John Morton Hired as Wide Recievers Coach

I have good faith in this hire, simply because Morton was Jon Gruden's WR coach/assistant-offensive-technician during Gruden's entire tenure in Oakland (Morton molded an aging Tim Brown into a productive/smarter WR out of the WCO).

The way everything is shaping up (from all these '98-'03 ex-Raiders hirings) it seems as if Harbaugh is going to run something similar to a flexed Callahan/Gruden WCO (with of course Jim's own creative offensive flavor/base-schemes).

John Morton, formerly an assistant coach with the New Orleans Saints and Oakland Raiders, is in his fourth year at USC. He joined the USC staff in February of 2007 as the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator. He was named USC's offensive coordinator in 2009, while continuing as the wide receivers coach. In 2010, he re-assumed the passing game coordinator duty as well as handling the wide receivers.

In 2009, wide receiver Damian Williams was an All-Pac-10 first teamer and then was a third round NFL draft pick after the season.

Wide receiver Patrick Turner was a third round pick in the 2009 NFL draft.

USC played in the 2008 Rose Bowl, 2009 Rose Bowl and 2009 Emerald Bowl.

Morton, 40, was the passing game coordinator and an offensive assistant in 2006 with the New Orleans Saints, assisting in the passing game and other facets of game preparation on offense. The Saints advanced to the 2006 NFC Championship game.

In 2005, he was the passing game and wide receivers coach at the University of San Diego. The Toreros went 11-1 and won the Pioneer Football League championship.

He spent the previous 8 seasons (1997-2004) in several capacities with the Oakland Raiders. He began with the Raiders in 1997 working in the personnel department, then was an offensive assistant working with the wide receivers for 2 years (1998-99) and the offensive quality control coach working with the wide receivers for the next 2 years (2000-01). He was a senior offensive assistant in 2002, when Oakland played in the Super Bowl, and 2003. He then was the tight ends coach in 2004. Among the players he coached were Jerry Rice and Tim Brown.

Morton originally signed with Oakland as an undrafted rookie wide receiver in 1993 and spent part of the next 2 seasons (1993-94) on the Raiders practice squad. He also spent time with Green Bay in 1993, was in training camp with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995 and with the Raiders again in 1996. He played for the CFL's Toronto Argonauts in 1995 and 1996, then with the World League's Frankfurt Galaxy in the spring of 1997.

He played at Western Michigan for 2 seasons (1991-92), where he finished 10th on the school's career receiving list (78 catches) and eighth in receiving yards (1,278). He won All-Mid-American Conference honors as a 1992 senior. He received a bachelor's degree in general studies from Western Michigan in 1997.

He came to Western Michigan after 2 years (1989-90) at Grand Rapids (Mich.) Community College. He received his associate's degree from there in 1990.

He was an All-League receiver at Avondale High in Auburn Hills (Mich.).

Born on Sept. 24, 1969, he and his wife, Shannon, have 2 daughters, Tierney Rose, 6, and Sage Marie, 3.

MORTON SNAPSHOT

BIRTHDAY: Sept. 24, 1969
FAMILY: Wife, Shannon; Daughter, Tierney Rose, 6, and Sage Marie, 3
HIGH SCHOOL: Auburn Hills (Mich.) HS
EDUCATION: Associate's degree, Grand Rapids (Mich.) Community College, 1990
Bachelor's degree, general studies, Western Michigan, 1997
PLAYING EXPERIENCE: Avondale HS, Auburn Hills, Mich.
Grand Rapids (Mich.) Community College, wide receiver, 1989-90
Western Michigan, wide receiver, 1991-92
Toronto Argonauts, wide receiver, 1995-96
Frankfurt Galaxy, wide receiver, 1997
COACHING EXPERIENCE: 13 years

YEAR TEAM POSITION BOWL
1997 Oakland Raiders Personnel Department --
1998 Oakland Raiders Offensive Assistant/WRs --
1999 Oakland Raiders Offensive Assistant/WRs --
2000 Oakland Raiders Offensive Quality Control/WRs AFC playoffs
2001 Oakland Raiders Offensive Quality Control/WRs AFC playoffs
2002 Oakland Raiders Senior Offensive Assistant Super Bowl
2003 Oakland Raiders Senior Offensive Assistant --
2004 Oakland Raiders Tight Ends --
2005 San Diego Passing Game/Wide Receivers --
2006 New Orleans Saints Pass. Game Coord./Off. Asst. NFC playoffs
2007 USC Pass. Game Coord./Wide Rec. Rose
2008 USC Pass. Game Coord./Wide Rec. Rose
2009 USC Offensive Coord./Wide Rec. Emerald
NFL STARS: Jerry Rice, Tim Brown

Originally posted by English:
Spent rather a long time with the Raiders. Hope he washed afterwards

A former Pete Carroll assistant...

Also has a lot of background in the WCO working under Gruden in Oakland for 4yrs and under Callahan for two years (Harbaugh was also on the staff)

Originally posted by SnakePlissken:
I have good faith in this hire, simply because Morton was Jon Gruden's WR coach/assistant-offensive-technician during Gruden's entire tenure in Oakland (Morton molded an aging Tim Brown into a productive/smarter WR out of the WCO).

The way everything is shaping up (from all these '98-'03 ex-Raiders hirings) it seems as if Harbaugh is going to run something similar to a flexed Callahan/Gruden WCO (with of course Jim's own creative offensive flavor/base-schemes).

sounds good

Has worked under Jon Gruden and Sean Payton and has worked with Jim Harbaugh. Looks like a solid hire. Another good, young coach but with a decent amount of NFL Exp. I am liking this staff!

would be funny if Jim snatched Ulbrich off of Carrolls staff

Originally posted by DaDivaRecieva15:
would be funny if Jim snatched Ulbrich off of Carrolls staff

It looks like there is a possibility of that happening.

I see the Seahawks just fired Jeremy Bates as their OC. I would not mind getting him as QB's coach. He worked with John Morton at USC and has a lot of Experience in the WCO.

Originally posted by Sjceruti:
It's not Jerry Rice...

mattbarrows Matt Barrows
It's a good guess -- that's how Harbaugh divided duties ... @catterbu Morton likely to also be called "passing game coordinator" too, right?

Originally posted by Niners99:

Originally posted by SnakePlissken:

Originally posted by boast:
man he got old......and white

Sosa looks so creepy now...

in all fairness, he always seemed a bit creepy

Originally posted by susweel:
mattbarrows Matt Barrows
It's a good guess -- that's how Harbaugh divided duties ... @catterbu Morton likely to also be called "passing game coordinator" too, right?

I hate to dish out more of those Harbaugh/Walsh similarities, but the way Harbaugh worked with his staff at Stanford, and how he's dividing up the coaching duties amongst his assistants is very Walsh-like.

-Tons of multi-tasking, with everybody from the towel boy to the TEs coach being involved/working with each-other from for each week-to-week on the gameplan/practice regimen (which is why mostly everybody from the Walsh coaching tree found moderate/maximum success; getting involved within every aspect of the game, week-to-week).

This team is going to be prepared for everything, inside-and-out from this point forward.

Originally posted by Niners99:

Originally posted by SnakePlissken:

Originally posted by boast:
man he got old......and white

Sosa looks so creepy now...

thats sammy sosa

Originally posted by Allx9er:

Originally posted by Niners99:

Originally posted by SnakePlissken:

Originally posted by boast:
man he got old......and white

Sosa looks so creepy now...

thats sammy sosa

He looks more like Alejandro Sosa.