Reports surface linking Chad Morris to SMU

Morris has a .780 winning percentage in the games he has coached at Tulsa and Clemson.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Nov 28 00:47:34 GMT-04:00 2014

CLEMSON – Chad Morris Chad Morris
Offensive Coordinator / QBs
View Full Profile to SMU?

Reports began to filter out of Texas late Thanksgiving night that Clemson’s offensive coordinator is the leading candidate to become the head coach at Southern Methodist University.

Different reports surfaced stating that Morris had already accepted the position, but SMU’s Athletic Director told USA Today’s Dan Wolken that he didn’t have a deal in place.

Morris is one of the highest-paid assistant coach college football at $1.3 million per year, and his name has been linked to several openings over the past few seasons, including Louisville and Vanderbilt.

Chip Brown of Scout.com reported, citing an SMU source that Morris will be hired and an announcement should come during the first week of December. The contract will pay Morris more than $3 million per year.

SMU’s job opened up when former head coach June Jones resigned in early September – at that time defensive coordinator Tom Mason was elevated to the top spot. The Mustangs are 0-10 this season, with eight consecutive AAC losses dating to last year.

TigerNet spoke with different sources in the Clemson program Thursday evening, and we were told that there is no deal in place. One source told us that if a deal were to be reached between Morris and SMU, it wouldn’t be announced until next week.

At this point, this appears to TigerNet to be one of those stories that bears watching over the next week. I wouldn’t expect any word to come down until some point next week – Clemson hosts South Carolina Saturday at noon in Death Valley.

Morris came to Clemson in 2011 after spending a year as the offensive coordinator at Tulsa. Prior to Tulsa, he was the head coach at Lake Travis High School in Texas. Morris has a .780 winning percentage in the games he has coached at Tulsa and Clemson.

Clemson has scored 50 or more points in a game 65 times, including 12 times in the last four years, or since Morris became Clemson’s offensive coordinator. Last year the Tigers had five games in which they scored at least 50 points, the most in one season in school history. That included a streak of three games in a row with at least 50 in consecutive wins over Virginia, Georgia Tech and The Citadel.

Morris was named 2013 AFCA National Assistant Coach-of-the-Year and one of five finalists for national offensive coordinator-of-the-year by 247Sports.com, and was the national offensive coordinator-of-the-year by Rivals.com in 2011.

I expect #Clemson OC Chad Morris to be the next head coach at #SMU but was told tonight it's not a done deal.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 28, 2014