The Washington Redskins officially announced the long-rumored hiring of Raheem Morris as the team's defensive backs coach on Monday afternoon, continuing their offseason coaching-staff shake-up. Morris became available when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired him as their head coach on Jan. 2, following a 4-12 season in which they lost each of their last 10 games.
Morris' coaching career began in 1998 as a graduate assistant coach at Hofstra Univesity. The following season, he moved to Cornell, serving as its defensive backs coach and special teams assistant. He returned to Hofstra for two seasons as its defensive backs coach, and then made the jump to the professional level, taking Tampa Bay's defensive quality control coach in 2002. Morris continued to advance in the Buccaneers organization, spent one year as the Kansas St. Wildcats' defensive coordinator, and then returned to Tampa Bay as defensive backs coach. At age 32, he became the NFL's youngest head coach in 2009.
Though the Bucs struggled defensively under Morris, they showed some promise in defending against the pass, ranking No. 7 in passing yards allowed and No. 13 in passing touchdowns allowed during their surprising 2010 campaign. Tampa Bay went 10-6 that season, with its seven-win improvement over the previous year standing as the league's best.
Morris could take over some of the responsibilities Steve Jackson had as Washington's safeties coach. The Redskins dismissed him in January after seven seasons with the club.
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