Report: Former Arkansas, SMU head coach Chad Morris to be hired at Texas State

Former Arkansas and SMU head coach Chad Morris is joining the Texas State coaching staff, according to Ishmael Johnson. Morris will serve as wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator for the Bobcats, according to Johnson.

The 55-year-old Morris was most recently on staff at Clemson during the 2023 season as an offensive analyst. The Tigers went 9-4 this past season, finishing the year with five straight wins.

Chad Morris was a longtime successful high school coach in Texas, prior to transitioning to the college ranks ahead of the 2010 college football season.

He spent the 2010 season at Tulsa and put up impressive stats as his offense averaged 41.4 points per game.

After one season with the Golden Hurricane, Dabo Swinney added Morris to his Clemson staff as the offensive coordinator. Morris spent four seasons working under Swinney and had one of the most explosive offenses in the country.

Clemson was 41-11 during his four seasons as offensive coordinator. The Tigers posted the top three scoring seasons in school history with Morris in charge of the offense.

In 2012, Clemson averaged 513 yards per game and 41 points per game. The 2013 squad wasn’t far behind at 508.5 yards per game and 40.2 points per game.

After four successful seasons at Clemson, Morris got his first head coaching opportunity at the college level when he was hired by SMU ahead of the 2015 seasons.

Morris took over an SMU program that was coming off of a 1-11 season and went 2-10, 5-7 and 7-5 during his three years in Dallas. His success with the Mustangs led to Morris getting a head coaching job in the SEC at Arkansas.

Unfortunately for Morris, he struggled to have any success with the Razorbacks and was let go before even completing his second season at Arkansas. Morris was fired after 4-18 (0-14) in nearly two years.

While Morris was no longer an SEC head coach, he did remain in the SEC. Auburn hired him as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for the 2020 season.

Morris then returned to high school football for a year, before serving as an analyst the past two seasons — first with USF and this past season with Clemson.

He will now work with a Texas State program that is coming off of a solid season in the Sun Belt. The Bobcats finished 8-5 in 2023, including a dominant 45-21 win over Rice in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl.