New Dunbar boys’ basketball coach ready to get to work at ‘special place’
Paul Laurence Dunbar’s boys’ basketball team will be getting a fresh start with a new coach in charge next season.
John Morgerson, a Lexington native who led Richmond’s Model for the last four years, was introduced as the Bulldogs’ new head coach at a media and team event in the school’s library Thursday afternoon.
In his opening remarks, Morgerson reeled off a list of Dunbar’s accomplishments, including five 43rd District titles, four 11th Region titles, two state runner-up finishes and the 2016 Boys’ Sweet 16 state championship.
“This is a special place and I can’t wait to continue that and add to it,” Morgerson said. “I’ve just always understood what this program means to the school and the community.”
Morgerson has that understanding because for six years he was the head coach at Leestown Middle School, one of Dunbar’s feeder programs. After that, he served as an assistant coach at West Jessamine for four seasons.
“This job has been one that I’ve always desired. I’ve applied for it three times,” Morgerson said, smiling. “This was the first time that I got an interview.”
Granting that interview was former head coach and now Dunbar athletic director Murray Garvin, who said Morgerson’s organization and preparation immediately impressed him.
“He has left a good impression everywhere that he has been,” Garvin said. “I went back and even watched some film. His teams are prepared, they play hard and they don’t make any excuses. I thought that was something we needed here at Dunbar.”
Garvin steps away from coaching and into administration after a 27-year career, mostly in the college game, but the last two years at Dunbar. He stepped in as interim athletic director upon the tragic death of Jason Howell, who was not only Garvin’s boss, but a friend from their high school days playing football at Pikeville.
“I just felt it was time,” Garvin said. “And I wanted to move on to the next thing which was athletic administration, and Dunbar gave me that opportunity.”
In his first year, Garvin led the Bulldogs to a record of 14-13 and finished as 43rd District runner-up in 2021-22. This past year, Dunbar finished a disappointing 10-21, despite a promising start that included a December win over eventual 8th Region champion and Sweet 16 semifinalist Woodford County.
Morgerson has seen his share of hard luck, too. Morgerson’s best record with the Patriots came last season at 13-17. In his first season at Model, he inherited a team that graduated nine seniors and its top four scorers from the year prior. That’s a ton of production for a school that lists a boys’ enrollment of only 138. By contrast, Dunbar’s boys’ enrollment numbers more than 1,000.
Dunbar graduates six seniors off last year’s team, including leading scorer and all-city guard Nick Spalding, who has been a four-year fixture in the starting lineup.
“We had a tough season this year, and we were looking for a coach that understands … he’s going to have to roll his sleeves up and get to work and build bridges in the community to get kids to be enthusiastic about playing at Dunbar,” Garvin said.
Dunbar is hoping to tap the same small-school coach to big-school success that reigning 11th Region champion Frederick Douglass enjoyed this past year under Wes Scarberry. Scarberry’s previous head coaching job? Model.
“Coming from a small school, you have to compete so hard there to compete at a high level,” Morgerson said. “Our ceiling here is really high if we compete and we work hard and we have talented players we can develop. I’m really excited to see what we can do here. The future is bright.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2023 at 7:53 AM.
