TU Reportedly Close to Deal with Texas Coach

Originally Published: Jan 16, 2010 12:4 PM CDT

Kyle Dierking
Oklahoma Sports Reporter


TULSA, Oklahoma – Texas high school football coach Chad Morris’ deal to become the University of Tulsa’s offensive coordinator is “99.9% done,” according to InsideTulsaSports.com.

Morris, who is the head coach at Austin’s Lake Travis High School, has won back-to-back state championships and is 32-0 in two seasons at the school. He also runs the hurry up, no huddle offense created by former Tulsa offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.


Malzahn spent two seasons at Tulsa before leaving last year to take the same position at Auburn. Herb Hand served as the sole offensive coordinator last season and was also the offensive line coach.

Morris and Malzahn’s path to collegiate coaching are very similar. Malzahn was a long-time head coach at the high school level before spending one season at the University of Arkansas. He then joined Todd Graham when he was named head coach at TU in 2007.

With Morris’ anticipated hire, it is expected the coaching staff will shift around slightly. It was announced on Friday that cornerbacks coach Galen Scott was leaving to join the staff at the University of Memphis.

Read more about Scott's decision to leave TU.

Phone calls to Morris were not returned on Friday and a University of Tulsa spokesman said that there were no new staff changes to report in regards to the possible hire of Morris.

Morris has coached a couple big-named quarterbacks recently, including former Ole Miss signal-caller Jevan Snead and Texas’ Garrett Gilbert, who played in place of injured quarterback Colt McCoy in the BCS National Championship game and is expected to be the Longhorns starter next season.

The Morris hire would also aid in recruiting state of Texas. Lake Travis has two players that Tulsa has already offered scholarships to for the 2011 recruiting class, according to Rivals.com. That includes quarterback Michael Brewer, who is already fielding offers from Auburn, Baylor and Texas Tech. Offensive tackle Taylor Doyle also has an offer from the Golden Hurricane as well as Arizona, Baylor, Houston and Texas Tech.

Morris has a 162-25 record during his head coaching career, including six state championship game appearances and three titles.