Brad Morris has been all over the coaching circuit on the eastside for more than three decades. But now, he finally has a chance to mold a program into his own.

When Brad Morris was named the new football head coach at Macomb Lutheran North earlier this year, the move will allow him to begin a new era of Mustangs football in more ways than one. Not only is he the new head coach, but the 2026 team will also help the school usher in a new era of a new conference, as Lutheran North announced it was leaving the Catholic High School League in February and will begin all sports competition in the Blue Water Area Conference in August.

“It’s an exciting time for Lutheran North football,” noted Morris. “I had the pleasure of being on staff here the last four seasons and am excited for the opportunity to be the new head coach. We are also moving into a new league (this summer) and it will be a challenge to get to know those teams and coaches.

“I do know a lot of the older kids and starting to get to know the current young kids, the freshmen, or learn about incoming freshman,” said Morris. “That will be a challenge, but I think that’s the case for any coach.”

Morris replaces Garrett Wenzelburger, who stepped down last November as he is currently training to be the new principal of Lutheran North in 2026-27.

Wenzelburger, a Hall of Fame player in college while at the University of Concordia-Wisconsin who was voted into that school’s HOF in 2022, spent eight seasons at the helm of the Mustangs program. He was 50-29 overall during that stretch, including 23-8 in the Catholic High School League Intersectional 1 Division.

Wenzelburger led the Mustangs to six postseason berths in eight seasons, including two district championships in Division 4 and two berths in the regional finals. He also helped the school win a CHSL Bishop Tournament Prep Bowl title in 2024, while the Mustangs also captured CHSL Intersectional 1 Division crowns in 2023 and 2024 along with runner-up finishes in that league four times. The team finished in the top three of that league in all eight seasons where Wenzelburger was head coach.

The Mustangs were 7-3 last season before falling to state powerhouse Harper Woods in the D-4 pre-district contest (45-16), the second straight year and third time in eight seasons where Lutheran North was knocked out of the postseason by Harper Woods.

Morris, a 1985 graduate of Warren Mott where he was an All-State football player and wrestler, has served on the Lutheran North staff for four seasons as an offensive coordinator and will now finally get his chance at a head coach position.

Morris, who is now a retired teacher from the Chippewa Valley school district, began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Clinton Township Chippewa Valley back in 1992 and served under two head coaches at the school for 10 seasons.

He left in 2011 and enjoyed coaching stints at Macomb Dakota for more than a decade before moving over to Utica Eisenhower in 2016. He has been a part of coaching staffs that includes two state titles, eight regional championships and eight Final four teams, 17 district titles and 31 postseason appearances between four schools.

He served as an assistant from 2022-25 at Lutheran North before getting promoted back in February.

Lutheran North will graduate its quarterback and several skilled athletes but will return around half of the starters on both sides of the football, including two-way starters and a quality group of current sophomores along the lines.

“We do bring back some key players, a couple of linemen who will be juniors in the fall and we do have one of our running backs who will be back, some defensive players, too,” said Morris. “We’ll have a quarterback war come August, as we have three good kids who will be battling for the job.”

The Mustangs outscored the opposition 359-178 last season with an explosive offense.

Macomb Lutheran North defeated L'Anse Creuse North 28-20 in a non-conference football game at Lutheran North on Aug. 28, 2025. (GEORGE SPITERI — For MediaNews Group)

“It will be a little bit different not being in the Catholic League. We’ll be seeing schools a lot closer to us like Armada, Almont, Richmond and Imlay City and some trips up Yale, North Branch and Croswell-Lexington. We don’t know these schools as well, but then again they might not know a lot about us. We’ll be watching some film this summer to get to know these programs a little better.

“We have played some of those schools in the non-league during the last few years,” continued Morris, who noted that Lutheran North has played Yale and Croswell-Lexington in the past four seasons. “So, there will be a familiarity there for a couple of those schools. We’ll be able to form some new rivalries in the future. Armada, Almont, Richmond and even Imlay City aren’t that far away and its only like an hour up to North Branch, Yale and Croswell-Lexington. But those are back roads with not a ton of traffic. It’s a lot different in the Catholic League where schools are heading down to Ann Arbor, Jackson, Riverview and sometimes even the Toledo area. Overall, the travel will be a lot less.”

Lutheran North will open the season Aug. 28 at Madison Heights Madison and make its BWAC debut on the road at Croswell-Lexington on Sept. 4 before coming back home to play Yale in Week 3.

Brad Morris and compete in the blue Water Area Conference

Almont is the defending BWAC champion with Richmond, Armada and Croswell-Lexington rounding out the top four in the 2025 standings. Lutheran North is replacing Algonac, which announced in January it was heading over to the six-division Macomb Area Conference. The top three schools in the BWAC did qualify for the postseason last November.