Info on Chad Morris

[PigWig]

Here is some background info on Chad Morris:

Personal Life
Morris was born in the Dallas area.  He grew up outside of Dallas, and played QB for his HS.  He went to Texas A&M as a student and is one of only four active college coaches who did not play at the collegiate level (Leach, Paul Johnson, and Cutcliffe are the others). 

Early Coaching Career
Morris got his start in the high school ranks.  His first job was at Eustace HS, southeast of Dallas.  He coached both football and basketball there and was quite successful in both sports.  He then moved on to Elysian Fields HS, near the Texas-Louisiana border close to Shreveport, where he went 26-6 and went to back to back state championships in two seasons.  His next stop was at Bay City HS, south of Houston.  His teams went 34-8 in three seasons with two state championship appearances and one state title.  He then took over at Stephensville HS, outside of Dallas.  Morris was 49-10 at Stephensville in 5 seasons.  It was during this time that he traveled to Springdale, AR to meet with Gus Malzahn (HS coach at the time), and he started to revolutionize the way he ran his offense.  His hurry up spread offense was responsible for sending HS QBs to schools like Ole Miss, Nebraska, and Texas. 

His final high school stop was at Lake Travis near Austin.  Morris went 32-0 at Lake Travis with back to back undefeated, state championship seasons.  His teams averaged a 41 point margin of victory, and his QB, Garrett Gilbert, set the Texas HS record for passing yards in a season (4,884) while also amassing 83 total TDs.  This was one of the best offensive two-year stretches in the history of Texas HS football, and Morris would use this success to break into the college ranks. 

Morris started his college career as OC/QB coach at Tulsa.  He was only there for one season, but he left his mark.  Tulsa improved from 5-7 the year before his arrival to 10-3 and averaged over 41 PPG (top 10 nationally).  He was then hired at Clemson where he started to hit the national radar.  Dabo Swinney was on the hot seat at Clemson when Morris arrived.  He was coming off a 6-7 season, and had yet to put together a 10 win season in his 3 years as Clemson head coach.  When Morris arrived, everything changed.  From 2011-2014 (Morris's time there), Clemson would win 10-11 games four straight times and make 3 BCS/NY6 level bowl games.  They finished ranked every year Morris was there and had two top 10 final rankings.  Clemson would set 127 different offensive records under Morris (89 individual/38 team).  They had their top 3 scoring seasons in program history.  As their QB coach, he tutored and/or recruited both Taj Boyd, ACC player of the year and an All-American, and Deshaun Watson, All-American and 2X Davey O'Brien winner.  Morris was awarded for his work with multiple national coordinator of the year honors.

Head Coaching Career
Morris got his first head coaching job in 2015.  He was tasked at turning around an SMU program that had been completely torpedoed.  In 2013, June Jones let the program slip to a 5-7 record, and in 2014 the Mustangs went 1-11.  They lost 7 games that year by 35+ points.  Enter Chad Morris.  Now Morris's first season did not get off to the best start.  They did improve by a games to 2-10, but you really need to look more closely at the schedule.  SMU played 4 ranked teams that year, including 2 top 5 teams.  They lost to #4 Baylor by 25 and #3 TCU by 19.  They did keep most of their other games within 2-3 scores (except Memphis who routed them).  In 2016, you started to see some major improvement at SMU.  They improved their record to 5-7, and they were very close to making a bowl game, a 3 point OT loss to Tulsa was the only think that kept SMU out of the post-season.  They did beat #11 Houston this year and took a ranked South Florida team down to the wire.  They still lost big to Baylor, TCU, and Memphis again though.

This season, Morris finally got the Mustangs bowl eligible again.  For the first time in over half a decade, they will be playing in a bowl game.  His 7-5 record in 2017 included a competitive game against TCU that got away from them late and 3 close losses that kept this season from being a great one for that program.  They lost @ Houston by 12, to #15 UCF by 7 points, and @ Navy by 3 points.  For the first time since at least 1993, SMU played every opponent within 21 points.  They have scored over 40 points 7 times this year, have averaged over 300 passing yards per game this year, have averaged 186 rushing yards per games this year, have averaged 40.2 PPG this year (8th nationally), and have averaged 494 yards of total offense per game (12th nationally) this season. 

Recruiting
As you can see from his high school career, Morris has deep ties in the state of Texas.  He's coached in the Dallas area, Houston area, Austin area, and near the TX-LA line close to Shreveport.  You will not find a head coach anywhere with deeper ties to Texas High School football.  He was a great recruiter at Clemson landing players like Deshaun Watson, Chad Kelly, and Shaq Lawson to name a few.

If Morris became the next head coach at Arkansas, we would likely recruit Texas better than we have at any point in the SEC era.  His style of offensive also fits well with what the majority of Arkansas high schools are running, so I think he would do well in this state too.  He also has ties around Shreveport, so Louisiana could continue to be an area where we pick off talent.

TLDR
Despite his overall record at SMU, Chad Morris is a great offensive mind who has had success at every stop along his coaching career.  Much like Malzahn, he came up through the high school ranks by using an innovative offense, then spent a short time as OC at Tulsa before moving on to a powerhouse program.  He was a major reason for the rise of Clemson football.  Without his offense and recruiting, Dabo Swinney and Clemson would not be where they are today.  He took over a trainwreck program at SMU and has steadily improved their record each year.  This is the first season in over 30 years where they were competitive in every game.  He also has deep recruiting ties in Texas, and has coached at high schools in the top three major metro areas in that state. 

Additional Reading
https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2014/6/10/5782566/clemson-offense-chad-morris

[NuttinItUp]

Hope he is a good Texas recruiter.

Also, hopefully he can do better here than he did at SMU.

[UA1985]

Given that Gus is off the menu, this is a great hire. We will score points and we will recruit well in TX.

[woodrow hog call]

Given that Gus is off the menu, this is a great hire. We will score points and we will recruit well in TX.

The more I read, the better I like him, recruit TX and LA but bring in better athletes than he could get to SMU.
" Come Play in a fast paced innovative offense in the toughest division of the toughest conference in the NCAA" will no longer be used against us in the recruiting wars.

[HawgWild]

So his college HC record is 14-22? Am I reading this correctly? (2-10, 5-7, 7-5)

[98hogs]

It's about the Jimmy's and Joe's...hope he gets em

[woodrow hog call]

So his college HC record is 14-22? Am I reading this correctly? (2-10, 5-7, 7-5)

That looks to be accurate, which means we caught him on the way up!

As opposed to the last guy who we "obviously" caught on the way down, "obviously".

[DeltaBoy]

He will be fine here.

[NuttinItUp]

So his college HC record is 14-22? Am I reading this correctly? (2-10, 5-7, 7-5)

Yep, the year before he got there, 1 win. So, he knows how to get improvement every year. Something we have been lacking.

[greenEGnHAWGS]

Really good read on him. I'm cautiously optimistic!

[younghog]

Very good READ..

Will go check some highlights of SMU vs TCU and SMU vs UCF

GO HOGS

[atekido]

Would be a good hire and a smart hire.

[ballz2thewall]

one more time.....

[Bebop]

Don't care. Proof is in the pudding. He has to show it in the W and L column.

[4me2know]

Here is some background info on Chad Morris:

Personal Life
Morris was born in the Dallas area.  He grew up outside of Dallas, and played QB for his HS.  He went to Texas A&M as a student and is one of only four active college coaches who did not play at the collegiate level (Leach, Paul Johnson, and Cutcliffe are the others). 

Early Coaching Career
Morris got his start in the high school ranks.  His first job was at Eustace HS, southeast of Dallas.  He coached both football and basketball there and was quite successful in both sports.  He then moved on to Elysian Fields HS, near the Texas-Louisiana border close to Shreveport, where he went 26-6 and went to back to back state championships in two seasons.  His next stop was at Bay City HS, south of Houston.  His teams went 34-8 in three seasons with two state championship appearances and one state title.  He then took over at Stephensville HS, outside of Dallas.  Morris was 49-10 at Stephensville in 5 seasons.  It was during this time that he traveled to Springdale, AR to meet with Gus Malzahn (HS coach at the time), and he started to revolutionize the way he ran his offense.  His hurry up spread offense was responsible for sending HS QBs to schools like Ole Miss, Nebraska, and Texas. 

His final high school stop was at Lake Travis near Austin.  Morris went 32-0 at Lake Travis with back to back undefeated, state championship seasons.  His teams averaged a 41 point margin of victory, and his QB, Garrett Gilbert, set the Texas HS record for passing yards in a season (4,884) while also amassing 83 total TDs.  This was one of the best offensive two-year stretches in the history of Texas HS football, and Morris would use this success to break into the college ranks. 

Morris started his college career as OC/QB coach at Tulsa.  He was only there for one season, but he left his mark.  Tulsa improved from 5-7 the year before his arrival to 10-3 and averaged over 41 PPG (top 10 nationally).  He was then hired at Clemson where he started to hit the national radar.  Dabo Swinney was on the hot seat at Clemson when Morris arrived.  He was coming off a 6-7 season, and had yet to put together a 10 win season in his 3 years as Clemson head coach.  When Morris arrived, everything changed.  From 2011-2014 (Morris's time there), Clemson would win 10-11 games four straight times and make 3 BCS/NY6 level bowl games.  They finished ranked every year Morris was there and had two top 10 final rankings.  Clemson would set 127 different offensive records under Morris (89 individual/38 team).  They had their top 3 scoring seasons in program history.  As their QB coach, he tutored and/or recruited both Taj Boyd, ACC player of the year and an All-American, and Deshaun Watson, All-American and 2X Davey O'Brien winner.  Morris was awarded for his work with multiple national coordinator of the year honors.

Head Coaching Career
Morris got his first head coaching job in 2015.  He was tasked at turning around an SMU program that had been completely torpedoed.  In 2013, June Jones let the program slip to a 5-7 record, and in 2014 the Mustangs went 1-11.  They lost 7 games that year by 35+ points.  Enter Chad Morris.  Now Morris's first season did not get off to the best start.  They did improve by a games to 2-10, but you really need to look more closely at the schedule.  SMU played 4 ranked teams that year, including 2 top 5 teams.  They lost to #4 Baylor by 25 and #3 TCU by 19.  They did keep most of their other games within 2-3 scores (except Memphis who routed them).  In 2016, you started to see some major improvement at SMU.  They improved their record to 5-7, and they were very close to making a bowl game, a 3 point OT loss to Tulsa was the only think that kept SMU out of the post-season.  They did beat #11 Houston this year and took a ranked South Florida team down to the wire.  They still lost big to Baylor, TCU, and Memphis again though.

This season, Morris finally got the Mustangs bowl eligible again.  For the first time in over half a decade, they will be playing in a bowl game.  His 7-5 record in 2017 included a competitive game against TCU that got away from them late and 3 close losses that kept this season from being a great one for that program.  They lost @ Houston by 12, to #15 UCF by 7 points, and @ Navy by 3 points.  For the first time since at least 1993, SMU played every opponent within 21 points.  They have scored over 40 points 7 times this year, have averaged over 300 passing yards per game this year, have averaged 186 rushing yards per games this year, have averaged 40.2 PPG this year (8th nationally), and have averaged 494 yards of total offense per game (12th nationally) this season. 

Recruiting
As you can see from his high school career, Morris has deep ties in the state of Texas.  He's coached in the Dallas area, Houston area, Austin area, and near the TX-LA line close to Shreveport.  You will not find a head coach anywhere with deeper ties to Texas High School football.  He was a great recruiter at Clemson landing players like Deshaun Watson, Chad Kelly, and Shaq Lawson to name a few.

If Morris became the next head coach at Arkansas, we would likely recruit Texas better than we have at any point in the SEC era.  His style of offensive also fits well with what the majority of Arkansas high schools are running, so I think he would do well in this state too.  He also has ties around Shreveport, so Louisiana could continue to be an area where we pick off talent.

TLDR
Despite his overall record at SMU, Chad Morris is a great offensive mind who has had success at every stop along his coaching career.  Much like Malzahn, he came up through the high school ranks by using an innovative offense, then spent a short time as OC at Tulsa before moving on to a powerhouse program.  He was a major reason for the rise of Clemson football.  Without his offense and recruiting, Dabo Swinney and Clemson would not be where they are today.  He took over a trainwreck program at SMU and has steadily improved their record each year.  This is the first season in over 30 years where they were competitive in every game.  He also has deep recruiting ties in Texas, and has coached at high schools in the top three major metro areas in that state. 

Additional Reading
https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2014/6/10/5782566/clemson-offense-chad-morris

Great to see people doing some research on this excellent coach I will be sharing this

[wildcat101]

sweet, a below average coach.  Just what we need to win the SEC