be a tough job and it’s been cool this is something I can share with her.”
Wingspan: Is that the same reason you wanted to be a coach?
Morrow: “I wanted to be a coach also kinda the same reason, I had really good coaches growing up and I always kinda thought I could connect with kids well, especially athletes, just because I felt like as a player growing I always connected with the coaches that didn’t just care about you on the field but also off the field.”
Wingspan: What do you think about this school?
Morrow: “So far I’ve loved Liberty. Principal [Stacey] Whaling is awesome, she’s been helping me as much as she can. Coach [Matt] Swinnea, the head football coach, has been awesome. He’s been helping me out, learning how to coach football cause that’s something that’s kinda out of my realm and I’ve kinda had to learn as I go along because I only got hired two weeks before school even started, so I had to play catch up pretty quick. Yeah everyones been really really really caring and had helped me out a lot along the way.”
Wingspan: What do you think will be your favorite part of the school year?
Morrow: “I think the favorite part of the school year for me is just, it’s my first year and I’ve already started to really care for the kids I have in my room, and I’ve been trying to connect with them. And all the kids here have been helping me just as much as I feel like I’ve been helping them.”
Wingspan: How long do you think you’ll teach?
Morrow: “I think I’ll teach for as long as I can take it mentally and emotionally. Right now I’m young so right now, nothing has really gotten to me yet but I know every teacher kinda has days where they go home and they’re like, “I don’t know if I wanna do this anymore” and I just know that cause of stuff I’ve seen that my moms had to go through with certain places she’s been at cause she’s been at a lot of different schools. I think I’m gonna stick it out and I at least wanna try and do it until I’m 50.”
Wingspan: How do you think your teams will perform this year?
Morrow: “I think football wise we played our first game and it was a little rough, but there was a lot of good things but also a lot of stuff we can build on and I think the game we have this week is a very winnable game and I think our kids are gonna be ready for it and I think we’re gonna go out and get our first W in a while cause we went 0-10 last year, we lost our first game. We need to get the monkey off our back and get that first win of the way and I think we’ll start rolling from there.”
Wingspan: What was your favorite part of playing baseball?
Morrow: “My favorite part of playing baseball, I’m gonna say two different parts, was being in the locker room and I was fortunate enough to go to three different colleges for baseball so I made 40 new friends each place I went and all my friends are from baseball. Also my favorite part of baseball was hitting a homerun, I love hitting home runs. Not to brag or anything but I got to hit quite a few when I was in college and it was fun.”
Wingspan: How do you think your relationships with other teachers will be?
Morrow: “So far it’s been great, I’ve needed a lot of help because I’m a new teacher and people have been helping me left and right with whatever I need. So far it’s been great but my goal is to kinda not just be friends with teachers who are coaches but also grab ideas from people that teach and have done it a long time.”
Wingspan: Do you think you’ll teach differently five to ten years in the future than you do now?
Morrow: “Yeah I think I will, just because you’re always learning and growing especially in a profession like teaching. I think it’s important to evaluate what you’ve done and make it better for the students.”
