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What FSU coach Luke Loucks said about Amorrow Morgan leaving for Tennessee

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•05/19/25•

GrantRamey

Amorrow Morgan, South Alabama Athletics
Amorrow Morgan, South Alabama Athletics

New Florida State basketball coach Luke Loucks didn’t try to stop Amorrow Morgan from leaving for Tennessee, despite the assistant coach being on his staff at FSU for just five weeks. Instead, Loucks encouraged the move. 

“First of all, I’m super happy for him,” Loucks said during ACC Spring Meetings last week. “Amorrow Morgan – he’s an unbelievable (guy). I got to work with him for about five weeks. 

“He obviously got a lot of money to go to Tennessee for Rick Barnes. And he’s from Tennessee. And, not only did I give him my complete blessing. I’m like, you have to take this, for your family, for you.”

Tennessee hired Amorrow Morgan on May 2

Barnes moved quickly to hire Morgan after former Tennessee assistant coach Rod Clark left the Vols for Indiana, where he’ll be an assistant under new IU head coach Darian DeVries. 

Morgan is a Memphis native who spent the last two seasons at Cal. He accepted the job at Florida State in early April after Loucks, a Sacramento Kings assistant coach, was hired to replace Leonard Hamilton. 

“One thing I told all of my coaches and our players,” Loucks said, “is I want what’s best for each of you and that’s not always what’s best for me. So when an opportunity like that presents itself, you’ve got to go take it, you know. I’m happy for him.”

Morgan is a 2012 graduate of Idaho State, where he was a two-time All-Big Sky guard and a three-time team captain. He played professionally for three years in Europe and earned his master’s degree at Illinois-Springfield.

Before Cal, Morgan coached two seasons at Loyola-Chicago and three seasons at South Alabama. He made other previous stops at Nicholls State, Henderson State, the University of Illinois Springfield and Our Lady of the Lake University. 

Rick Barnes: ‘It was immediately clear Amorrow would be our first choice’

“Coach Barnes has built something truly special on Rocky Top,” Morgan said in a press release announcing his hiring. “Tennessee Basketball is a program rooted in tradition and rising with purpose. 

“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to return to my home state and look forward to contributing however I can to the continued success of Volunteer basketball. I cannot wait to start and get to work with our guys.” 

Morgan’s hire at Tennessee was announced just two days after Clark left for Indiana. 

“As soon as we knew we had a decision to make, it was immediately clear Amorrow would be our first choice,” Barnes said. “He is a young, energetic coach with a sharp basketball mind who will make an impact with our program from day one.

“I know he will do all he can to help our players excel and that he will mesh with the strong culture we have in place.”

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