ESPN Analyst Praises Oklahoma State's Decision to Hire Eric Morris
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Oklahoma State has a new head coach, and the new hire has come with plenty of praise.
Back in September, OSU made a tough decision to send out Mike Gundy after 21 seasons with the program. Over the next few months, OSU had an extensive coaching search and eventually landed on Eric Morris as the guy to take over the program.
After a successful stint at North Texas, Morris was a top candidate for some other openings around the country before the Cowboys secured their guy. In a recent article grading the top coaching hires in the FBS, ESPN’s Bill Connelly gave the Cowboys a glowing review.
Giving OSU an A grade in the “this just makes all the sense in the world” category, Connelly ranked the Cowboys’ hire as the third-best in the nation. Falling behind only LSU hiring Lane Kiffin and Virginia Tech hiring James Franklin, OSU’s decision to hire Morris was a hit with one of ESPN’s top college football voices.
“OSU was at its best under Mike Gundy when it was lighting up the scoreboard with an innovative offense,” Connelly wrote. Morris teams do that. He was Texas Tech's offensive coordinator as Patrick Mahomes transitioned from high-three-star recruit into Patrick Mahomes. Morris took on an unrecruited option quarterback named Cam Ward at Incarnate Word in 2020, and five years later Ward became the No. 1 pick in the draft.
“At North Texas, Morris took a walk-on (and high school backup) named Drew Mestemaker and turned him into a 4,000-yard passer. Morris might have the best quarterback-development track record in the sport at the moment, and in both of his head coaching stops he led historically unsuccessful programs to new heights. It's hard to ask for much more.”
As Morris looks to make OSU a contender in the Big 12 again for years to come, he should have the resources necessary to compete in this era of college football. While Gundy was an old-school coach who struggled to adapt with the transfer portal and NIL, Morris has already shown an ability to build winning teams in the new age.
While it won’t be easy for Morris to find immediate success after OSU went 1-11 and has gone two seasons without a win in conference play, he certainly appears to be ready to take on the long-term project. As the Cowboys look to get back into the thick of the Big 12 race, it’s hard to argue against their new hire.
Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.