For 30 years, Larry Morris has worn a number of hats at Fairbanks High School.
On the academic side of the ledger, he’s been a classroom teacher and dean of students.
From the sports side of things, he’s been the athletic director and head coach of boys golf, boys basketball and track and field.
He was originally hired as an assistant baseball coach, but quickly transitioned to track.
Morris will once again be on the move as he is closing in on the end of his current tenure as athletic director.
He will step aside as the Panther AD at the conclusion of the current school year.
Pending approval by the Fairbanks board of education on April 18, Morris will be replaced by current Triad AD Logan Dunn.
Morris said the 2022-2023 academic year will be his final one in education as he prepares to completely retire.
“As athletic director, each school year went by so fast,” he said. “I want my final year in education to slow down a bit.”
Morris will stay with the district for one final year in an as-yet-to-be-determined position. That, he said, will also enable him to assist Dunn in any “way, shape or form.”
He first became athletic director during his second year at FHS and held the job for five years.
He is wrapping up a second five-year stint as the Panthers’ AD.
In between, Morris taught business classes, which later transitioned into technology courses.
Morris, who will turn 59 in May, said Dunn, 33, will bring a younger perspective to the athletic director’s position.
“When I first became the athletic director, all the other ADs were older men,” he remembered. “Everything was done on paper with a handshake.
“I learned a lot about the job from guys in the old West Central Ohio Conference like Bill McDaniel of Triad and Jerry Burrey of Ridgemont,” he said.
Morris said that now, everything from game schedules to hiring officials to fans purchasing tickets is done by an electronic method.
“That’s the bulk of the way athletic communications are done these days,” said Morris. “Logan will do just fine with that.
“He will offer a lot to the district from technology and facility standpoints.”
Despite his retirement from the district in a little more than a year, Morris was asked if a return to some type of coaching could be in his future.
“I can’t see myself going back to the high school level or ever being a head coach again, unless it would maybe be golf,” he said.
Morris did, however, think a bit about a younger level of basketball.
“Who knows… maybe I’ll want to go back to coaching at the middle school level at some point,” he said.