Central Michigan University Athletics
Long Time Comin'
12/17/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MIAMI - Morris Watts is in his sixth decade as a coach. A man gets that far into it, there are very few "firsts."
But the 2016 Miami Beach Bowl is, indeed, a first for Watts, Central Michigan's offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach. For the first time in Watts' 50-plus years in coaching, he will face his alma mater, Tulsa.
The Chippewas (6-6) take on the Golden Hurricane (9-3) on Monday at 2:30 p.m. at Marlins Park. The game will be carried live on ESPN2.
Watts, 78, was a running back at Tulsa in the late 1950s, and earned his degree in 1961. He started immediately his long and storied coaching career as an assistant at Seneca (Mo.) High School, where he had starred just a few short years earlier.
Watts shared some of his memories of his days at Tulsa with CMUChippewas.com.
CMUChippewas.com: What do you remember about your first impressions of Tulsa?
Watts: I came from a really small town. The university wasn't huge, but it was huge to me. The bigger city and everything. That was the first thing that opened my eyes. I remember my mom taking me and (she was) thinking I was going to enroll in business. I had no more interest in business - when I got out of the car she drove home thinking I was going to go in the next day and enroll in business; I went in the next day and enrolled in phys ed to be a coach.
CMUChippewas.com: Do you ever get back to campus?
Watts: I don't ever have time. I've never played them. I've been back to the city to see friends, but back out at the university, no I haven't.
CMUChippewas.com: Is it at least somewhat emotional for you to go head-to-head with your alma mater?
Watts: It's probably not the same as it might be when I was just out 10 years or 15 years, it's been so long ago now. Every game's special to go try to win. I've go ta lot of buddies who live around Tulsa that I played with and went to school with there. I'll give them a call when we beat them.
CMUChippewas.com: Could you ever have imagined back in, say, 1960, that you would still be at it today, at this level, and facing your former team more than five decades later?
Watts: I was going to be content just being a successful high school coach. What made me go into coaching was my high school coaches, the kind of people they were and the influence they had on me. That was my dream to be in a large high school in either Missouri or Oklahoma, that area where I grew up, and be a successful high school coach.
CMUChippewas.com: Is it at Tulsa where you met your wife?
We used to have a dance. We'd rent this building, the football team would. We knew that when the girls heard about the dance they'd show up. She showed up, I met her there, we started dating and got married.
