Morrissey leaving Prairie for Arizona

CEDAR RAPIDS - Mike Morrissey is heading west.

The Cedar Rapids Prairie football coach will resign to take the head coaching job at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Prairie announced the impending resignation Monday afternoon.

Morrissey, 32, was 19-22 in four seasons with the Hawks. His final three teams were Class 4A state playoff qualifiers, including a run to the 2012 quarterfinals.

Morrissey came to Prairie from Thornridge High School in suburban Chicago, which closed after his only season as head coach there. One of his star players at Desert Mountain, which went 1-9 this past season, will be Kade Warner, a sophomore wide receiver-linebacker and the son of NFL legend and former Cedar Rapidian Kurt Warner.

Kurt Warner was on the search committee that hired Morrissey, the son of longtime former Pleasant Valley High School Coach Ed Morrissey, an Iowa hall of famer.

'On behalf of my family, I want to thank the Prairie community for the opportunity and support they have given us over the last four years,” Morrissey said in a statement. 'We can't say enough great things about the school, program and people here at Prairie. It was a very difficult decision for us to leave, but ultimately it came down to what was best for our family, with the opportunity to be closer to my wife's family in Arizona. Whoever steps into this position will be blessed with unlimited support and a program with young men intrinsically motivated to be the best they can be.”

Morrissey will remain at Prairie as a physical education instructor until the 2014-15 school year ends.

'Best coach I've ever had,” said Upper Iowa freshman linebacker Tristan Beyer, a Prairie grad. 'On and off the field, he's a person who has impacted many. He will be missed greatly.”

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