Chad Allen Morris (born December 4, 1968) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach. He is currently an offensive analyst at

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

. Morris served as the head football coach at

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

(SMU) from 2015 to 2017 and the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

from 2018 to 2019.

Coaching career

Prior to his collegiate coaching career, he was a high school head coach in Texas for 16 seasons compiling a 169–38 record (.816 winning overall). Most recently he was the head coach of the

Lake Travis High School Lake Travis High School is a public high school located in unincorporated Travis County, Texas, United States, approximately 20 miles west of Austin, near Lake Travis. The preparatory is accredited by the Texas Education Agency and rated as an ...

football team from 2008 to 2009. He coached the team, starring quarterback

Garrett Gilbert Garrett Antone Gilbert (born July 1, 1991) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. The son of former NFL quarterback Gale Gilbert, he played college football at Texas and SMU. Joining the NFL in 2014, Gilbert was primarily ass ...

, to back-to-back 16–0, state title seasons. Morris made the move to college in 2010 when he became the offensive coordinator and associate head coach at the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...

. He would spend only one season at Tulsa before moving to

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

as offensive coordinator. The 2 years prior to Morris' arrival, Clemson went a combined 15–12, including a record of 6–7 in 2010. Morris introduced a hurry-up, spread offense that helped Clemson to a 42–11 mark over the next four seasons. In December 2011, Morris became tied with

Gus Malzahn Arthur Gustavo Malzahn III (; born October 28, 1965) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach at the University of Central Florida (UCF Knights football, UCF). He was the head football coach at Auburn University from 2013 t ...

as the highest paid assistant in college football after

gave Morris a six-year contract worth $1.3 million annually. In December 2012, Morris interviewed for the

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

head coaching vacancy, which had been created by the departure of

Tommy Tuberville Thomas Hawley Tuberville ( ; born September 18, 1954) is an American retired college football coach and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Alabama since 2021. Before entering politics, Tuberville was the head football co ...

for

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. However, the job would be filled by

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

offensive coordinator, and Texas Tech alumnus,

Kliff Kingsbury Kliff Timothy Kingsbury (born August 9, 1979) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously a collegiate football coach from 2008 to ...

SMU

Morris got his first opportunity to head coach at the collegiate level when he became head coach at the

on December 1, 2014. Morris' first two classes of recruits at SMU were all from Texas high schools, making SMU the only school in the country with all-Texas recruiting classes during that time. Morris completed his tenure at SMU compiling a 14–22 record over 3 seasons. Morris improved his record each year at SMU going 2–10 in 2015, 5–7 in 2016 and 7–5 in 2017.

Arkansas

On December 6, 2017, Morris was hired as the head coach of the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (ori ...

, signing a six-year, $21 million contract. In his first year, Morris led the Razorbacks to a 2–10 record, notching the team’s first ten-loss season in school history. This included a winless record in SEC play. After a 2–8 start to the 2019 season and a 45–19 loss to Group of 5 opponent Western Kentucky, Arkansas dismissed Morris in his second season. All four of his wins as head coach were over Group of Five (

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

) or FCS (

Eastern Illinois Eastern Illinois University is a public university in Charleston, Illinois. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradually expanded into a co ...

Portland State Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...

) competition. To date, he is the only full-time Razorback coach to have left the school without a conference win. His 4-18 record is the worst record for a non-interim coach in Arkansas history.

Auburn

On December 10, 2019, it was announced Morris was hired by his longtime friend

to serve as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year coeducational university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

. On December 13, 2020, it was announced that Auburn head coach Malzahn was being fired, along with his entire staff (including Morris).

Personal life

Morris went to Edgewood High School in

Edgewood, Texas Edgewood is a city in Van Zandt County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,441 at the 2010 census. The town draws its name from its location on the far western edge of the East Texas timberline on U.S. Highway 80, approximately 60 miles ea ...

, where he was the quarterback of the Bulldogs. He attended Texas A&M and earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics with a minor in statistics in 1992. Morris was atypical among NCAA Division I head football coaches in that he did not play football at the collegiate level. He was one of only four such coaches along with

Sonny Dykes Daniel "Sonny" Dykes (born November 9, 1969) is an American football coach, and a former college baseball player. He is currently the head football coach at Texas Christian University (TCU), and previously served in the same role at Southern Meth ...

at TCU,

David Cutcliffe David Nelson Cutcliffe (born September 16, 1954) is the Special Assistant to the Commissioner for Football Relations at the Southeastern Conference and former college football coach, most recently head coach of the Duke University Blue Devils. ...

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

, and Mike Leach at

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univers ...

. He and his wife, Paula, have two children, a daughter, Mackenzie, and son, Chandler, who plays football at TCU.

Head coaching record

College

* Departed SMU for Arkansas before bowl game

Notes

References

External links

South Florida profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Chad Living people 1968 births Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches Auburn Tigers football coaches Clemson Tigers football coaches SMU Mustangs football coaches South Florida Bulls football coaches Tulsa Golden Hurricane football coaches High school football coaches in Texas Texas A&M University alumni People from Edgewood, Texas Coaches of American football from Texas