New Tulsa Assistant Preparing for First College Game

Co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Chad Morris coached high school football for 16 years in Texas before making the jump to the collegiate level

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 11:55 am

By: News On 6

New Tulsa Assistant Preparing for First College Game

Originally Published: Aug 31, 2010 7:51 PM CDT

Grant Belcher
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

TULSA, Oklahoma – The Tulsa Golden Hurricane has had staggering offensive numbers the past few years, scoring 40 or more points in 19 of 40 games since Todd Graham took over as head coach.

It has three 1,000-yard receivers on its current roster and a quarterback on numerous award watch lists.

The question now is whether new co-offensive coordinator Chad Morris considers that “pressure” or simply “tools to work with.”

Morris will coach his first game at the collegiate level when Tulsa takes on East Carolina on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Before joining the Golden Hurricane as quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator, Morris coached at the high school level in Texas for 16 years.

Graham said Morris is poised and collected and he has full faith in his assistant going into opening week.

“As any situation, I told him to just go out there and do it like you've always done it and don't put too much pressure on yourself and he's not,” Graham said. “I've been very impressed with how he's handled everything. He's very meticulous in his planning and how he goes about doing things.”

While not all coaches are successful making such a big jump, Morris’ high school numbers are more than impressive.

He led Lake Travis High School to back-to-back state championships in 4A and a 32-0 record in two years.

Before that, he spent 14 years as a head coach in Texas, giving him a 159-38 career record.

While the game is obviously different from the high school to the college level, Tulsa quarterback G.J. Kinne said not all the differences make it tougher.

“We were talking the other day just saying that it’s a little bit different from high school to college,” Kinne said. “You practice 30-something times before the first game, and in high school you’ve got a week and maybe a scrimmage before you play, so I think that was a little different for (Morris).”

Morris will not have a cupcake team to tune up his offense against, however.

The East Carolina Pirates are the two-time defending Conference USA champs and beat Tulsa 44-17 last season.

But Graham said preparation is a big key for any new coach, and Morris is resolute when it comes to preparation.

“Being able to adapt to your personnel is big and that's something I think is a great strength of his and a great strength of our staffs to be able to do,” Graham said. “I'm not worried about Coach Morris one iota.”