As Tennessee embarks on its fourth coaching search in ten years, here’s a quick look at Vols coaching candidate Chad Morris.
Chad Morris’ coaching experience (48 years old)
After a prolific run in the fertile grounds of Texas high school coaching, he got his big break as Tulsa’s offensive coordinator in 2010 where he began revolutionizing offenses as a Todd Graham disciple (much like Mike Norvell). From there, he made a name for himself as Dabo Swinney’s offensive coordinator at Clemson from 2011-14, helping to bring that program to the forefront of college football. He took over a downtrodden program at SMU, and the Mustangs will have a winning record this year. It’s been a long rebuild; he’s 13-21.
GRT taxonomy of college football coaches: Great Coordinator (with some (mediocre) Mid-Major head coaching experience)
Why the Tennessee Vols might want Chad Morris
You want instant offense? He’s an undervalued name out there who was once one of the hottest coordinator commodities in all of college football. He is great with the spread and has already performed wonders as the OC at a top-level school. It was only a matter of time before he built up SMU, but there’s a defined ceiling there. Can he ever make it higher in Dallas than winning the conference? You know he’d love the opportunity to excel at a top job. He’d need a premiere defensive coordinator, but his ties in Texas and in the Southeast would be a bonus in recruiting, and the Vols would definitely rejuvenate a stagnant offense.
Why the Tennessee Vols might not want Chad Morris
Again, this is a very realistic hire, but it seems that he would be further down the list. Morris is interested in this job, as well as openings at Ole Miss and the potential one at Arkansas. As a Texas A&M graduate, that’s a dream job, but will the Aggies dip that far down? For that matter, will the Vols? Morris would need to make a slam-dunk hire as a defensive coordinator, but he has ties to Clemson assistant and former UT player Marion Hobby, so that would be a possibility. Still, he has gone to Dallas and been a forgotten man for a bit. Vols fans would need years and wins to warm up to him. Do we have that kind of time?