Obit: Patriots Blocker, Coach Guy Morriss Passes at 71

Morriss spent six years with the Patriots and helped their first Super Bowl run.

The New England Patriots confirmed the passing of former offensive line coach Guy Morriss at the age of 71. 

Morriss spent the final four years of a 15-season NFL career in New England (1984-87) and later embarked upon a nearly three-decade-long coaching career as the team's offensive line coach under Raymond Berry (1988-89). He spent the majority of his career with the Philadelphia Eagles (1973-83) after starring at TCU, earning NFC All-Pro honors in 1981. In his second season in New England, Morriss helped guide the Patriots to Super Bowl XX, the first championship appearance in franchise history and five years after he helped the Philadelphia Eagles make their own original super showing. Morriss played 217 NFL regular season games, including 59 in New England.

Following the purging of Berry and his staff after the 1989 season, Morriss took on a variety of assistant roles on high school, collegiate, semi-pro, and professional levels. While serving as the University of Kentucky's offensive line coach, Morriss was promoted to the top spot upon the departure of Hal Mumme in 2001. He compiled a 9-14 record in two seasons, though he notably reversed the team's fortunes by five wins in 2002 (2-9 to 7-5). 

Morriss left Lexington in 2003 to take the top job at Baylor (2003-07) and later Texas A&M-Commerce (2009-12). Despite a subpar coaching record (37-85), Morriss guided the Division II Lions to a shared division title in his first season in 2009 and later held an administrative role at the university. 

Morriss was previously diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2017. He is survived by his wife Jackie and his daughters Colleen, Kerry, Savannah, and Austin.

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Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags