McCONNELSVILLE — The football and boys basketball programs at Morgan High School will have new leadership going forward.

After six years at the helm in football for his alma mater, Chase Bowman has stepped down to become the school’s full-time assistant athletic director. Seth Brown, Bowman’s offensive coordinator the last four seasons, has been named the new head coach.

Brown is a 1997 graduate of Morgan. He played football all four years for the Raiders before going on to play collegiately at Malone.

Brown has an expansive coaching background. He was an assistant for three years at Tuscarawas Valley and before spending one season as an assistant at Schalick High School in Pittsgrove, N.J., Brown was promoted to head coach at Schalick in 2005 and spent 15 seasons in that role, winning 84 games and making 10 playoff appearances before moving back to Ohio in 2020.

Last season Morgan had the highest scoring team in school history. They have qualified for the playoffs the past two seasons.

“It is a huge honor to be given this opportunity,” said Brown, who also coaches baseball at Morgan. “I have deep Morgan football roots as I am part of four generations that have played in Morgan County. My grandfather, my father, myself, and my son. I also have uncles, brothers and cousins that have all worn the blue and gray.”

Brown likes the direction the football program is headed and hopes to keep it going.

“I’m already proud of what we as a staff have been able to accomplish under coach Bowman,” he said. “I believe our culture has been established and we have been able to raise our players’ expectations.

“My goals are that we continue to have a great culture first and foremost. If we have a great culture the wins and losses will take care of themselves. I became a teacher and a coach to hopefully be a positive influence on young people, to see them reach their fullest potential. As the leader of this program I want to see young people develop into young adults that have positive impacts on our society and that hopefully these experiences and life lessons in athletics will help prepare them for life.”

Replacing Rob Justice as the Morgan boys basketball coach will be Joseph Marcinko.

Marcinko played high school ball at Reedsville Eastern under coach Howie Caldwell. After high school, he joined the military and spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan. He eventually enrolled at Ohio University and helped out with the women’s basketball team’s practice squad.

“I learned so much more about the game in general and learned a lot about women’s basketball,” Marcinko recalled.

After Caldwell became the boys basketball coach at Trimble, Marcinko joined his staff as an assistant during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. The Tomcats won 40-plus games and a district championship during that two-year stretch.

“Another great experience where I learned so much about the game and how to conduct practices at a high level, high tempo and get the best out of all players,” Marcinko said.

From 2019 to 2023, Marcinko also was an assistant coach for the Eastern football team. He helped guide last year’s team to the regional final for the first time in program history.

“For the last five years I have been working towards the goal of being a head varsity boys basketball coach,” Marcinko said. “It’s an amazing opportunity with great kids, a great community and a great administration that supports all their athletic programs. There was also the opportunity to coach and compete in the MVL. I see a lot of talent and an opportunity to build something special here at Morgan High School.”

Culture is a big thing for Marcinko. He plans to focus on “respect, discipline, accountability and gratitude,” and those are principles he wants to instill all throughout the Morgan basketball program, all the way down to the middle school and youth programs.

“I want the community to know and understand that this is not my team, this is our team,” he said. “I reinforce that all the time with the players that we owe it to the community to represent them in a positive and respectful way. We are going to compete with respect, discipline and gratitude on the court, in the classroom and in the community. The community supports us and has given us a lot of amazing things and we owe it to the community to do the best we can and to always ensure we are and will represent them in such a manner that brings an even deeper pride of being a Morgan Raider.”

Marcinko continued, “I am sincerely grateful for this opportunity to lead our Morgan Raiders boys basketball team. I am excited to get started with a team that is ready to work hard and compete. I want to thank everyone who has believed in me and given me encouragement. This is such an honor, and I am so grateful for the administration for giving me this great responsibility.”

Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@mariettatimes.com.