SPORTS WRAP
BY WILLIAM HATHAWAY, JR.
Irvington High has a bit of good news regarding football, despite a recent event being a letdown.
On Jan. 25, Irvington native Raheem Morris has been named the new head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Morris was chosen over legend Bill Belichick, and is the first permanent African American head coach in franchise history. The good fortune of Morris helped the city heal from IHS football coach Ashley “Smoke” Pierre deciding to leave after eight years and a state title.
Born in Newark, Morris played Pop Warner quarterback for the Irvington Golden Knights from 1989-90. He graduated from Irvington High School in 1994 and played football, basketball, and baseball at IHS, and also served as a junior coach at one time. Morris graduated from Hofstra University in 1998, and had college level coaching jobs there as well as Cornell and the Kansas State Wildcats.
At the head coach level, he previously led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2009-2011, after serving as a coach on smaller levels with the team from 2002-2005. This stint includes a win with the Bucs’ squad that won Super Bowl XXXVII. After losing the head coach post, he bounced back as an interim coach for the Falcons in 2020, before leaving to work as the Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator from 2021 until the end of this past regular season, winning Super Bowl LVI in the process.
Speaking of the big game, Super Bowl LVIII will see the defending world champion Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers, in a rematch of sorts from Super Bowl LIV. The Chiefs got there after going to Baltimore and beating the Ravens 17-10, while the 49ers came back from a 24-7 deficit at home to the Detroit Lions 34-31.
