Oklahoma State Coach Eric Morris Remembers Dennis Franchione After His Passing

Oklahoma State Cowboys head coach Eric Morris didn’t cross paths with the former Texas A&M coach much, but he remembers him from his prep days.

Texas State Bobcats head coach Dennis Franchione. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

For those unfamiliar with Eric Morris’ back story as a college player, it’s important to know that he was lightly recruited out of Shallowater High School near Lubbock, Texas.

While he landed at Texas Tech and played for the legendary Mike Leach as a wide receiver, he didn’t have a collegiate offer going into his senior year. So, he and his family did the summer camp circuit. Obviously, he hit Texas Tech. He also hit TCU and SMU before he headed to Texas A&M.

Back in 2003, Dennis Franchione was the head coach at Texas A&M. Morris, now Oklahoma State's head coach, remembered him on Tuesday upon hearing of the coach’s passing at 75 years old due to cancer.

Eric Morris on Dennis Franchione

Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Morris went to the A&M camp hoping to get recruited. That didn’t pan out, but he had the chance to meet him.

“It’s terrible to hear,” Morris said when asked about Franchione. “I didn’t know him that well and I was hoping to get recruited by him. But I did have the chance to meet him a couple of different times. He was a really quality human being and I’m so sorry to hear it.”

The connection didn’t end with the camp. When Morris chose the Red Raiders, he chose the Big 12 and he chose an annual game with the Aggies. Franchione led Texas A&M during Morris’ entire collegiate career with the Red Raiders.

Franchione had one of the more unique careers in college coaching. The Girard, Kan., native played at Pittsburg (KS) State and became a high school head coach immediately upon graduation at Miller (MO) High School. By 1978 he was a wide receivers coach at Kansas State.

He returned to his alma mater in 1985 for his first head-coaching job (1985-90), followed by stints at Southwest Texas State (1990-91), New Mexico (1992-97), TCU (1998-2000), Alabama (2001-02), Texas A&M (2003-07) and Texas State (2011-15), the last of which was the newly renamed Southwest Texas State

He won titles in four different conferences, was named the NAIA Division I coach of the year twice at Pitt State and was WAC coach of the year twice at TCU, where he coached running back LaDainian Tomlinson and his defensive coordinator, Gary Patterson, succeeded him after he took the Alabama job.

Franchione finished with a career record of 213-135-2 with a 4-3 record in bowl games, a 5-4 record in NAIA playoff games and a 1-1 record in NCAA Division II playoff games.

Morris went a different route to Oklahoma State, with assistant jobs at Houston, Washington State and Texas Tech. He’s been a head coach at Incarnate Word and North Texas before taking over the Cowboys in December.