The Chad Chronicles Part III
***Apologies for the long absence/delay, had stuff come up that was out of my control and then was waiting on confirmation on some things. Hope it's worth the wait and happy to answer any questions that y'all have***
So going into 2017 the expectation for everyone around the program was bowl game.. 2016 ended in heartbreak by losing 2 straight games to end the season to end up being 5-7 that included a horrendous 31-75 loss to Navy in the final week.
They had 2 NFL WR talents in Trey Quinn and Courtland Sutton that carried the team to a winning record in 2017. They combined for 182 Catches, 2,321 yards and 25 TD’s. Chad started getting interest from Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas A&M, etc.. SMU makes it’s first bowl game since 2012 and 5th since 1984. This is also Chad’s first bowl game in his 3 years at SMU.
At the end of the year Chad had done what SMU had ask, (at least on the surface level, more on this later), and the recruiting class was a mixed bag. Some top tier guys and then some guys who were just low hanging fruit. Chad loves recruiting rankings, I know people say coaches don’t look at this stuff, but they 100% do.
This is where the door starts to close…
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Chad really wanted the A&M job, like bad… but they had just gotten done with a Chad like clone in Kevin Sumlin who came from Houston in 2011 and A&M wanted a bigger named fish. Obviously they ended up going all out for Jimbo Fisher and giving him one of the craziest contract IMO. Chad was crushed he didn’t even get a courtesy interview.. I know his agent reached out to the school multiple times and wasn’t even given a chance.
So going into bowl game prep, Chad was adamant that he was sticking around.. for some reason he kept telling the staff, players and even the administration that he didn’t think most of the programs out there were a good fit for him except for A&M (his alma mater). The defensive coaches knew he was full of it, and from what I’ve been told this is where the players got the “used car salesman vibe”… All talk with no substance.
2 members of that offensive staff who I was told I wasn’t allowed to name started calling a lot of their recruits in late November and early December telling them they should look around. I’ve heard they would say “We don’t know if we have room for you anymore”, “SMU isn’t a good place to play football, trust me”, or whatever they could behind the scenes to break up the recruiting class before they even left. They had a few lined up so whenever/wherever they decided to go, they would follow the coaching staff to that school.
It's still uncertain if this was under the direction of Chad or these 2 guys just giving SMU the middle finger as a parting gift.. but regardless they aren't well liked and it still has left a sour taste in a lot of mouths.
SMU knew Chad was leaving, but for whatever reason he kept telling the administration, the players and the defensive staff that he was probably going to stay. Meanwhile rumors start flying around that he’s going to New York that weekend to meet with Tennessee and Arkansas. When he got back and met with the team for bowl prep, a lot of players starting asking him if he was leaving..
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Then on Monday Chad wasn’t at practice, and there was some BS rumor that one of his family members was super sick and he was not going to be at practice that day.. Turns out Arkansas flew him to Fayetteville on Jerry Jones jet (Jerry’s Grandson was the QB at Highland Park 2 years ahead of Chandler so Chad and Jerry became close..) to see the campus and meet with the new AD. All along he stayed quiet not telling anyone except his offensive staff..
Morris was back for practice on Tuesday and told the team on that he'll be the coach next year and he's not leaving. Some players believed him, most thought he was full of it. "Used car salesman" talk is how one source described it. The seniors really want to go to a bowl and end their careers with a win. They started taking on a ton of leadership in this trying to keep the team focused on what they need to do. While Chad was pitching himself to other schools.
Chad left the practice field that day and never returned… He jumped on a plane that next morning and signed with Arkansas. He never said goodbye to the players, to SMU, or half the defensive staff…
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2 offensive staff members wanted to stay and coach the bowl game.. 1 was a coach who truly cared about his positional players and wanted to go out with a win. The other wanted to be a candidate for the HC job and was tapped to be the interim HC for the Bowl Game. If you been reading my SMU related coach you know who the 1st staff member who actually cared for SMU. I’d beat the drum for him to end up at Clemson at some point in the future.
Chad ended up calling this coach and told him.. I need you in Arkansas recruiting, if you want to stay at SMU and coach the bowl that’s fine, but you won’t have a spot with me at Arkansas. Obviously Chad got his way and the staff couldn’t stay with his players. He was crushed not being able to stay with them, but they understood he had to leave.
The other one was a finalist for the SMU Job, but SMU needed someone with more HC experience at the college level and he ended up leaving for Arkansas a week or so before the bowl game. It wasn’t out of bad taste as much as he appreciate the opportunity, he got a job offer to join Chad at Arkansas so it made sense for him to go start his new job and not coach a team that he wasn’t going to be retained.
He worked his butt off getting a game plan together for the bowl game and everyone respected how this coach handled those rough few weeks.
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The players were pissed.. One of Chad’s “Core Principle’s” was “honesty” and he just upped and left them without saying goodbye. Most of these guys were with this staff for 3 years and they didn’t even get closure. As I’ve stated before there’s a reason no one from SMU likes Chad Morris, and there’s a reason you never hear players talk good about Chad Morris. The only one you probably have heard was Deshaun Watson and we all understand why. But I’d be shocked if you found someone at SMU or even Arkansas who would.
Obviously, SMU ended up hiring Sonny Dykes and a few offensive guys he brought from TCU had to coach the bowl game while only being on campus for a week or less. They got destroyed in the bowl game, but on a positive note the restoration of a new culture and roster flipping began.
***Part IV I’ll talk about the good stuff Chad did well at SMU and how Sonny Dykes deserves a majority if not all of the success at SMU from this past season.
https://clemson.forums.rivals.com/threads/the-chad-chronicles-part-i.192024/
https://clemson.forums.rivals.com/threads/the-chad-chronicles-part-ii.192614/
***Apologies for the long absence/delay, had stuff come up that was out of my control and then was waiting on confirmation on some things. Hope it's worth the wait and happy to answer any questions that y'all have***
So going into 2017 the expectation for everyone around the program was bowl game.. 2016 ended in heartbreak by losing 2 straight games to end the season to end up being 5-7 that included a horrendous 31-75 loss to Navy in the final week.
They had 2 NFL WR talents in Trey Quinn and Courtland Sutton that carried the team to a winning record in 2017. They combined for 182 Catches, 2,321 yards and 25 TD’s. Chad started getting interest from Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas A&M, etc.. SMU makes it’s first bowl game since 2012 and 5th since 1984. This is also Chad’s first bowl game in his 3 years at SMU.
At the end of the year Chad had done what SMU had ask, (at least on the surface level, more on this later), and the recruiting class was a mixed bag. Some top tier guys and then some guys who were just low hanging fruit. Chad loves recruiting rankings, I know people say coaches don’t look at this stuff, but they 100% do.
This is where the door starts to close…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chad really wanted the A&M job, like bad… but they had just gotten done with a Chad like clone in Kevin Sumlin who came from Houston in 2011 and A&M wanted a bigger named fish. Obviously they ended up going all out for Jimbo Fisher and giving him one of the craziest contract IMO. Chad was crushed he didn’t even get a courtesy interview.. I know his agent reached out to the school multiple times and wasn’t even given a chance.
So going into bowl game prep, Chad was adamant that he was sticking around.. for some reason he kept telling the staff, players and even the administration that he didn’t think most of the programs out there were a good fit for him except for A&M (his alma mater). The defensive coaches knew he was full of it, and from what I’ve been told this is where the players got the “used car salesman vibe”… All talk with no substance.
2 members of that offensive staff who I was told I wasn’t allowed to name started calling a lot of their recruits in late November and early December telling them they should look around. I’ve heard they would say “We don’t know if we have room for you anymore”, “SMU isn’t a good place to play football, trust me”, or whatever they could behind the scenes to break up the recruiting class before they even left. They had a few lined up so whenever/wherever they decided to go, they would follow the coaching staff to that school.
It's still uncertain if this was under the direction of Chad or these 2 guys just giving SMU the middle finger as a parting gift.. but regardless they aren't well liked and it still has left a sour taste in a lot of mouths.
SMU knew Chad was leaving, but for whatever reason he kept telling the administration, the players and the defensive staff that he was probably going to stay. Meanwhile rumors start flying around that he’s going to New York that weekend to meet with Tennessee and Arkansas. When he got back and met with the team for bowl prep, a lot of players starting asking him if he was leaving..
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Then on Monday Chad wasn’t at practice, and there was some BS rumor that one of his family members was super sick and he was not going to be at practice that day.. Turns out Arkansas flew him to Fayetteville on Jerry Jones jet (Jerry’s Grandson was the QB at Highland Park 2 years ahead of Chandler so Chad and Jerry became close..) to see the campus and meet with the new AD. All along he stayed quiet not telling anyone except his offensive staff..
Morris was back for practice on Tuesday and told the team on that he'll be the coach next year and he's not leaving. Some players believed him, most thought he was full of it. "Used car salesman" talk is how one source described it. The seniors really want to go to a bowl and end their careers with a win. They started taking on a ton of leadership in this trying to keep the team focused on what they need to do. While Chad was pitching himself to other schools.
Chad left the practice field that day and never returned… He jumped on a plane that next morning and signed with Arkansas. He never said goodbye to the players, to SMU, or half the defensive staff…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 offensive staff members wanted to stay and coach the bowl game.. 1 was a coach who truly cared about his positional players and wanted to go out with a win. The other wanted to be a candidate for the HC job and was tapped to be the interim HC for the Bowl Game. If you been reading my SMU related coach you know who the 1st staff member who actually cared for SMU. I’d beat the drum for him to end up at Clemson at some point in the future.
Chad ended up calling this coach and told him.. I need you in Arkansas recruiting, if you want to stay at SMU and coach the bowl that’s fine, but you won’t have a spot with me at Arkansas. Obviously Chad got his way and the staff couldn’t stay with his players. He was crushed not being able to stay with them, but they understood he had to leave.
The other one was a finalist for the SMU Job, but SMU needed someone with more HC experience at the college level and he ended up leaving for Arkansas a week or so before the bowl game. It wasn’t out of bad taste as much as he appreciate the opportunity, he got a job offer to join Chad at Arkansas so it made sense for him to go start his new job and not coach a team that he wasn’t going to be retained.
He worked his butt off getting a game plan together for the bowl game and everyone respected how this coach handled those rough few weeks.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The players were pissed.. One of Chad’s “Core Principle’s” was “honesty” and he just upped and left them without saying goodbye. Most of these guys were with this staff for 3 years and they didn’t even get closure. As I’ve stated before there’s a reason no one from SMU likes Chad Morris, and there’s a reason you never hear players talk good about Chad Morris. The only one you probably have heard was Deshaun Watson and we all understand why. But I’d be shocked if you found someone at SMU or even Arkansas who would.
Obviously, SMU ended up hiring Sonny Dykes and a few offensive guys he brought from TCU had to coach the bowl game while only being on campus for a week or less. They got destroyed in the bowl game, but on a positive note the restoration of a new culture and roster flipping began.
***Part IV I’ll talk about the good stuff Chad did well at SMU and how Sonny Dykes deserves a majority if not all of the success at SMU from this past season.
https://clemson.forums.rivals.com/threads/the-chad-chronicles-part-i.192024/
https://clemson.forums.rivals.com/threads/the-chad-chronicles-part-ii.192614/
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