Chad Morris returning to Clemson football program in new role

As Clemson’s offensive coordinator from 2011-14, Chad Morris helped set the high-scoring standard that propelled the Tigers to two national championships.

Now, he’s back in Death Valley.

Nothing’s official just yet, but Morris is expected to rejoin Clemson’s staff in a volunteer offensive consulting role for the 2023 season, a team spokesperson confirmed to The State on Wednesday.

Morris’ expected hiring was first reported Tuesday by the website TigerNet.

Morris – also the former head coach of SMU and Arkansas – will operate in an analyst-like role similar to the one longtime defensive coach Ted Roof held for Clemson during the 2021 season, the spokesperson said.

Morris’ hiring will also reunite him with coach Dabo Swinney, his former boss of four years, and connect him with Garrett Riley, the Tigers’ highly touted first-year offensive coordinator who Swinney hired away from TCU.

Morris, 54, spent last season at South Florida as an offensive analyst for coach Jeff Scott (another former Clemson co-worker) but was looking for a new role after Scott’s 2022 firing. Before that, he’d also recently worked as Auburn’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2020 and the head coach at Allen High School in the Dallas-Forth Worth area in 2021.

Morris had a tremendously successful run as Clemson’s offensive coordinator from 2011-14. The Tigers, in that four-year stretch, went 41-11, won the 2011 ACC championship and reached four bowl games including two BCS Orange Bowls.

Clemson set 127 offensive records during Morris’ four seasons and also recorded the top three scoring seasons in school history and four of the top five passing seasons in school history, with Morris’ fast-paced spread offense fueling the success of Tigers legends such as quarterbacks Tajh Boyd and Deshaun Watson and wide receivers DeAndre Hopkins and Sammy Watkins.

Morris’ success at Clemson earned him head coaching jobs at SMU, where he worked 2015-17, and Arkansas, where he worked 2018-19. Morris was a combined 18-40 at those schools with one winning season (SMU went 7-5 in 2017).

Riley also has a fun connection to Morris: In 2022, Chandler Morris, Chad Morris’ son, was Riley’s starting quarterback in the season opener for the Horned Frogs. But Morris was injured in the first game of the season, clearing the way for eventual Heisman Trophy runner-up Max Duggan to emerge as the starter.

By adding Morris to his 2023 staff, Swinney’s making another clear attempt to improve the Clemson offense and get the Tigers back into the College Football Playoff and national championship conversation.

That’s what prompted Swinney to fire former offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter after one season in January and replace him with Riley, 33, who won the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach as he helped lead TCU to an improbable national title game appearance.

Clemson, the defending ACC champion, went 11-3 last season and returns a number of prominent offensive players, including sophomore quarterback Cade Klubnik, All-ACC running back Will Shipley, freshman All American receiver Antonio Williams and four of five offensive line starters.

The team hopes Riley’s air raid offense can unlock the full potential of the group and get more production out of receivers such as Beaux Collins, Adam Randall and Cole Turner. Clemson was good — but not great — offensively in 2022 and most prominently lacked a consistent downfield passing game.

Swinney made a similar change after the 2010 season when he fired then-offensive coordinator Billy Napier after a 6-7 season and replaced him with Morris, who was working as Tulsa’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach. He’d previously spent 16 seasons as a well-regarded Texas high school football coach.

Over a decade later, Morris is back at Clemson to assist Swinney, Riley and company in a volunteer role like the one Roof held two seasons ago. Roof left his job as Vanderbilt’s defensive coordinator to join the Tiger as an analyst in 2021 under defensive coordinator Venables.

Roof ended up following Venables to Oklahoma that December when the Sooners hired him away from Clemson as head coach and is now entering his second season as OU’s defensive coordinator/linebackers coach.

Outside of Riley, the team’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Morris is Clemson’s most prominent offseason staff addition. The Tigers will return all nine of their other assistant coaches from the 2022 season.

Morris’ return to Clemson is the second by a prominent former Tiger in recent days. Clemson added former running back James Davis to the staff as a student assistant coach last week; he’ll assist former backfield teammate C.J. Spiller in coaching the running backs while completing his degree.