After spending the past five years as an assistant basketball coach at CSUN, former men’s basketball assistant coach Jay Morris accepted a position on the University of Nevada Wolfpack’s men’s basketball staff under newly hired head coach Eric Musselman.

Morris was an assistant under former CSUN men’s basketball head coach Bobby Braswell and current head coach Reggie Theus.

“College basketball, if you’re in it or been in for any amount of time, your name starts to float around. Morris said. “If you know good people an I have worked for and known a lot of good people, my name just started to float around once coach Musselman got hired at Nevada “

Morris will be under Musselman’s tutalage as he goes from the Big West Conference to the Mountain West Conference.

“It wasn’t a particular time I applied for the job but Coach Musselman had to fill his staff and my name was kind of floating around and that’s how it came about,” Morris said. “There was really no time table.”

Morris said coach Musselman has a five-year contract, but mostly all assistant coaches all around the country work on year-by-year contracts.

“Coach Theus was actually excited for me. I was totally transparent with him the entire length of the process and so I didn’t try to hide anything or hold anything from him and he appreciated that.”

Before his time at CSUN Morris spent two seasons as the Director of Basketball operations at Long Beach State University. He coordinated team travel, film exchange, served as camp director, maintained the recruiting data base and monitored academic progress. The 2009-2010 49ers team advanced to the Big West Conference Championship.

“He knows my goal is to be a head coach at the college level one day and he felt this is one step in the right direction for me. He was totally supportive and I probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for his support. He was heavily in my corner.”

At CSUN Morris helped bring in record-breaking players such as Stephan Hicks and Stephen Maxwell as well as a top-50 recruiting class from this past season.

“I spoke to most of them individually,” Morris said. Being there for five years, I developed a long relationship with a lot of them,” Morris said. A coaching relationship that also turned into a friendship, lifelong friendships. It’s kind of bitter sweet.

Morris worked with the guards along with assisting in both offensive and defensive game plans.

“Just like coach, [Theus] the players know my goals as well and they understood that this is a move I had to make for my family,” Moore said. “They’re sad to see me go and I was sad to go but they were happy that I’m one step closer to my goal.

In 2010 Morris received a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from Cal State Dominguez Hills. Currently he is completing a master’s degree in athletic administration at Concordia University.

“I was there with coach Braswell and coach Theus so I got to learn from two of whom I think are two of the best coaches in college basketball so I think the number one thing I’ll think I’ll take away from there is the people,” Moore said.