LEBANON \u2014 Kimar Morris saw progress taking hold at Hamilton. He also saw an opportunity he believed could accelerate the next step in his coaching journey.<\/p>\n
That combination ultimately led Morris to Lebanon, where he has been selected as the Lady Warriors\u2019 next head varsity girls basketball coach.<\/p>\n
Lebanon officials announced the hire as the start of a new chapter for the program, citing Morris\u2019 reputation in the Cincinnati basketball community and a holistic approach centered on skill development, unity, character and academic excellence. The Warriors are coming off a 5-18 season.<\/p>\n
Morris arrives after two seasons at Hamilton, where he helped stabilize a struggling program and began rebuilding it from the inside out. During his tenure, Hamilton matched its previous five-year win total, reflecting measurable progress despite ongoing growing pains.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen building a program, I wanted to get in there at Hamilton and reestablish the culture,\u201d Morris said. \u201cI thought we were heading in the right direction. In two years, we were able to change things and get it moving.\u201d<\/p>\n
The opening at Lebanon, though, presented a situation Morris felt offered a stronger foundation for continued growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just felt Lebanon was a little bit farther along,\u201d Morris said. \u201cLooking at the numbers, the support, the youth programs \u2014 there\u2019s a foundation already in place. That was intriguing to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morris pointed to Lebanon\u2019s participation numbers and structure across freshman, junior varsity and varsity levels as a key factor.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving numbers matters,\u201d Morris said. \u201cThat allows you to build and sustain a program. That was something that really stood out.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also noted the shift from the Greater Miami Conference to the Eastern Cincinnati Conference as an opportunity for growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the GMC, night in and night out, you\u2019re playing top-level teams,\u201d Morris said. \u201cYou\u2019re asking your kids to go against programs making deep tournament runs every single game. In this league, I think we can compete and grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morris has already met with Lebanon\u2019s players and came away encouraged by the roster, which includes several multi-sport athletes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love multi-sport kids, and we\u2019ve got a lot of those,\u201d Morris said. \u201cA lot of them are playing soccer, lacrosse, AAU basketball. That\u2019s huge. It shows they\u2019re active, competitive and committed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He acknowledged the challenges ahead with a young team but emphasized energy and culture as immediate priorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to take some lumps because we\u2019re really young,\u201d Morris said. \u201cBut the goal is to re-energize the community and the program. When you haven\u2019t had the success you want, people get down. We\u2019re going to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morris said his approach will center on identity and consistency, with a program philosophy built around \u201cPRIDE\u201d \u2014 Passion, Relentless Effort, Innovation, Discipline and Excellence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese aren\u2019t just words,\u201d Morris said. \u201cThey will define how we train, how we compete and how we represent Lebanon every day. We want to develop young women who lead with confidence and represent Lebanon the right way on and off the court.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lebanon boys basketball coach Nathan Chivington said Morris brings both experience and credibility to the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cKimar is a coach that is passionate about developing his players on and off the court,\u201d Chivington said. \u201cHe understands the game and the challenges that come with working with today\u2019s youth. He will represent the school and community well.\u201d<\/p>\n
La Salle boys basketball coach Kevin Higgins echoed that sentiment. Morris was a former assistant on Higgins\u2019 staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoach Morris has incredible experience being part of successful programs and will bring great energy and passion,\u201d Higgins said. \u201cHe will help these young ladies grow not just as players, but in every aspect of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morris\u2019 coaching background includes stops as head boys coach at Finneytown from 2014\u20132017, an assistant role at Hamilton under Higgins, and the start of his career as a junior varsity coach at Aiken in 2002. He holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in communications from the University of Cincinnati, where he was a walk-on football player, and a master\u2019s degree in education from the University of Dayton.<\/p>\n
Beyond basketball, Morris serves as an intervention specialist for Hamilton City Schools and is active as a motivational speaker focusing on mental health, leadership and character development. He lives in Liberty Township with his wife, Dalonda, and their three children.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved my time at Hamilton,\u201d Morris said. \u201cBut this felt like the right next step. I\u2019m excited to get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEBANON \u2014 Kimar Morris saw progress taking hold at Hamilton. He also saw an opportunity he believed could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[28447,93,549],"class_list":["post-78490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lebanon","tag-high-school","tag-lebanon","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116449251361903222","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}