Rising college football coach becomes favorite to land Oklahoma State job

The biggest jobs in the coaching market are seeing motion with James Franklin headed to Virginia Tech and Lane Kiffin... well, Lane Kiffin is doing something. But the ripples of each move push to other jobs in the bunch. According to prediction market giant Kalshi, there's a new favorite at roughly 23% odds for the vacant Oklahoma State head coaching job: North Texas coach Eric Morris.

Prior Favorite and New Favorite

Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson had been the favorite for the job. Robinson played quarterback at Oklahoma State and has demonstrated his offensive bona fides in the NFL since 2019. But the last few days have seen Robinson's odds dip and Morris's chances rise.

Morris's Resume

The 40-year old Morris was a wide receiver at Texas Tech in his playing days. As a coach, he was an assistant at Houston, Washington State, and became the offensive coordinator at Texas Tech. He took a head coaching job at FCS Incarnate Word from 2018 to 2021, posting a 24-18 record before he departed to be offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Washington State in 2022.

From there, Morris took over the head coaching role at North Texas ahead of the 2023 season. He's 20-15 in his third season there, and the Mean Green are 9-1 this year. Morris's teams have big offenses. He was the offensive coordinator for Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech.

North Texas's 307.3 passing yards per game this year are sixth best in FBS football. The Mean Green's 45.3 points per game are actually tops in the nation and Morris's offense is among the most explosive in all of college football.

Oklahoma State's Struggles and Finances

It's not hard to see why this would be attractive at Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are averaging just 14.3 points per game this year, 134th of 136 FBS teams. OSU is 126th in yardage, with 305.2 yards per game. Departed coach Mike Gundy had led OSU to several big seasons, but was just 4-11 in his last 15 games as Cowboys coach.

Oklahoma State won 10 games in 2023 and finished No. 7 overall in 2021. But the school seems to have fallen behind in the expanded Big 12, having failed to win a league game since 2023. The school reportedly was on the hook for a $15 million buyout of Mike Gundy, which could limit the extent of money available for the next OSU coach.

Morris's current North Texas contract pays a base salary of $950,000 through the end of the 2029 season. It's safe to assume that he''ll see a substantial raise if he indeede is the next Cowboys coach.

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