Ed’Zaviah “Zay” Paul was recently named the head baseball coach at Morris College. Prior to becoming head coach, he served as student assistant coach this past year at Claflin University. Before that he was the assistant coach for Florence Post 1, an American Legion team, for the past 4 years.
Zay Paul starred at Wilson High School, Florence-Darlington Tech and then Claflin University. After he concluded his collegiate playing career at Claflin and graduated, Paul served as the school’s assistant for one season under head coach James Randall.
After winning two American Legion state titles as a player (2017 state tourney MVP) for Florence American Legion Post 1 and another as an assistant coach last season, Paul hopes to carry his success as the Morris College head coach.
Paul’s parents graduated from Morris College too. His father was a baseball player and coach at Morris. Having grown up around the Morris community then getting a job close to home to work where a lot of his family went to school is a thrill for Zay Paul.
Paul stated “growing up around Morris College is a big reason I wanted to get this job. I want to help change the culture of Morris College and bring them back to their winning ways. My father once was a part of the program as a player and a coach. Morris College is my home and I’m happy to be here.”
Paul replaces long time Morris College Director of Athletics, Head Men’s Basketball and Baseball Coach Clarence Houck. Paul has started uplifting the program in a matter of a few weeks since his hire. Morris typically played 12 to 15 games during the season under Houck which typically started after the end of the basketball season in March. Paul has 35 games scheduled to date.