Morris to high school coaches: I'm one of you

NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo COACHING SUMMIT: Arkansas head football coach Chad Morris speaks Thursday during the Mercy Coaching Summit at the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo COACHING SUMMIT: Arkansas head football coach Chad Morris speaks Thursday during the Mercy Coaching Summit at the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers.

ROGERS -- Chad Morris is the Arkansas Razorbacks' football coach, but he made it clear Thursday as the keynote speaker at the Mercy Coaching Summit he's never forgotten his high school roots.

"I am a high school football coach," Morris told a roomful of high school coaches at the John Q. Hammons Convention Center while emphasizing the present tense. "That's what I am. I take an extreme amount of great pride in saying that."

For 16 seasons Morris was a high school head football coach in Texas at five different stops. He broke into college coaching as Tulsa's offensive coordinator 2010, then had the same position at Clemson from 2011-14 before becoming SMU's coach for three seasons. He was hired at Arkansas in December.

"When I was at Clemson, that was one of the things that Coach [Dabo] Swinney would always get upset with me about," Morris said of referring to himself as a high school coach. "He'd say, 'No, Chad, you're the offensive coordinator at Clemson.'

"And I'd say, 'Coach, I'm a high school football coach first.'"

Morris made sure to compliment the middle school coaches in the audience, too.

"The best coaches out there are in the high school and middle school ranks," he said.

Morris spoke from a podium perched on a stage, but he never talked down to his audience.

"There's a lot of people sitting here today that could be right up here as the University of Arkansas head football coach and do an outstanding job," he said.

Morris said the most influential person in his life after his parents was Jack Shellnut, his coach and math teacher at Edgewood (Texas) High School.

"He didn't tell me all the time what I wanted to hear. But he saw something in me, and he challenged me," Morris said. "He kept pushing me and disciplined me when I needed it.

"Because of him, I'm standing here today. So I know the impact that each one of you can have. Whether you're coaching girls athletics or boys athletics, it really doesn't matter. You have a huge responsibility to impact lives.

"It's something we have to concentrate on. We have to bring our 'A' game every day."

Morris provided some insight about himself.

"I think it's important for you to know who I am," he said. "You've read about this guy, coach Morris, and whatnot.

"Football is just what I do. It's not who I am. I'm a husband, I'm a father, I'm a son. That's who I am. It's important to understand that."

Morris said he also understands the business side of coaching, especially at a Southeastern Conference program.

"I'm going to be hired and fired and all that stuff for the amount of wins that we have," he said. "I get that. But winning is a byproduct of doing the right things for the right reasons, and stacking good days on top of good days."

Morris said coaches can't afford to have a bad day -- and that he doesn't believe in them.

"I believe there's maybe some bad moments at times through the course of the day," he said. "But, man, you've got to be the same. You've got to come with your best every day."

Morris said he was watching video from the media days of another conference and the word "culture" kept being mentioned.

"The coaches were talking culture," he said. "Culture this and culture that. That's the buzzword now all through athletics.

"What is culture? It's real simple. Culture is nothing more than a belief. It exists in your family, it exists in your classroom, and it exists in your school and your community and your team.

"What do those players believe? It's a belief that drives a behavior that produces a result."

Morris cautioned the coaches not to get caught up in X's and O's.

"You've read Knute Rockne's book and you've read Vince Lombardi's book, and you may think, 'Man, I'm fixing to win,'" he said. "Well, if you want to win, change lives. That's how you're going to win."

College football staffs have grown steadily with support personnel beyond the 10 assistant coaches allowed under NCAA rules, and Morris said he has several staff members in their 20s.

"We've got a lot of guys just breaking into the business," he said. "I told them the other day, 'The best thing you can do is sit down, keep your mouth shut and listen to people with wisdom. Speak, but listen first.'

"Because what happens now is you get people in this business that feel like they know everything or they don't need the experience of others. They can Google it and find the answer to everything.

"No. Sit down, be quiet, and listen to the wisdom in the room and learn from it. And then when you have something you've thought about and you want to add value to the program, now speak."

Morris estimated about 1,000 coaches accepted his invitation to visit practice last spring. He told coaches on Thursday -- whatever their sport -- they are welcome to visit him at his office and talk about leadership or any other topic.

"It'd be hard to do during the season," he said. "But in the spring, I'll be more than happy to find the time."

Morris said after his speech that he hoped the coaches got something out of his message. He has listened to many such talks delivered by others when he was a high school coach in the audience.

"As a young coach watching someone up there talking, I know the impact they had on my program or my season," he said. "Maybe if [the coaches on Thursday] got one thing out of it that they can use, that was worth the time to share with them."

Sports on 07/28/2018

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