Chad Morris Has SMU Moving Upwards

Photo via Tommy Gilligan, USA TODAY Sports

The best sign that the Mustangs could be a breakout team was their 38-16 upset over the Houston Cougars, who went 9-4 and was the best team in the state of Texas.

The most notable figure of the Mustangs is their head coach Chad Morris. Morris was born and raised in Dallas and he is no stranger to coaching in Texas. He’s never stayed at one place for long because he’s had success.

Morris won three state titles as a Texas high school coach. He coached at Eustace for three years, Elysian Fields for two years, Bay City for three years, Stephenville for five years and Lake Travis for two years.

The college ranks came calling and Morris went to be an offensive coordinator for Tulsa in 2010. Morris coached for one year under head coach Todd Graham of Mesquite, Texas. The Golden Hurricanes’ offense averaged over 500 yards per game and scored 41 points per game. They went 10-3 and scored 63 points in a win at the Hawaii Bowl.

After just one year, Morris was hired as an offensive coordinator by the Clemson Tigers in 2011. Dabo Swinney was in his third season as the Tigers’ head coach and the school notched its first 10 win season since 1990. The Tigers’ offense averaged 33 points per game and 440 yards per game with a roster that was loaded with Tajh Boyd at quarterback, Andre Ellington, Sammy Watkins, DeAndre Hopkins, Martavis Bryant, Dwayne Allen and Adam Humphries. In 2012, the Tigers went 11-2 with the same offense and averaged 41 points per game and 512 yards per game and won the Peach Bowl over LSU. They did virtually the same thing again in 2013 and won the Orange Bowl over Ohio State. It was their first Orange Bowl win since they won a National Championship in 1981.

In Morris’ last year in 2014, the Tigers had two freshmen named Deshaun Watson and Wayne Gallman. Watson played in just eight games, but he passed for 1,466 yards, 14 touchdowns and two interceptions. They went 10-3 and blew out the Oklahoma Sooners 40-7 in the Russell Athletic Bowl.

Morris parlayed that success into the SMU coaching job, while Clemson would go on to appear in the College Football Championship the next two seasons and win the title once.

SMU has yet to have a winning record since moving into the American Athletic Conference four years ago. The June Jones experiment at SMU was in a decline after six years, three of which produced a winning record. The Mustangs went 5-7 in 2013, but then the bottom fell out in 2014. They changed coaches after an 0-2 start and finished 1-11.

The only significant losses on the roster are a couple of defensive backs to graduation. The main contributor will be defensive end Justin Lawler, who had six sacks last season. The Mustangs’ top juniors will be leading tackler Kyran Mitchell, running back Braeden West, who had 1,036 rushing yards and wide receiver Courtland Sutton, who had 1,246 receiving yards. The Mustangs will have 53 freshmen that will be sophomores, which may be one reason they brought in just three recruits so far. With Houston, Baylor and Texas dealing with changes, SMU is in a position to capitalize on their improvement.