Arkansas Fires Chad Morris

Arkansas Razorback head coach Chad Morris has been fired, according to multiple sources close to the program. Barry Lunney Jr. is the interim head coach.

The decision to part ways with Morris came after an embarrassing 45-19 loss to the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Saturday. The 42,985 fans in attendance on Saturday marked the lowest attendance at Fayetteville's on-campus stadium since it was expanded prior to the 2001 season. Sources say the original plan was to make the move after the Missouri game, but they were left with no choice after yet another embarrassing home loss.

“As part of my continued evaluation, I have come to the conclusion that a change in leadership is necessary to move our football program forward and position it for success,” Arkansas Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Hunter Yurachek said in a statement released by the UA on Sunday. “It is clear that we have not made the progress necessary to compete and win, especially within the Southeastern Conference. Throughout our history in football, as well as with our other sport programs, we have demonstrated that the University of Arkansas is capable of being nationally competitive. I have no doubt that as we move forward, we will identify a head coach that will help lead our program to that benchmark.

“I want to express my personal and professional regard to Coach Morris and thank him for his investment in the lives of our student-athletes.”

Earlier this season after a 2-1 start, the Hogs fell to San Jose State, 31-24. Since that loss on Sep. 21, the Hogs have not won a game, and they now sit at 2-8 on the year and 0-6 in SEC play. Last season, Morris’ first year at the helm for the Hogs, Arkansas went 2-10 and 0-8 in conference play. He finishes his tenure at Arkansas with a record of 4-18 and 0-14 in league play.

Prior to Arkansas, Morris helped build a giant at Clemson during his time as an offensive coordinator from 2011-2014. Before that, he stepped into the college game after a successful stint coaching high school football in Texas when he took the offensive coordinator job at Tulsa in 2010. It was announced last month that Morris would be inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. 

“Absolutely. I am the guy. There’s no question,” Morris said Saturday. “I knew that this was going to take some time. I knew this was going to be a process of recruiting and developing and building, especially in this conference. I knew the strains that take place weekly in this conference and the depth that it needs to be successful. Right now, we don’t have that. We've got to go get that and we've got to recruit to it, and we've got to continue to develop. Right now, it’s unfortunate we’re playing as many young guys as we're playing, but that's the truth.”

Morris got his first head coaching gig at SMU prior to the 2015 season. In his first season with the Mustangs, the team went 2-10. However, they improved each of the next two seasons, going 5-7 in 2016 and 7-5 in 2017.

2COMMENTS

"I’ll tell you this. It’s going to take some time,” Morris said. “This is not an overnight fix. We’ve seen that now for two years. We’re all frustrated. We’re all incredibly frustrated. We have a big youth movement on this team and a lot of young guys that are contributing and who will be tremendous football players. Where we are right now with these guys we have some major deficiencies that we have to fix, we have to fill. This is not an overnight fix.

“I think we are in a part of where our program is that we’re asking a lot of 18-year old young men to step in and play against some older guys. That’s - there’s no excuse in that. But they’re having to grow up and they’re having to grow up the hard way. We’re definitely not where we want to be. As I mentioned earlier, it’s disappointing. We’re all frustrated with it. But these young men will continue to grow and continue to mature and develop.”