Coaching Update (Wed 2:45PM)

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Not a lot of new coaching updates today.

We know that the Board of Trustees has a scheduled conference call today at 4:30 PM to discuss parameters of an employment contract. And we know Louisiana Tech coach Sonny Dykes was “interviewing” for the job this morning (here), or perhaps even yesterday.

Another name SFN sources have confirmed as a candidate, and one being discussed on the SFN Forums, is 43-year old wunderkind Clemson Offensive Coordinator Chad Morris.

Only three years ago the Edgewood, TX native and Texas A&M alum was the head coach at Lake Travis (TX) high school, and in 2010 was the OC at Tulsa, but he has quickly become one of the hottest names in coaching because of the potent offense he runs at Clemson. And he’s been given, by some, much of the credit for Clemson’s recent success, which is why he’s the highest-paid assistant in college football ($1.3 million annually).

Chad Morris Biography (ClemsonTigers.com).

More to come.

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62 Responses to Coaching Update (Wed 2:45PM)

  1. JSRy2k 11/28/2012 at 8:49 PM #

    Do all the member schools’ football coaches gather ’round the conference championship game? If so, James Franklin could still be in play as a good search often has some propagation of misinformation.

  2. choppack1 11/28/2012 at 9:00 PM #

    I have a hard time believing someone who was coaching high school 3 years ago is ready for a major college program.

  3. Cabin Creek Wolf 11/28/2012 at 9:24 PM #

    Same here, choppack1. Not to say that Morris couldn’t run a major college program, but I don’t think folks understand how much on the job training that would be. Best of luck to him if he’s hired at NC State.

    Dykes could be a good hire as well. All I ask is that his defensive coaching staff not get consideration to come to Raleigh. #1 in total offense for 2012 while also managing to finish dead last in total defense. THAT is some @NCSUshit.

  4. PackPearl 11/28/2012 at 9:25 PM #

    Try 2 years ago. 1 @ Tulsa….1 @ klempson.

  5. PackerInRussia 11/28/2012 at 9:59 PM #

    So if Morris really is responsible for Clemson’s offensive prowess (except when they’re playing a team that has a defense), then getting him would also have the effect of de-clawing the Tigers?

  6. ADVENTUROO 11/28/2012 at 10:00 PM #

    I’m willing to wager a small amount, say a brew, that the offer has already been extended. The agent and attorney and our attorney are pouring over it as we speak. However, the Coach is snuggling up to his wife and getting her opinion. Morris’ children maybe older….I can’t be certain, but I read on one of the boards (tiger?) that he had a daughter who is a junior in HS. Dyke’s children are younger, 4 and 1.

    THESE things do play into the equation. Morris has moved a LOT….recently…..and is getting paid a HUGE sum for an assistant (most in the US?).

    I seriously doubt that Franklin is in the fray, but you never KNOW….

    Good night….will be interesting to see what Santa leaves in the Wolf’s stocking….or if it is still empty tomorrow.

  7. choppack1 11/28/2012 at 10:15 PM #

    I don’t think morris is responsible for clemson’s offensive prowess…they have some ballers. But as others have mentioned, that offense isn’t so formidable when playing a good d.

  8. lush 11/28/2012 at 11:29 PM #

    Yeah I think Boyd, Ellington, Watkins, and that other WR would make any OC look good.

  9. Wulfpack 11/29/2012 at 7:24 AM #

    So Morris doesn’t have that much to do with the success of the Tiger O? That’s not what the money shows. Highest paid assistant. I have also heard he is a very effective recruiter.

  10. Ed89 11/29/2012 at 7:25 AM #

    ^^^^^ I think he’s been at Clemson two years. I think he also won State Championships in Texas at two different high schools. In Texas, that is no small feat.

    I would say a big high school in Texas is almost equivalent of running a small college program.

    ^I agree he has had weapons, but their D is awful too which doesn’t help.

  11. PackerInRussia 11/29/2012 at 8:06 AM #

    Why I think the next coach HAS to be an offensive “it” guy:
    1) Debbie Yow has said they’re looking for someone who can recruit; not just a good coach
    2) What attracts good recruits? Winning? If winning is really everything to top NC recruits, they’ll just keep going to the SEC, VT, ND like they have been, despite who we get. Which leads me to my next point
    3) There has to be extra draw for recruits. Getting someone who is talked about on TV a lot for having an exciting and explosive offense could be it. Not a defensive genius; not a hard-nosed, tough-minded coach; not someone who’s greatest quality is that he’s well-respected within coaching circles.

    Not making a case for why I want this kind of person, but for why I think that is the kind of coach we want to raise our recruiting profile in a hurry.

  12. ryebread 11/29/2012 at 8:41 AM #

    PackerinRussia: It may or may not help with the recruiting. I think the fast break/spread passing offenses are good for recruiting WRs and QBs but can be hit or miss for the OL and RBs. I also think they hurt the defense because the kids know they’re going to get torched.

    I do think that for NC State to be successful in football, we need some sort of gimmick/contrarian offense. We’re just not going to routinely pull in the top flight talent needed to win playing more traditionally and systems like the Air Raid are great equalizers for teams with less talent.

    It’s funny, but I was against the Princeton offense in basketball because I thought we could always recruit enough talent to beat 90% of the opponents straight up. That gimmicky offense was designed to close the talent gap between NC State vs. Duke and UNC, but it allowed much weaker teams to stay in the game and beat us because we weren’t fundamentally sound. I blasted HWSNBN for running a system that allowed us to be beat more.

    In football, it’s the opposite situation. We can’t out recruit good teams (or even FSU and Clemson in our own division). We need to out scheme them. If we’re tragically flawed as a result, so be it.

  13. triadwolf 11/29/2012 at 8:58 AM #

    I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I bet if you look at the last 20 yrs, NC State has been in the top 3rd offensively for a majority of those years. We may not be running the latest gimmick, but we’ve pretty much had a fairly high powered offense minus the years post Rivers and the early nineties when we didn’t have a QB (Preston Poag, Jay Davis, etc.).

    As much as people complain about Bible, we have been able to roll up some yards and points under his watch. Now I agree there were plenty of WTF moments in play calling, but that may have also been TOB’s influence.

    Anyway, the point I’m making is that we’ve been fine on offense; if we could have stopped anybody over the years we would probably have a couple ACC championship banners hanging.

    While I see everyone’s point with regard getting some excitement for recruits, ultimately it comes down to winning and you need to stop people from scoring. If we had just played somewhat good defense this year, we probably have only one or two losses.

    I just hope all our chips aren’t on outscoring opponents. Great offenses tend to disappear for at least a couple games a season, while great (even just good) defenses tend to show up consistently every week.

  14. SqlWolf 11/29/2012 at 9:35 AM #

    “In football, it’s the opposite situation. We can’t out recruit good teams (or even FSU and Clemson in our own division). We need to out scheme them. If we’re tragically flawed as a result, so be it.”

    Ryebread, that is just the sort of thinking that AD Yow is against. If we are all in agreement with you on that philosophy of win enough via scheme then why did we just let go of TOB? His scheme was a more elaborate version of yours. He won by trying to outpossession the other team. His teams generally won when they had more clock than the other team. Where did that get us? That was HWSNBN’s game plan too. It resulted in hard to watch games. Just like this past football season was hard to watch.

  15. ADVENTUROO 11/29/2012 at 9:55 AM #

    TriadWolf,

    By offensive ranking, I assume that you mean total points per game. If you go to Rivals.com and find the Offense tables, that is what they use in their ranking. We are not there. They have 10 years of data, starting in 2003, which was Rivers’ Sr year. We average 6.3 in the ACC Standings or slam in the middle. I did NOT do the entire universe of all teams. We were #1 in 2003 and #2 in 2010 (RW).

    If you meant some other method or ranking, then rivals will probably have some data you can get to. Statsheet does not list NCAAFB in their data bases.

  16. 61Packer 11/29/2012 at 10:01 AM #

    Seems to me we already tried taking a highly-touted assistant and making him our head football coach. He’d never had HC experience, but but did have many years AC experience at a high-powered ACC rival.

    How’d THAT one work out? About as good as the next time we took an assistant and plucked him into a HC position, and after 5 disasterous years learned that we simply can’t teach someone how to be a HC.

    Not then, not now, please.

  17. eas 11/29/2012 at 10:20 AM #

    Good point 61packer. However, all HC’s were AC’s first so that will never change. The key is to pick up an AC that does NOT need on the job training or a HC that has ready done OJT somewhere else. It is a gamble either way.

  18. triadwolf 11/29/2012 at 10:25 AM #

    Adventuroo – I can’t remember where I looked at the numbers; I stumbled across a site last week that I’d never heard of, but it had ACC historical rakings. It showed that we have traditionally been pretty good on offense. Now I am not including the Preston Poag, Daniel Evans, Marcus Stone, etc. years because we did not have a capable QB in those seasons. But in a majority of years when we’ve had a serviceable QB we’ve been pretty darn good offensively. Terry Harvey, Jamie Barnette, Rivers, Wilson & Glennon all put up pretty darn good numbers and account for about 15 of the last 20 years.

    I don’t care who you are as coach, if you don’t have a div. 1 QB on your roster you’re just not going to be any good with any offensive scheme unless you have stud rb’s and o-line. That is why I don’t include the years when we didn’t have a true ACC caliber QB. Now I do agree that the numbers are probably skewed a little considering 3 of the QB’s are or will be in the NFL – that certainly makes OC’s look a little bit better than they actually are.

    It’s kind of funny looking back and seeing all those great QB’s knowing that we had some years where all we could find was someone barely good enough for Div. III.

  19. RLE-Pack 11/29/2012 at 10:32 AM #

    I’m going to throw one out just to piss everyone off…Ruffin McNeil has 58 North Carolina players on his team this year. If winning by in-state recruiting is the goal, he’s done pretty well at the crap school down the road. I also wouldn’t mind seeing a Paul Johnson – Triple Option Offense in Raleigh since apparently no school in the US knows how to defend the same option offense that every highschool in the country runs. Amazing how affective it is and how no one knows how to defend it. One thing I noticed accross the board this year in the ACC, NO ONE had any D! I remember Mario and Manny, Thunder Dan, etc. When we made 3 or 4 goal line stops in a row against Ohio State et al. Offense is great, but if you don’t have a Defense, you’re just in a shoot out and it boils down to which QB finds his rhythm first.

  20. ADVENTUROO 11/29/2012 at 11:08 AM #

    Quiet before the storm?

    Spent (wasted?) a lot of time this morning sniffing around some Clemson and LA Tech boards. They are more “unique” than some of the critters on the OTHER NCSU boards….and that says a lot.

    However, this is the only thing I can glean from all this…

    The LA Tech boards have “accepted” the fact that Dykes is leaving. There are NO, and I repeat NO, posts of any team meetings or announcements….but some off the wall hints. So, they are prepared for it.

    Dykes, himself, has made one tweet this morning congratulating two of his recruits for being Sr. Bowl members. Could NOT find any tweets from his recruits or players that were current.

    Clemson is posting MORE comments supposedly from insiders (inside what they did not say) and Morris said that he did not feel that he was the “man” from the interview.

    Interestingly, the CU fans are also very critical of Dabo for Defense. They suggest that Morris be made HC and hire a good DC and then Dabo becomes the Assistant AD for Football Recruiting. Obviously they have their own expectations….

    So, there is no RED smoke (Dykes), no White smoke (Morris) and thankfully, no BLACK smoke (Back to the drawing board AKA SS, et. al. turn down).

    Still think that the lawyers are lawyering and that Dykes is also talking at length with the LA Tech AD and Pres and that they are pulling the back seats out of cars, SUV’s and pick-up’s hunting for change among the used condomns…Whether they will come up with enough to counter…..who knows. I certainly don’t.

    http://www.theclemsoninsider.com/mb/showthread.php?t=22877

    The above is from the editor of one of the Tiger Boards. That post has been quoted on the others as credible.

    NOW…is that a FACT….only time will tell. Wait for a presser or start tracking McQueen or Murph’s plane.

    We will see

  21. eas 11/29/2012 at 11:21 AM #

    Honestly due to the quick nature of TOB being let go I really thought we had someone in the bag to begin with. Doesn’t appear that way and I am still shocked that Dykes and Morris are the only 2 candidates in the mix. I wonder if money (or lack of it) really is a major issue in this search?

  22. ADVENTUROO 11/29/2012 at 11:34 AM #

    EAS,

    I re-read the updated WRAL article. The article now (and maybe I did NOT see it before) speculates that we are in the $2 – $3 Mill range and that Jimbo makes $2.75 Mill.

    Debbis Yow has said publicly and privately that the AD budget, with a TOB buyout, has sufficient resources to field a top 25 team and sustain that.

    SO, I don’t know about the money angle. If we have THIS much or even if we paid a new coach 10% more than TOB, that would in the low $2’s (that INCLUDES Bonuses). So I think the “speculation” is correct. Can’t go after the big buys or the “banned” folks, but should be competitive with bucks.

    Again…this is an opinion and also trying to connect the dots. I remember the Gottfried hiring. It was DISMAL that morning and Yow was flying back to Raleigh…and a plane was going to Al (Gulf Shores where Gottfried STILL has a nice house….saw it in October). The Presser was hastily arranged and the news was out by 2:00 or so.

    None of these events are ever pre-scripted….just hurry up and get them done. FIgure that Dykes will have to have a team meeting BEFORE he leaves. That would be AFTER LA Tech said they could NOT match the offer. So, I don’t expect anything until LATE in the day….just the logistics of getting the team together. Him saying goodbye and then the plane leaving.

    Remember that Dean picked up Roy at the airport and that presser was really LATE in the evening….maybe 9:30 or so. Gott did not have to say goodbye or wait for a counter offer.

    WHO KNOW….watch for the smoke and the color….

  23. eas 11/29/2012 at 11:56 AM #

    All good points Adventuroo. If we go by the fact we have 3 million out there for a HC it is still strange we are looking only at these 2 candidates. I am not saying that they are not good ones or they shouldn’t be an option. Just simply stating that with that much money out there and DY’s incentive program, that there are not a few more higher profile candidates.

    Then again maybe there were more high profile coaches we went after but all turned us down quietly behind close doors/search committe.

  24. eas 11/29/2012 at 11:57 AM #

    Please excuse my awful spelling…

  25. SqlWolf 11/29/2012 at 12:02 PM #

    “watch for the smoke and the color”

    Wow,I did not realize us getting a new FB HC was as closely watched as the world eyeing the smoke from the vatican as the cardinals chose a new pope. I sure do hope we get a coach as good as Pope John Paul II (fingers crossed and making sign of the cross that way pagan and christian good luck are covered.)

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