For Some Reason, Another Program Has Hired Former SMU Coach Chad Morris

Since bailing on Mustangs, he's left long path of destruction across multiple levels of football

DALLAS – It looks like SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee is going to have to do a bit of recruiting against a former Mustangs head football coach.

According to Football Scoop, former Ponies coach Chad Morris is GJ Kinne's new wide receivers coach at Texas State. 

It's been a long and winding road for Morris since he departed SMU back in the late 2010s. His first stop was at Arkansas where he decimated a once proud program that just a few years earlier was a Top 5 team. 

The Razorbacks are still recovering as a recently mighty SEC power was immediately reduced to struggling to beat FCS schools and getting blown out by Group of Five programs. Morris' work created two of the darkest seasons in Arkansas history and the former head Mustang was unceremoniously booted in less than two seasons.

As a previously dominant high school coach at Lake Travis, Morris built a relationship with fellow high school coach Gus Malzahn who decided to throw Morris a bone at Auburn after things fell apart in Fayetteville. What followed was a season of futility as Morris couldn't even land his own son, Chandler, down on The Plains. By season's end, Malzahn was gone. 

Considered untouchable at the college ranks, Morris tried his hand at high school football once again. This time he took over powerhouse Allen and immediately ended their 80-game home winning streak and produced the Eagles' worst record in nearly two decades. 

The once proud program has yet to recover. Prior to Morris stepping on campus, Allen went 123-6 over nine seasons. In his single season and the two that have followed, the Eagles are at a historic low going 27-12.

Morris was special assistant to the head coach at Clemson last season as a bit of a favor from head coach Dabo Swinney. A single season of the former SMU coach hanging around the locker room resulted in the first non-winning ACC record in 14 years. The year before that he stopped off in South Florida and helped the Bulls to a single win.

None of this is good news for Kinne. The Bobcats burst onto the scene, making all kinds of noise in the Sunbelt Conference in Kinne's first season. However, once again, this looks like a friend throwing Morris another bone. 

With Morris as his offensive coordinator, Kinne quarterbacked Tulsa to an 8-5 finish and a bowl win. He threw for 3,650 yards and 36 touchdowns, placing him on the radar of NFL executives. Once his time in the pros was over, Morris gave Kinne his first coaching opportunity, serving as a graduate assistant at SMU.

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