Here are some quotes from Gus Malzahn about Chad Morris over the last couple of years...
** Nov. 10, after Morris was fired at Arkansas…
“Yea, yea, I hate it for Chad. He’s a wonderful person, a wonderful coach. He’ll bounce back. There’s no doubt he’ll bounce back. Just hurting for him.”
** Oct. 15, before this year’s Arkansas game…
“We’ve coached against each other. I have a lot of respect for him. He’s an outstanding coach. He’s an outstanding person. This week we really won’t talk until we get to the game and all that, but I root for him every other game but this one and I think he does the game.”
** Sept. 18, 2018, before last year’s Arkansas game…
“Yes. There's no doubt. Chad, of course, I knew about him, he was a very successful Texas high school coach in Stephenville, Texas, where Art Briles was from. That's kind of a legendary deal. We were playing a state championship game and he called me out of the blue and asked if he could bring his staff to stand on the sideline. And was a little bit leery, but I said yeah. After the game, he said, 'Hey, can we bring the staff up and talk football?' So we did that for two days. The next year, he came back, and we just developed that relationship. I always knew he had something special about him. He's a great person. He's one of the good guys in our business. But he's one of the best coaches I've ever been around. So we just kind of developed that relationship.
“He went and didn't follow me at Tulsa, but two years later, with the guys I was familiar with, he took over, and they were top 10 in offense. You look at Clemson now and look back and when everything changed, it's when they hired Chad Morris. He got the offense going, recruited Deshaun Watson, and look at him now. He went to SMU, and it was low, low, low. He got them out of it, and he'll do the same thing there.”
** Nov. 10, after Morris was fired at Arkansas…
“Yea, yea, I hate it for Chad. He’s a wonderful person, a wonderful coach. He’ll bounce back. There’s no doubt he’ll bounce back. Just hurting for him.”
** Oct. 15, before this year’s Arkansas game…
“We’ve coached against each other. I have a lot of respect for him. He’s an outstanding coach. He’s an outstanding person. This week we really won’t talk until we get to the game and all that, but I root for him every other game but this one and I think he does the game.”
** Sept. 18, 2018, before last year’s Arkansas game…
“Yes. There's no doubt. Chad, of course, I knew about him, he was a very successful Texas high school coach in Stephenville, Texas, where Art Briles was from. That's kind of a legendary deal. We were playing a state championship game and he called me out of the blue and asked if he could bring his staff to stand on the sideline. And was a little bit leery, but I said yeah. After the game, he said, 'Hey, can we bring the staff up and talk football?' So we did that for two days. The next year, he came back, and we just developed that relationship. I always knew he had something special about him. He's a great person. He's one of the good guys in our business. But he's one of the best coaches I've ever been around. So we just kind of developed that relationship.
“He went and didn't follow me at Tulsa, but two years later, with the guys I was familiar with, he took over, and they were top 10 in offense. You look at Clemson now and look back and when everything changed, it's when they hired Chad Morris. He got the offense going, recruited Deshaun Watson, and look at him now. He went to SMU, and it was low, low, low. He got them out of it, and he'll do the same thing there.”
