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FootballScoop.com is reporting that Chad Morris has "stepped away" from coaching at least for the 2025 season –- allegedly to watch Chandler's final season of college football (at Virginia).

https://footballscoop.com/news/chad-morris-steps-away-from-staff-at-texas-state

Chad ran out the clock on his commitment to find alternate employment to pay down his buy out from Arkansas

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/201 ... azorbacks/

According to the terms of his contract, Morris could be owed more than $10.1 million in severance pay, which is equal to 70 percent of what he’d have been paid had he fulfilled his contract. The contract runs through December 2023. Morris will be obligated to mitigate the buyout by seeking employment.

He should easily be able to afford taking a year off. Now he needs to hope Chandler earns the starting job. Virginia is bringing in 2 transfers (the other from Nebraska) after last year's starter transferred to UNLV. They also signed 2 FR so who knows what they might have for 2025?

The grift will continue at some point. He is the type who will be on social media hawking crypto at one day.

I don't hate him. Didn't like how he left, but was offered a boatload of cash to go to Hogville and an SEC job. Name one coach who would turn that down when you're coaching in the AAC. He was a solid AAC coach and got us moving in the right direction after June flaked out. He was out of his element in Fayetteville and took the cash and headed down the road.

Chad was a solid OC at Clemson but was the right guy at the time to help SMU and I'm glad he came. It got the program a lot of much needed publicity at the time

I was never a fan of Chad Morris. Right before the end his last season, I said at the time that it’s really not that hard to move a team to the middle of the AAC. I thought he was over-paid and over-hyped.

highlander wrote:I was never a fan of Chad Morris. Right before the end his last season, I said at the time that it’s really not that hard to move a team to the middle of the AAC. I thought he was over-paid and over-hyped.

Agreed. In his three years at SMU:

He was 14-22 overall and 8-16 in AAC play. And that includes 3 wins against UNT (Thank you Courtland), UConn, Ark State, Liberty, SFA, and 3 Ws against a bad Tulane.

A loss to an FCS opponent at home (JMU), and all culminating in his team's only bowl appearance in Frisco, which he did not even coach, but his team was thoroughly embarrassed by Louisiana Tech.

Don't forget - He also managed to lose 3 games in one season at Allen HS before getting canned there.

June left the cupboard bare, and it took a couple of years simply to get us competitive in the AAC. So, again, he got us moving in the right direction in the conference we were in. Sonny was able to build on what he did to get us to the upper level of the conference. Rhett made us champions.

Agree that Morris took over a train wreck that June Jones left behind. He was able to produce a slight uptick in recruiting that ultimately got the program to a point where we could beat all the bad teams on our schedule but could not compete against good teams. Give him credit for having been able to parlay a 7-5 season into a contract with Arkansas that helped him financially secure his future and allows him to now take a year off to watch Chandler's last season of college ball. My Virginia buddy tells me Chandler is the only experienced QB on their roster next year so barring injury or a complete meltdown he has been penciled in as their starter.

He should go back to what he does best, selling used cars.

Charleston Pony wrote:Agree that Morris took over a train wreck that June Jones left behind. He was able to produce a slight uptick in recruiting that ultimately got the program to a point where we could beat all the bad teams on our schedule but could not compete against good teams. Give him credit for having been able to parlay a 7-5 season into a contract with Arkansas that helped him financially secure his future and allows him to now take a year off to watch Chandler's last season of college ball. My Virginia buddy tells me Chandler is the only experienced QB on their roster next year so barring injury or a complete meltdown he has been penciled in as their starter.

Really wish Preston landed at UVA. But I am sure NW is a better place for him to be surrounded with stronger skill position players (UVA's best, and perhaps only good, WR went to portal).

UVA having rough times these days in hoops and Football.

EastStang wrote:June left the cupboard bare, and it took a couple of years simply to get us competitive in the AAC. So, again, he got us moving in the right direction in the conference we were in. Sonny was able to build on what he did to get us to the upper level of the conference. Rhett made us champions.

Jones did not leave the cupboard bare. Morris inherited Matt Davis, Horace Richardson, Courtland Sutton (NFL), Darius Joseph, Jeremiah Gaines, Shak Randolph, Darrion Millines, Evan Brown (NFL), Chauncey Briggs (NFL training camp), etc. It's not like Morris was walking back into Clemson, but he inherited players who were more than capable of competing in the AAC.

PonyFan wrote:

EastStang wrote:June left the cupboard bare, and it took a couple of years simply to get us competitive in the AAC. So, again, he got us moving in the right direction in the conference we were in. Sonny was able to build on what he did to get us to the upper level of the conference. Rhett made us champions.

Jones did not leave the cupboard bare. Morris inherited Matt Davis, Horace Richardson, Courtland Sutton (NFL), Darius Joseph, Jeremiah Gaines, Shak Randolph, Darrion Millines, Evan Brown (NFL), Chauncey Briggs (NFL training camp), etc. It's not like Morris was walking back into Clemson, but he inherited players who were more than capable of competing in the AAC.

crazy that we have good amount of players in NFL and regularly playing in superbowl.

Any coach that is hailed as the 2nd coming upon arrival, and then eventually leaves SMU for a better conference and a big pay raise is utterly greedy and a terrible human being!