DENVER – Dave Morgan is one of those truly MSU Denver success stories.
 
"Metro State changed my life," Morgan said. "And I hope that I helped in some way at Metro State after all it did for me. For me to start where I was and get to where I am now … if not for Metro State who knows where I would be? Metro State has always been there for me."
 
Morgan, an outstanding men's soccer player for the Roadrunners in the 1980s and then a legendary assistant coach for arguably the most dominant program in Division II women's soccer history in the early 2000s, has done plenty to repay MSU Denver for his opportunity.
 
He'll be inducted into the Roadrunners Athletics Hall of Fame on Saturday, along with women's soccer All-American Rachel Zollner Tabbal, women's basketball All-American Vanessa Edwards, volleyball star Julie Green and men's soccer All-American Scott Grode. The 7 p.m. ceremony at the Springhill Suites at MSU Denver follows a 6 p.m. social hour. Tickets are still available until 5 p.m. Monday.
 
Morgan arrived on campus as a freshman in 1983, when the soccer program was still in its early stages and the facilities were nothing compared to today's.
 
"Dave was an intense player, a physical player," said Martin Richardson, another Roadrunner Hall of Famer who joined the program that same fall. "Early on he was a weight room guy, so he was always really strong. … He was also technically skilled. He was a great teammate who lifted everyone up. How he is today, when he greets everyone with a smile, that's how he was as a player."
 
Morgan earned NAIA All-Area first team as well as All-Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Soccer League second team honors in 1985. That season, after a huge early November snowstorm that forced the Roadrunners' players to have to help clear the field, Morgan scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Regis that put his team into the NAIA District 3 Tournament.
 
Morgan began doing some soccer coaching while at MSU Denver and started playing semi-professionally after his collegiate playing career ended. He also coached both the boys and girls teams at Wheat Ridge High School from 1988 through 1994 and was coaching in a burgeoning club scene.
 
But Morgan was also nearing a turning point.
 
"Through the course of my life I fell into an addiction – I was hooked on drinking," Morgan said. "But this November 10, I'll be 27 years sober. I promised my dad the night before he passed away that I would get my stuff together, and I never broke that promise."
 
In 1999, Morgan got a second chance at coaching, from Tony McCall with the Colorado Xtreme.
 
"When everyone else had turned their cheek to me because I had a problem, he was good-hearted enough to give me a second chance," Morgan said. "And that's why I always say people are deserving of a second chance. He opened the door for all of this to happen, and I'll never forget that."
 
By 2002, Morgan was planning on spending some of his time helping Brian Crookham with the MSU Denver men's team. But it was also at that time that Danny Sanchez had been hired to coach the Roadrunners' women's program.
 
"When I first arrived at Metro in the spring of 2002, I didn't know anybody," Sanchez said. "I talked to Brian Crookham about our 'big' $1,500-a-year assistant coaching position and he recommended Dave."
 
MSU Denver made the Division II national semifinals that first season, went 21-1-1 to reach the quarterfinals in 2003, won a national championship in 2004, had an undefeated season end on penalty kicks in the 2005 national quarterfinals, then won another national title in 2006.
 
"Dave was vital to our success, our national championships in '04 and '06," Sanchez said. "All the work and time he put in for (money that), basically didn't cover the parking cost at Metro."
 
Among the players Morgan impacted was Adrianne Almaraz, captain of the 2004 title team.
 
"One day we were sitting on the bench, right before a game, and Dave looked at me and said, 'Adrianne, you're going to be a really good soccer coach one day,'" she said. "I never thought I would coach."
 
Sure enough, when Sanchez took the Wyoming job in 2008, it was Adrianne Almaraz Pietz who replaced him.
 
Morgan, by then overseeing a 53-team club while personally coaching two of the teams, was moving away from MSU Denver. But MSU Denver wouldn't let him go.
 
"When Danny left, he was very adamant that I needed to get Dave back and I agreed," Pietz said. "I knew how much I needed him (as an assistant coach), but I also knew how much he could impact our program."
 
Said Morgan: "I would only do it for those two people (Sanchez and Pietz). I said, 'We'll get it going.' And the next thing I know it was nine years later."
 
The backstory behind Morgan's success is that he hadn't is that he hadn't finished his degree the first time around, but he started working on an individualized degree program shortly after returning.
 
"I graduated in 2009, and I walked (at graduation) with a couple of our players, which was really special," Morgan said. "(Then Athletic Director) Joan McDermott, brought me in and helped me get my degree. Danny and Adrianne were always there along the way. You have to have support along the way and those people, and my family, were all instrumental. You have to sacrifice today for what you want tomorrow, and I wouldn't be coaching in the college game without individuals like them."
 
Morgan spent 13 seasons as an assistant coach with the Roadrunners' women's soccer team, in a wildly successful run that also included eight Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season championships, four RMAC tournament titles, and NCAA tournaments in each season.
 
 During that time, Roadrunners teams were a combined 236-38-26 overall and 148-16-15 in regular-season RMAC play.
 
After Wyoming, Sanchez moved on to Colorado, where he has been the head coach since 2011. When a spot on his staff opened in 2015, Morgan reunited with him as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator.
He left behind the Roadrunners' Assembly Athletic Complex facility, one of the finest in Division II for soccer.

"Just to look back and have a small part of that is huge," Morgan said. "I'm one of few who can say I went to school here, got my degree here, won national championships, did it all in my home state and was there to see that field. I can't believe I've been part of this whole run."

Said Sanchez: "Not only is Dave Morgan a great coach, he's a great person and a great friend.  If you talk to anyone about him, the first thing they'll say is how positive and what a great person he is. They'll talk
about how he carries himself, how he deals with everything."

Said Pietz: "He was phenomenal to work with. I always called him the Godfather. He's the old, wise guy on the sideline, and you always wonder what he's thinking and what he's going to do.

"He knew how to push buttons to get people to be at their best, but in a non-authoritative way. He let you figure it out yourself, and you knew he believed in you."

Morgan's ability to connect with young players, Pietz said, is his superpower.

"My daughter (Jordyn) has it, too, the gift of gab," Morgan said. "So did my grandpa. I think we're people people. For me as a coach, I try to see through other people's eyes and relate to it. I'm a good listener and I'm pretty easy to talk to. I think I'm a pretty nice dude who can see things from a lot of angles."

Morgan credits his wife Sharon, was well as his daughter and step children (Kevin, Aimee and Angee) for contributing to his successful life.

He also thanks his high school coach, Ata Razani, for putting him in front of Roadrunners coaches like Harry Temmer, Al Ashton and Bill Chambers. His friend Richardson and other teammates. Tony McCall for the second chance. And Sanchez and everyone else at MSU Denver.

"This recognition means a lot to him, because Metro changes lives," Sanchez said. "It changed his life. The program gave him an opportunity to play coming out of high school, and then we brought him back in, which gave him an opportunity to finish his degree, which gave him an opportunity to be an assistant coach at CU, where he's absolutely killing it in the recruiting world. I couldn't be more happy for Dave."

Said Richardson, his old college buddy: "He's a true Roadrunner who came from modest means and just kept working," Richardson said. "When I saw him graduate, when I saw him win national titles, and now that he's going into the Hall of Fame, it brings tears to my eyes because there's not a person who deserves it more than Dave Morgan."