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Navy beat the snot out of us and Morris didn’t seem terribly upset. We need a coach that can beat Navy at least.

Navy beat us by a FG with no time left on the clock

Without Abey.

but with a guy that has run for about 250 in the Snow so far against Army. 10 yards per carry on the season. I wish we played against Abey

mtrout wrote:Without Abey.

but with the guy who beat our Abey for the starting QB job

You are saying army is a good comparison point? Some people don't understand college football.

Simple reason he won't be a big loss for us: 2, 5, and 7 wins and no top 5 American recruiting classes...

I don't think any rational observer is going to argue that SMU football isn't better off after 3 years of the Chad Morris regime than what it was when he arrived, but I have considered the possibility Chad had an urgency about bailing out on this program. Despite his efforts, enthusiasm for SMU football is no better than it was and being realistic, I have considered the possibility that this team has a losing record next year.

Those "easy" wins this year at Ford against UNT, UConn, Tulsa & Tulane are all going to be road games next year so they could easily become losses. We also get the more talented teams on our schedule at Ford (I'm including TCU, Houston & Memphis in that category). Add road games at Michigan and UCF and then Navy, who we have always struggled against and next year could be a tough welcome for our new coach. Even Cincy could improve significantly in the 2nd year under their new coach, so it could become a REALLY ugly year...the kind of year that could have destroyed Chad's career trajectory.

As others have pointed out, it's not like he has been reeling in recruiting classes that were at the top of the AAC. While I appreciate how hard Chad and his staff worked for SMU while they were here, I think we are still searching for the guy that can really help this program turn the corner.

Charleston Pony wrote:I don't think any rational observer is going to argue that SMU football isn't better off after 3 years of the Chad Morris regime than what it was when he arrived, but I have considered the possibility Chad had an urgency about bailing out on this program. Despite his efforts, enthusiasm for SMU football is no better than it was and being realistic, I have considered the possibility that this team has a losing record next year.

Those "easy" wins this year at Ford against UNT, UConn, Tulsa & Tulane are all going to be road games next year so they could easily become losses. We also get the more talented teams on our schedule at Ford (I'm including TCU, Houston & Memphis in that category). Add road games at Michigan and UCF and then Navy, who we have always struggled against and next year could be a tough welcome for our new coach. Even Cincy could improve significantly in the 2nd year under their new coach, so it could become a REALLY ugly year...the kind of year that could have destroyed Chad's career trajectory.

As others have pointed out, it's not like he has been reeling in recruiting classes that were at the top of the AAC. While I appreciate how hard Chad and his staff worked for SMU while they were here, I think we are still searching for the guy that can really help this program turn the corner.

Yep.

Great point, Charleston...if SMU had a losing record or even 6-6 next year, Morris's window for a P5 gig would likely close. I bet he was out there for every opportunity that was available, to take advantage of this winning season. After all, the "Mission was Accomplished"!

The reasons I think Chad Morris is replaceable:
While he improved the talent at SMU, we are not at the top of the AAC. I believe he did an excellent job recruiting for SMU but was not competing with P5 programs for the top talent so a solid hire should be able to match his recruiting. With the easiest non conference schedule we have had in a long time we were 7-5. I would expect any competent coach to have achieved a 7-5 record with our schedule this season. The talent on offense is there, but what about the defense? Our schedule is significantly more difficult next season and was hopeful that even with Chad we would be able to achieve a 6-6 record but unless we get immediate help on defense I am not sure that is realistic. Chad was already the highest paid G5 coach and while he was doing a very good job for SMU was not the most successful G5 coach. Had we won 6 games in 2016 I would have been more impressed. Finally and most importantly, SMU is not good enough for there to be a big discrepancy between his results at SMU and a solid replacement. This is not an indictment on Morris more so an issue of getting more bang for your buck. We are still in the accumulation of talent phase. Once we match top AAC talent then we will be able to judge coaching ability better.