New London — The concept of “role model” has been bludgeoned in sports, perhaps making it to cliché status by now. But in its purest, deconstructed form, a role model is nothing more than a person who pushes you toward making the right choice.

It is Mike Morgan’s vocation.

Pushing people toward the right choices.

He does so at his job, at Sound Community Services in New London, where he helps young people transition into adulthood, helping them in countless ways.

And his sincerity is authentic. Morgan, all grown up now at 31, could have made all the wrong choices growing up in New London.

The people of Ledyard should rejoice today that high school athletic director/assistant principal Jim Buonocore and principal Amanda Fagan chose Morgan to be the next girls’ basketball coach.

He will teach the kids plenty just by being who he is.

“I have a passion for wanting to build a program,” Morgan was saying over some oatmeal Tuesday at Muddy Waters. “I got that from my (football) coach at Bryant (Marty Fine). I was in his first recruiting class and saw what it meant to run a program, from workouts to ideology.”

Morgan was denied the girls’ job at Fitch twice. He applied at New London before they hired Holly Misto. But then, he’s nothing if not resilient. It’s what he’s lived.

He remembers being a kid and his mom not always being able to keep the heat on.

He remembers having his house raided when he was five, watching a gun get pointed at his 12-year-old sister.

The same kid who graduated from New London with two state basketball championships and a football scholarship to Bryant, where he’d graduate with an MBA.

The same young man who came back to New London with an MBA, but whose first job was at Eblens making $30,000, while his college classmates were accountants and businessmen.

“If I would have let that affect me, I wouldn’t be where I am today. But coming from where we come from, unfortunately, these kids don’t get that push,” Morgan said. “I learned things at 18, 19, 20 years old that I could potentially teach a seventh- or eighth-grader. Teamwork. How to overcome adversity. Bettering yourself for the future. Using sports as a tool. Sports have taught me many life lessons. Not everything is going to go your way. When things don’t go your way, you don’t go into a shell and give up. No. There’s a whole other world out there.”

So now Morgan comes to Ledyard, joining boys’ coach Dave Cornish as the region’s only school to employ two African-American head basketball coaches. Perhaps some of you find that a postscript. Or irrelevant. But then there’s this: African-American leaders in predominantly white schools and towns are Step One toward changing minds, quelling prejudices and giving us all a better understanding of each other.

Buonocore got it right with Cornish, who turned the boys’ program around in one year. He went back to New London again with Morgan. Smart move.

“We bring different experiences with us. Dave and I are both very cultured, I think,” Morgan said. “It’s not just that we know how to coach the black athlete. New London has blacks, whites, Asians, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, you name it. We’re able to maneuver differently in crowds. I don’t think that others can’t necessarily do the same thing. But where Dave and I come from gives us a broader experience for the most part.”

Morgan has a deep background with girls’ basketball, coaching a successful AAU team in the region. He’s young, smart and passionate. And will teach all the right things.

“In my job, I see a lot of young adults who are struggling,” Morgan said. “You don’t get a chance to see it unless you’re in the field. Guys I used to coach at New London are homeless. It breaks your heart. I want to be the person who cares.”

And the person who can push them toward the right choices at younger ages.

This is a hire about more than basketball.

Ledyard got it right.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro