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Sam Morrison has been hired to be the new varsity football coach at Gorham High.

Morrison has been an assistant at Gorham the past five seasons, most recently as the Rams’ defensive coordinator. Seven-year head coach Andy Hager resigned in December.

A 2011 graduate of Deering High, where he played for Greg Stilphen, Morrison previously coached at EC Glass High in Virginia, as well as at Massabesic and South Portland.

“He has a nice football background,” said Gorham Athletic Director Tim Spear. “I think his lifelong dream has been to be a head football coach and he has that opportunity now.”

Hager had been Gorham’s coach since 2014. While the Rams went through some lean years in terms of wins and losses, they bucked a statewide trend of shrinking participation numbers under Hager. In 2019, Gorham had a roster of 51 players, compared to 19 in his first season. They finished 4-5 in 2018 and 3-6 in 2019. Tackle football was not played in Maine in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Sam is familiar with our program and that positive culture and the recent increased success; we’re excited to keep that going,” Spear said.

Gorham competes in the 11-man Class B South region.

 

Steve Craig reports primarily about Maine’s active high school sports scene and, more recently, the Portland Hearts of Pine men's professional soccer team. His first newspaper job was covering Maine...

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