Legendary Abraham Lincoln boys’ basketball coach Dwayne “Tiny” Morton is now officially an assistant at Seton Hall, but the nearly yearlong saga doesn’t end there.
This isn’t the last time you will hear of Morton following former Railsplitters’ star Isaiah Whitehead to the Pirates.
There is great interest to see how Morton handles his new background role to head coach Kevin Willard after being one of the nation’s most high-profile high school coaches for 19 years. Even Whitehead knows there will be an adjustment period for Morton, who thrived in the spotlight.
“I think after a while he will get along well,” Whitehead said back in June. “I don’t think he will deal [well] with not being the head guy after being the head guy for so long. Then he will eventually deal with it.”
For Morton, it fulfills a lifelong dream to coach at the college level. Doing so alongside Whitehead, whom he has known since middle school, and who is close friends with his son Trevonn, is an added bonus.
“I watched both of those guys grow up and the fact that I am going to be in college with him is even better,” Morton said back in June.
He never hid where he was headed. Morton sported a Seton Hall cap while saying he had likely coached his last game in Coney Island after Thomas Jefferson upset heavily favored Lincoln in the city semifinals in March.
That doesn’t mean he is done with Lincoln. New Railsplitters coach Kenny Pretlow expects to hear from his friend and former colleague if he thinks the team isn’t living up to the standard he set.
“If he thinks there is something going wrong he will be at my house or on the phone to let me know — immediately,” Pretlow said after he got the job.
There will always be an emotional attachment to Lincoln. Mortom helped lead the Railsplitters to the 1986 city title as a player, and both his kids played there. He helped mold Lincoln into a national program and coached numerous NBA players.
“I’m still attached to the program, even though I’m not going to be around as much as I used to,” Morton said. “I’m still, by heart, attached to the program.”
Morton will always have one eye on Coney Island, just as plenty of people will be looking at him again soon. He and Whitehead are linked for a little longer, with the stakes even higher than before.
