His time as an assistant had prepared Morgan well for managing a large football program, but hadn’t taught him how to deal with criticism from parents and fans.

“I found I was a better head coach toward the end because I learned not to let stuff bother me,” Morgan said. “You’re constantly under the gun, constantly under everyone’s scrutiny. That bothered me early on. You just have to remember that every kid out there is somebody’s child, and if you remember that … I think that’s the secret to it.”

Morgan and the Vikings turned a corner in 1988. WC started 2-2, but won nine of its last 10 games and defeated Greenwood 23-19 for the school’s first state championship. That team, which featured no Division I signees, is widely considered Morgan’s best coaching job during his tenure.

“That, definitely, as far as the outcome, was his best,” said St. Aloysius coach Jim Taylor, who served as an assistant at WC from 1966-96. “But every year was an exceptional coaching job. The work effort from coach Morgan was always there. But I guess the key for him was the way he felt about his players, the way he handled his players, and the expectations that he had for his players and his team.”

As Morgan racked up the victories and championships, he also continued to foster a family atmosphere at Warren Central. His coaching staff, many of whom had been at the school since the Wright era, were as close as brothers, and the players were like their sons.

Morgan served as the best man at the wedding of Shawn Kurtz, the quarterback on the 1988 team, and he can proudly rattle off a laundry list of former players who have gone on to successful careers in and out of football.

“One of the better things that has happened in my life is being able to coach and work with him, and I enjoyed our years together,” Taylor said. “The program there has helped a lot of kids over the years.”

Of course, some of Morgan’s best players were his sons. His oldest child, Rob, was part of one of the most memorable eras in WC history when he led the Vikings to a 38-5 record between 1992-94. The run included a South State championship in 1993, and the school’s second state title in 1994.

Josh Morgan followed and led WC to a share of the region championship in 1997. The youngest of Robert Morgan’s sons, Brett, was a two-year starter at quarterback and defensive back, and an all-state punter.

All three Morgan boys played quarterback, and all three went on to play at Mississippi State. The talent they showed on the field, and their attitude off it, made Robert Morgan’s job as coach a lot easier, he said.

“When they play good, and perform good, it helps old dad out a lot,” Robert Morgan said with a laugh. “And they never hung around here. They were just one of the boys. When I was in school, we had a teacher’s son who always hung around her office and we wanted to whup him. My sons were never like that.”

As the 1990s wore on, and Morgan’s children grew older, rumors began to fly about his impending retirement. After Brett graduated in 2001, however, some of the pressure seemed to be off coach Morgan. He was upbeat even after tough losses and showed no signs of slowing down.

The Vikings went 9-4 in 2002, and followed that up with a Region 2-5A championship in 2003. As he was about to hit his golden years in football, however, the finances of retirement caught up to him. Under the state’s pension system, Morgan was losing retirement pay the longer he continued coaching.

So the longest-tenured coach in WC history decided to hang up his whistle this spring, ending a 19-year run and an era in Warren County football.

“It wasn’t because I was tired of coaching. There’s a time where you actually start losing money. I was probably a few years late on that,” Morgan said. “I did not quit because I didn’t want to coach. I retired from teaching because of that.”

Morgan hasn’t completely retired from coaching yet, however.

His office in the WC fieldhouse is still full of memorabilia from his 36 years of coaching, and a new portrait of he and his three sons hangs near one of the entrances. Morgan is helping new head coach Curtis Brewer, himself a longtime WC assistant, through the transition.

When asked what his role will be once practice starts in a few weeks, Morgan thought for a minute before chuckling and saying, “I’m unemployed. But I am helping Curtis for the time being.”

Morgan hasn’t ruled out a return to coaching, but says he has turned down several job offers.

So while Morgan’s future is still a source of speculation, his legacy is not. The wins, championships, and the lives he’s touched speak for themselves, and it will all be cemented with the hall of fame induction on Friday.

For Morgan, however, his greatest legacy is simply staying in one job longer than most of his former players have been alive, and seeing generations of young men eager to suit up in Viking red for him every fall.

“I honestly believe if I had had to move around, like some coaches do, that I would not have been coaching that long. I’m not the type of person that likes a lot of change,” Morgan said. “Coaching is just like any other profession it’s all about where you go. And I came to a good place.”