Auburn hires ex-Arkansas head coach Chad Morris as offensive coordinator
Another former SEC head coach has landed an assistant job in the conference.
Auburn announced Tuesday that it has hired Chad Morris to be its offensive coordinator. Morris spent the last five seasons as a head coach, first at SMU and then two disastrous seasons at Arkansas. Morris went just 4-18 overall and did not win a single conference game during his time with the Razorbacks. He was fired Nov. 10, a day after Arkansas lost 45-19 at home to Western Kentucky to drop to 2-8 on the year.
The Auburn job became open when Kenny Dillingham opted to leave The Plains to coach with Mike Norvell at Florida State, as first reported by Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel. Dillingham coached alongside Norvell at Arizona State and later served as Norvell’s offensive coordinator at Memphis before Gus Malzahn hired him ahead of the 2019 season. With Norvell the new hire at FSU, Dillingham decided to head to Tallahassee.
Morris was a natural fit to take Dillngham’s place. Before he became a college head coach, Morris was the offensive coordinator at Clemson from 2011-14 and was credited for the job he did developing Tajh Boyd and recruiting Deshaun Watson. Morris and Malzahn have been friends dating back to their time as high school head coaches in the early 2000s.
"I'm super excited to have Chad Morris join our staff at Auburn,” Malzahn said. “He's a tremendous offensive mind who has had success with several top-ranked offenses during his time in the college ranks. I've known Chad for almost 20 years and he is a tireless worker and a perfectionist. He is a great addition to our program and I look forward to him helping Auburn win championships."
Added Morris: "I'm very grateful for the opportunity to join Coach Malzahn's staff at Auburn. I've known Gus since the early 2000s and consider him a dear friend and someone that helped me get into the profession at the college level. I've admired the success he's had at each of his stops and look forward to adding to the success that he, his staff and the players have built. We are excited about joining the Auburn family."
Morris becomes the second fired SEC head coach to accept another job in the league. Earlier Tuesday, Georgia announced that it had hired former Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke as its offensive line coach. Luke was fired earlier this month after his third season as the Rebels’ head coach.
Auburn, No. 12 in the final College Football Playoff rankings, closed out the regular season by upsetting rival Alabama in the Iron Bowl, 48-45. Now 9-3, the Tigers will play No. 18 Minnesota in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1.
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