When Holly Pond High’s boys basketball team reached consecutive Class 3A Final Fours under long-time coach Dewayne Adams in 1986 and ’87, at least one Bronco was watching and learning — gleaning life lessons and the kind of basketball know-how that goes into the making of a great coach.

“One of the main reasons I got into coaching is because of Dewayne Adams,” said Mike Morris, head coach of Samford University’s women’s basketball team.

Morris, a native of Holly Pond, recently completed his sixth season with the Lady Bulldogs, finishing with a record of 23-9. Their 15-5 conference record was good for second place in the Ohio Valley Conference. Morris’ team reached the conference’s semifinals before bowing out to eventual champion Murray State.

“He was a tremendous influence on why I wanted to coach,” Morris said of Adams, who is now a member of the Cullman County Sports Hall of Fame. “I was very close to him and I got to see how passionate he was about coaching.”

Adams must have done something right, because earlier this month Morris signed a contract extension with Samford that will keep him coaching the Lady Bulldogs for the next 10 years.

But Morris wasn’t the only Bronco deeply influenced by Adams. And in fact, he wasn’t even the only member of his family to have such profound respect for the man.

“As far as not just being a coach, but also being a good friend, he was willing to help in anything,” said Mike’s brother Mitch, who now has Adams’ old job as boys basketball coach at Holly Pond. “He was a tremendous influence on me as a basketball player and as a friend.”

Mitch, the elder Morris, said Adams made it a priority to shape the character of young men.

“At times he could be hard to understand or appreciate, but he fought for us,” he said. “He really wanted his players to act a certain way, and he instilled good morals in us.”

After the younger Morris graduated from Holly Pond High in 1987, he went on to play at Jefferson State and UAH, where he shot 92.1 percent from the free throw line — the best in NCAA Division II.

In 1992, Morris took an assistant coaching position at Belhaven College under Lennie Acuff, the man who recruited him out of junior college. Morris followed Acuff to Berry College in Rome, Georgia, where the Vikings posted back-to-back 20 win seasons.

While at Berry, Morris’ team came up against a coach that would take him to Birmingham, a city he hasn’t left since.

“When I was at Berry College, we played Samford and coach (John) Brady was coaching,” Morris said of Brady, the former Samford and LSU men’s basketball coach. “He offered me a (coaching) spot on the men’s team, and I was a men’s assistant for 8 years.”

After eight years on the sidelines, Samford hired Morris as head coach of a women’s team that had won just three games the year before. With Morris on board, the Lady Bulldogs gradually started winning, grabbing 21 victories in Morris’ fourth year.

With 41 wins over the last two seasons, Morris has now compiled a 91-80 overall record.

“It surprises me none how well he’s done there,” Acuff said. “He was a great assistant coach and I knew when he got his chance he’d do a great job. And it couldn’t have happened to better people.”

Though he’s turned the program around, Morris’s record is one he’s eager to improve.

“We’ve won 62 games the last three years, so I think we’re going in the right direction with the kids we need to have,” he said. “The one thing we haven’t done is win a championship. That’s the next step, to win a conference championship and go to the NCAA tournament.

“We haven’t done it yet, but I think we’re in a position to start talking about that.”

The Lady Bulldogs’ road to the NCAA tournament will follow a new direction starting next season, when Samford joins the Southern Conference. There, Samford will compete with schools like Davidson, UNC Greensboro, Furman and the College of Charleston — a task Morris said was daunting yet manageable.

“I think we can be competitive,” he said. “The Southern Conference will be a little step up. The RPI for their conference is four or five spots higher, but there are some schools that are similar to Samford, some private schools.”

When asked of his coaching mentors, Morris pointed to three men: Brady, Acuff and and Jimmy Tillette — currently Samford’s men’s head coach.

“The main thing I learned from Acuff was he was a great motivator,” said Morris. “He gave players a great amount of confidence, especially with shooting.

“Brady and Tillete I learned a great deal from defensively,” he continued. “Their thing is tough defense. They were very tough and demanding as coaches, but their players really played hard for them.”

Acuff agreed, noting Morris’ ability to analyze and incorporate the different styles to which he’s been exposed during his career.

“I think, because of his willingness to make sacrifices, Mike has been exposed to a lot of ways of doing things,” Acuff said. “I’m sure he’s taken things from people that he liked and got rid of things he didn’t like.

“He’s got that combination of being tough on his girls, but also understanding what it’s like to be a player.”

Morris said his style is something of a potpourri from his time as an assistant.

“Maybe it’s a combination of all three (coaching styles),” he said. “I think my style is that I’m a demanding coach. I ask a lot of our players, but I also do it with a positive and encouraging approach.

“I know what I want and I know what we need from our team, but I get it in a positive and encouraging way.”

Mitch thought his little brother may not be giving himself enough credit.

“I think Mike is coming into his own,” he said. “Of course he’s been influenced by some great coaches. He’s worked with some great coaches in the college ranks. All of them were different and had different ways of teaching basketball, and I think Mike has learned a lot from them. But I also think Mike has come into his own.”

Morris, meanwhile, credits his assistants and players for the Lady Bulldogs’ recent upturn.

“I have a great staff and great student athletes,” he said. “And that’s the biggest thing — getting the right core of people on the bus.”

Getting the right players on the bus is something Morris has done for some time: While assisting Brady on the men’s team, Morris worked tirelessly as a recruiter. His approach to recruiting? Character.

“Recruiting is work, constant 24 hours a day, seven days a week work,” Morris said. “And part of that is finding the right players that might not necessarily be the best players, but the right players for your team.”

Acuff, who signed Morris to play at UAH out of Jefferson State, said that kind of work ethic was evident during Morris’ playing days.

“You go and see some kids play and you just say he’s got it,” said Acuff. “I don’t know if you can define what ‘it’ is, but with him ‘it’ is his character, his upbringing by his family. He’s just a winner.

“He was just a relentless worker, he just outworked everybody,” Acuff remembered, adding Morris once scored 43 points in a game at UAH. “He had a great air of confidence about him without being arrogant or cocky. That air he had as a player he’s carried forward as a coach.”

Acuff also said he agrees with Morris’ policy of recruiting character players.

“He understands that character wins out. And that’s why Samford is such a great fit for him,” Acuff said. “He can recruit great girls that are great basketball players.”

Traveling around the south with his basketball team, it would be easy for Morris to lose touch with his roots in Holly Pond. But that’s something he said he won’t ever let happen.

“That will always be home for me,” Morris said, adding he visited his brother and parents last week. “A lot of things can go crazy in the world, but you can always go back to Holly Pond because it’s a great place with great people.”

“He knows where he came from,” Mitch added. “He may live in Birmingham and coach Division I girls, and be exposed to a lot of things Holly Pond doesn’t offer, but he always loves coming home and seeing classmates and teammates.

“He doesn’t get a chance to come back very often but when he does he really enjoys it.”

Whenever Morris does make it back to Holly Pond, his brother said one thing is always going to be the same.

“He’ll always be my younger brother,” Mitch said. “He can always be that pain sometimes, but what he’s done as a coach is outstanding.

“He’s a great recruiter and he runs a great program,” he continued. “I’ve picked up a lot of things from him, and maybe he’s learned a few things from me too.”