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Former UA coach resigns from HS job, eyeing return to college

Chad Morris was the head coach at Allen High School in 2021.
Chad Morris was the head coach at Allen High School in 2021. (Allen ISD)

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For the third straight offseason, Chad Morris is on the market.

After less than 14 months at his current job and about 2.5 years removed from being fired by the Razorbacks, the former Arkansas head coach resigned from his position as the head coach at Allen High School in Texas, it was announced Friday.

According to a press release by the school district, Morris “has an opportunity to return to college football.”

“I am so thankful to Allen ISD for the chance to work with an amazing group of student-athletes and a dedicated coaching staff,” Morris said in a statement. “Allen is a top-notch school system that prioritizes students above all else.”

In his lone season at the school, Morris led Allen to an 11-3 record and an appearance in the Class 6A-DI quarterfinals. On the surface, that appears to be a solid season, but it was a tumultuous Year 1 at the Texas powerhouse.

The Eagles lost their second game under their new head coach, falling to Atascocita 41-20. It was a significant loss because it snapped a pair of long winning streaks. They had previously won 84 straight regular-season games and had never lost at Allen Eagle Stadium, their $60 million facility that was built in 2012, a stretch of 54 games.

Later in the season, Allen lost to Prosper 28-23 for its first district loss since 2010, snapping a 72-game winning streak. The 2021 season eventually came to an end at the hands of Southlake Carroll, which scored 34 unanswered points to cruise to a 47-21 win over the Eagles.

The year at Allen was a return to Morris’ roots as a legendary high school coach in the Lone Star State and necessitated by a disastrous end to a once-promising career at the college level.

Following successful stints as an offensive coordinator at Tulsa and Clemson, Morris landed the head coaching gig at SMU and — inheriting one of the worst programs in the FBS — steadily turned the Mustangs into a bowl team.

Still, he had just a 14-22 overall record when he was hired to replace Bret Bielema at Arkansas following the 2017 season. What ensued was the worst two-year stretch in UA history.

The Razorbacks went 2-10 and winless in SEC play in back-to-back seasons, with Morris getting fired 10 games into his second season. The move came after an embarrassing 45-19 home loss to Western Kentucky.

Not only did Ty Storey — one of eight different quarterbacks who started a game for Arkansas from 2018-19 — lead the Hilltoppers in that game, but it was Morris’ fourth loss to a Group of Five opponent as the Razorbacks’ head coach.

On top of the 4-18 overall record at Arkansas, Morris went 0-14 in SEC play. That was tied for the second-most losses to start a tenure since the conference was founded in 1933 — a record he would have broken had he not been fired with two games remaining.

A month after being fired by the Razorbacks, Morris landed a job as the offensive coordinator at Auburn. In his one season on the plains, the Tigers’ offense sputtered and quarterback Bo Nix regressed, ultimately leading to Auburn’s decision to fire head coach Gus Malzahn.

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