Jason Morris begins his third season as the assistant coach of the UNC Asheville volleyball program in 2026. In 2025, Morris helped lead the Bulldogs to their first appearance in the Big South Conference Championship match since 2006.

At the conclusion of the regular season, Michelle Thao was named Co-Libero of the Year and earned First Team All-Conference honors. Thao became the first player in program history to receive the Libero of the Year award and earned the program’s first major individual on-court award since 2000. Two additional Bulldogs were honored: Kylie Cackovic (Honorable Mention All-Conference) and Albertine van der Goot (Honorable Mention All-Conference and Academic All-Conference). With three honorees, Asheville recorded its most All-Conference selections since 2018.

In Morris' first season, the Bulldogs advanced to the Big South Conference Championship Tournament for the first time since 2019. After opening the year 0-2, Asheville rattled off seven straight wins, marking the program’s best 7-2 start since the 2009 season.

Individually, Kylie Cackovic was named to the Big South All-Conference First Team for her efforts during the 2024 season, marking the first Bulldog to earn first-team honors since 2019, and Albertine van der Goot earned Academic All-Conference honors.

Jason Morris was announced as UNC Asheville Volleyball's Assistant Coach on Monday, Mar. 18, 2024 by Head Coach Danielle Marante.

"Jason is a huge addition to our staff and program at UNC Asheville," Marante said. "His motivational style of hard work and grit brings out the best in every player he coaches. Our student-athletes will greatly benefit from having Jason to teach and mentor them on a daily basis."

Morris was a member of Marante's coaching staff at Tusculum for five seasons and coached alongside Marante at Marshall from 2017-19. While a member of the coaching staff at Tusculum, Morris helped guide the program to the South Atlantic Conference postseason all five years and capped off his final season by helping coach the program to its first SAC Tournament title this past fall.

While at Tusculum, Morris was also the head beach volleyball coach, leading the program to a 20-11 finish in his third year at the helm. With 29 victories, Morris became the winningest head coach in program history.

Morris, a native of Ocala, Florida, graduated from the Law Enforcement Academy at the College of Central Florida and became a sheriff's deputy. While enrolled in the Academy, he began playing competitive beach volleyball, winning several tournaments around the state.

After a few years in law enforcement, Morris began coaching volleyball full-time. He started his coaching career at Vanguard High School (2009-16) and was one of the four founding members of the Ocala Power Volleyball Academy. In his eight seasons at the Ocala school, he coached a final four team (2010), back-to-back state championship teams (2012 & 2013), and two runner-up squads (2014 & 2016). Morris was tabbed the 2013 Florida Dairy Farmers Coach of the Year and the 2016 AVCA District Coach of the Year.

While at Ocala Power, several of his teams qualified for USA Volleyball nationals, with the 2013 and 2018 squads winning the championship. Morris won six USAV national qualifiers as a coach, including the JVA World Championship in 18's Premier Division in 2018 and the 2019 Music City Qualifier in Nashville. His 2012 AAU team won the national championship.

"I am very thankful and excited for this opportunity," Morris said. "I look forward to working with Coach Marante and transforming this program. We are here to change the culture and compete for championships. I am also excited to work with this talented group of young ladies and watch the team chemistry develop through lots of hard work."

Name	Title	Phone	Email Address
Danielle Marante	Head Coach	232-5659	dmarante@unca.edu / volleyball@unca.edu
Jason Morris	Assistant Coach	251-6928	jmorri12@unca.edu

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