Chad Morris to be hired as Arkansas' next head coach, according to reports

Arkansas has reportedly found its next head coach in SMU’s Chad Morris. On Tuesday evening, reports surfaced that he will be named the Razorbacks’ head coach, replacing Bret Bielema in Fayetteville.

Chad Morris will be be named the head coach at the University of Arkansas. #wps
— Trey Biddy (@TreyBiddy) December 5, 2017

Arkansas and Chad Morris agree to a deal, and the Hogs plan to annnounce him as head coach later Wednesday, sources tell ESPN.
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) December 6, 2017

According to Football Scoop, Morris is expected to try and hire Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables for the same position on his staff.

Morris just finished his third year as the Mustangs’ head coach — his team finished 7-5 and earned a bowl bid against Louisiana Tech in the Frisco Bowl. During Morris’ first two seasons as head coach, his teams went 2-10 and 5-7, so he’s put together quite an improvement over three short seasons.

The turnaround in Dallas is impressive, and a lot of the success the Mustangs have experienced is due to their offense, as Bill Connelly pointed out in his SMU preview for 2017:

When Morris arrived, SMU’s offense had regressed for four straight years, from 43rd in Off. S&P+ in 2010 to 125th in 2014. The defense had held out longer before crumbling but still ranked 108th in 2014. Before Morris could worry about scoring major points or winning games, he had to restock the depth chart.
He’s getting there. The offense surged to 63rd in 2015 and held steady at 72nd in 2016 despite the fact that Morris handed the offense over to a freshman quarterback (Ben Hicks). The defense, meanwhile, fell further in 2015 before improving a hair last fall. After winning just two games in his debut season, the Mustangs won five in 2016, even scoring an ultra-symbolic 38-16 domination of Houston on Oct. 22.
Each of Morris’ two full-year recruiting classes have ranked seventh in the AAC, per the 247Sports Composite. He has signed 25 three-star recruits in that span and has brought in some power-conference transfers.

Prior to accepting the head coaching job at SMU, Morris made a name for himself as Clemson’s offensive coordinator under Dabo Swinney, a position he had for four seasons. The offense he runs is a spread option attack, but it has elements that made it like a modern wishbone. Ian Boyd’s profile of it in 2014 captures how it hurts defenses so easily:

The description "basketball on grass" is apt, but in a literal sense. It captures how the offense becomes more about getting the ideal matchups and executing options, as in basketball, rather than out-guessing the opponent. The lightning tempo utilized by Malzahn and Morris further allows for this simplicity.
You can see the effects of simple concepts run quickly in the SEC. There's no confusion as to why Nick Saban's Alabama defense has had the most trouble with Auburn and Texas A&M, teams that use tempo.
Some of his favorite tactics, such as play-call diversity and bulked-up players, become totally nullified and even turned against him, as his players suck air and look to the sideline while the opponent's already snapping the ball.
Of course, despite that simplicity and speed, Morris teams will make heavy use of motion to change leverage before the snap and see if the defense adjusts. Often the QB's options will depend on the defense's response to motion. This creates a good deal of confusion for the defense.
After the snap, you can see the past come alive as Morris' smashmouth spread starts cycling through the four options of a triple-option attack, whether two or three at a time or all at once. That's right. The best triple option offenses present four main threats to account for.

The philosophy behind the system he runs is one he learned from Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn, who Morris watched while Malzahn was the offensive coordinator at Arkansas in 2006. Morris was a high school coach in Texas at the time. After his brainstorming sessions with Malzahn, his career took off. He became the head coach at central Texas power Lake Travis, winning consecutive state championships in 2008 and 2009. He was hired as Tulsa’s offensive coordinator in 2010 before Swinney hired him in 2011. From Boyd a few years ago, again:

He's become one of football's highest-paid assistants, has overseen the attacks that have powered three straight 10-win seasons and bowl wins against LSU and Ohio State, and seems like a lock to land a top head coaching job at some point.

This is a huge pull for Arkansas to potentially bring in prospects from the state. Morris has strong Texas roots, and he utilized recruits from the Longhorn State within his SMU program. Morris is from Edgewood, Texas, and he went to college at Texas A&M. He spent 16 seasons in the state coaching high school football, where he compiled a 169–38 record.

One of the most notable things Morris did during his three seasons as SMU’s head coach was successfully recruit Texas.

In Morris' first two signing classes at SMU since taking over after 2014, the Mustangs have signed 47 players. Every single one of them has had a Texas address. That’s all they’re recruiting for 2017, too. Morris came to the college ranks via almost two decades coaching high schoolers in the state, so it’s a natural fit, and it’s now his whole recruiting strategy.
"The only chance we got is to win with our Texas high school coaches," Morris told Steven Godfrey and Bill Connelly at AAC media days. "Well, I’m one of them. Coached ball with ’em for 18 years. Knowing those guys, having their help, it’s a big part of our success in our recruiting."
Morris comes from East Texas, and that's part of SMU's focus, along with Houston, Austin and the Mustangs' primary recruiting stronghold, the Dallas-Fort Worth area. And virtually every signee is Texan.
"We're laying market," he said. "We're the only Division I program in our state that can say that, so a Texas-tough mentality."

When he was hired at SMU, Morris seemed like a perfect fit for the job. Now he has a chance to translate his success at Arkansas, and with his recruiting abilities and offensive scheme, heading to Fayetteville sounds like a home-run hire.

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