The Pool, Dorm, and School: Captain’s Captain Jesse Morrison

By Devon Liang '27

As a water polo coach, dorm parent, and newly-appointed Assistant Director of Athletics, Jesse Morrison wears many hats. Joining Cate in 2021 as a water polo coach, becoming a Long House dorm parent in 2023, and becoming Assistant Director of Athletics in 2025, Jesse has brought his expertise to the Cate community in a multitude of different ways. As a relatively new addition to the community, an in-depth look into Jesse’s involvement offers valuable insight into the new faculty experience on the Mesa. He offered some insight into three primary aspects of his Cate life: coaching, dorm life, and the newly-launched Captain’s Counsel program.

Jesse’s first role at Cate was as water polo coach—a position he took up in 2021. As a child, he loved athletics, offering, “My childhood dream was either to be a professional athlete or a sports broadcaster.” This dream continued into college, where Jesse played for the UCSB Division 1 water polo team. Jesse offered, “I honestly didn't think that I would be here for too long…and not until I actually finished my first year of Cate did I realize that this is what I ultimately wanted to do.” When Jesse arrived at Cate, the water polo program had four boys. Jesse states, “It was really hard—I think we won 1 or 2 games that year.” Since then, Jesse has grown the program to play at CIF Division 4 championships, continuing to improve each year. Jesse recalled, “It was really inspiring seeing all these people grow as athletes.”

According to Jesse, inspiration is an important tool when building a program, and instead of deriving it from the greats of the coaching world, he derived it from the people he was coaching as he grew and expanded their talents. Appreciating the growth of those one teaches is a powerful catalyst for good coaching, and Jesse brings that mentality to his newest Cate role: as an athletic director. Each of the four athletic directors at Cate manages a different field. Wade Ransom manages daily tasks within the department, Matt Drew manages schedules and contracts, Ben Soto manages arenas and equipment, and Jesse has taken the role of managing relationships between athletes and the school. A chief responsibility of his is organizing independent sports, but he also strives to connect Cate athletes with the college counseling office to enable sports recruiting. Since coming into the role of athletic director, Jesse has also established a new group at Cate, aiming to foster leadership skills amongst team captains known as the Captain’s Counsel.

Captain’s Counsel is a space that enables student-athletes to connect, reflect, and grow as young leaders. For Jesse, it’s an opportunity to assist captains “lean into it” whilst forming the culture of the team through openness, accountability, and personal growth. Captains set the tone for their teams, and Jesse emphasizes that “influence is never neutral. Your influence on the rest of the team is either inherently positive by being encouraging, etc, or it can be negative. Never a gray in-between area.” He further explains that the best leaders are those who “can help clean up, do the little things really well that sometimes get overlooked,” who lead by example, maintain morale, and echo the culture the coaches try to instill. Jesse advises captains to “don’t be afraid to be vulnerable. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind. Value everyone’s opinion. Most influential leaders are those who can call you out in a positive way. Tell someone something they don’t wanna hear because it will help their growth.” By aligning leadership with what student-athletes desire and viewing failure as an “opportunity to get better,” Captain’s Counsel advocates growth, intentionality, and shared responsibility, a philosophy that inspires leadership and teamwork across the team. 

Jesse became a dorm parent in freshman dorm Long House, moving in along with the now-graduating Class of ‘26. Transitioning to living on campus was an experience he recalls fondly. He remembered, “The sheer joy from freshmen was contagious and made it super fun to be a dorm parent…It was just a lot of naive and harmless moments of stupidity. Stuffing the dryer in the laundry room well past capacity and setting off the fire alarm…there were a lot of memorable moments.” Novelty is a valuable thing, and for Jesse to be able to share that experience along with students like us brings a valuable intrinsic connection. When prompted further, he spoke to the pride of seeing his Long House boys as upperclassmen as a new dorm parent in Savage. On getting to grow up and into Cate with them, he offered, “It’s pretty impressive to see how far they’ve come. Pride…would probably be the best way to summarize it.”Lastly, we offered Jesse a chance to give advice to current, past, and future students. Whether in athletics, the dorm, or any day-to-day interactions, Jesse spoke to how valuable empowering students was to him. He extolled the importance of “The relationship piece…getting through practice and a game is hard. Student athletes don’t always give themselves the credit that they deserve in terms of their ability to overcome adversity. Apply these skills to life. Athletics don’t last forever...you have to rely on the sheer discipline that it takes to show up.”

Jesse will continue to involve himself in the Cate community, taking on more or different roles as time goes on. His last comment is his excitement for the coming school year, greater opportunities to make Cate athletics a positive experience for the student body, for opportunities to talk to other people and get more perspectives, and to do things “the right way, not the quick and easy way…It’s really fulfilling to do work that I love with people who care, and it’s energizing to know that I can make a positive experience for Cate athletes.”