Tulsa Graduate Assistant Goes From Serving to Coaching

TU will wear special helmets during Saturday morning's game for military appreciation day. For one military veteran, a connection with Coach Blankenship helped get his coaching career started.

Tulsa Football Graduate Assistant Cody Morrison wants to achieve his dream of becoming a football coach. Morrison stated, "Right now I'm just trying to be a sponge and learn all I can, breaking down video, and being in the box during games."

But for Morrison, learning the ins and outs of football won't be nearly as tough as his last job. His last job was serving in the U.S. Army. He served for five years, one being a Sergeant in the Infantry during Operation Enduring Freedom in Eastern Afghanistan. Morrison said, "It's something I felt obligated to do, I wanted to do."

During his five years in Afghanistan he kept up with his high school coach, and former Union Head Coach, Bill Blankenship. Coach Blankenship said, “I never dreamed he wanted to coach. I never dreamed he wanted to do that. All the time he was over there he would send me pictures, and we'd kind of stay in touch."

Before he was done with his deployment, he started thinking about his future. His contact with Coach Blankenship paid off when Morrison was accepted into TU's graduate school. There, he started coaching and is happy to be pursuing his dream.

Morrison said, "I knew he was back here getting into the college side of it, and I just was glad he wanted to keep that line of communication open. The military kind of helped push me to coaching. I saw the relationships you can build in coaching. And, outside of the military having a team is really the next closest thing you can have."

Morrison stated that he hopes to take his leadership from the military into leading a football team one day.