Clemson Hires Chad Morris as Offensive Coordinator

CLEMSON, S.C. — Head Coach Dabo Swinney and Clemson Football announced today that Clemson has hired Chad Morris as Offensive Coordinator. The hire was finalized Monday by the Clemson University Board of Trustees Compensation Committee.

Morris is expected to be formally introduced in a press conference later in January. Details on the press conference will be finalized and distributed at a later date. Full comments from Swinney and Morris are included at the bottom of this release.

Morris returns to Clemson for his second stint as its offensive coordinator after four record-setting seasons with the Tigers from 2011-14. In that time as Clemson’s offensive coordinator from 2011 through the end of the 2014 regular season, Clemson compiled a 41-11 record, recording a 27-6 mark against ACC opponents with a victory in the 2011 ACC Championship Game.

“There are always tough decisions that have to be made in this profession, and though I had to make a couple tough decisions, it was an easy decision to hire Chad Morris,” Swinney said. “I’m really excited for our players. It’s pretty cool to have guys like DeAndre Hopkins and Sammy Watkins and a bunch of great players shooting me text messages with their excitement knowing what’s to come offensively. I think we’ve got elite offensive personnel, and the name of the game is points. The one thing I know about Chad, he knows how to score points, and so I’m excited to welcome him and his family back.”

Morris’ offense averaged 468.5 yards per game and 36.3 points per game in his 52 games as Clemson’s offensive coordinator from 2011-14, ranking ninth and 12th, respectively, among power conference teams in those categories in that span. The balanced attack under his guidance made Clemson one of only five programs in the country during his tenure to exceed both 15,000 passing yards and 8,500 rushing yards.

Under Morris, quarterback Tajh Boyd broke the ACC’s career record for touchdown responsibility with a combined 133 touchdowns thrown and/or scored, a mark that still stands today. The passing attack propelled wide receivers DeAndre Hopkins and Sammy Watkins to a school-record 27 career touchdown receptions each, and Watkins’ school-record 3,391 career receiving yards still rank fifth in conference annals.

“My previous time in this role at Clemson was truly one of the most joyful times of my career,” Morris said. “It excites me to have an opportunity to come back and to do it under very similar circumstances from where we were in 2011 and where we are in 2026. I can’t thank Coach Swinney, Graham Neff and the Board of Trustees enough for this opportunity.”

Morris compiled a 167-40 record and three state championships as a decorated high school coach in Texas from 1994-2009 before spending one season as the offensive coordinator at Tulsa in 2010 prior to his initial hire at Clemson. He departed Clemson to spend five seasons as an FBS head coach, first at SMU from 2015-17 and then at Arkansas across the 2018-19 seasons.

Morris spent one season as offensive coordinator at Auburn in 2020 before returning to the Texas high school ranks to lead Allen High School to an 11-3 record in 2021. He served as a senior offensive analyst at USF in 2022 and then assisted Clemson in a volunteer assistant capacity in 2023 before becoming the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Texas State in 2024. Morris briefly stepped away from coaching during the 2025 season to follow his son, Chandler, who quarterbacked Virginia to its first 11-win season in program history under the leadership of former Clemson protégé Tony Elliott.

Morris, 57, earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a minor in statistics from Texas A&M in 1992. In addition to his son, he and his wife, Paula, have a daughter, Mackenzie.

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FULL COMMENTS FROM DABO SWINNEY AND CHAD MORRIS

Head Coach Dabo Swinney:
“I’m super excited to welcome back Chad Morris, who is one of the best guys I’ve ever worked with. It’s unique that the timing worked out this way. Before this year, the last time we lost six or more games in a season was in 2010, and I went and hired Chad Morris, and the reason I hired him was the fit and the alignment we had on how I think and what I wanted to do. From 2011-14, there were very few games that we didn’t score 30-plus points, and there were a bunch of games we scored 40 or 50, so we had some very explosive offenses. With the skill sets of our quarterbacks, I felt like he was the right fit for where we are right now and what I want to do.

“He was an excellent head coach at SMU, and it just didn’t work out at Arkansas, and the last couple years he’s been just following his son, but Chad’s been studying a lot of people and traveling and meeting with people. This is just a great time for him and a great opportunity for us to go back to the future and put it back together.

“There are always tough decisions that have to be made in this profession, and though I had to make a couple tough decisions, it was an easy decision to hire Chad Morris. I’m really excited for our players. It’s pretty cool to have guys like DeAndre Hopkins and Sammy Watkins and a bunch of great players shooting me text messages with their excitement knowing what’s to come offensively. I think we’ve got elite offensive personnel, and the name of the game is points. The one thing I know about Chad, he knows how to score points, and so I’m excited to welcome him and his family back.”

Offensive Coordinator Chad Morris:
“My previous time in this role at Clemson was truly one of the most joyful times of my career. It excites me to have an opportunity to come back and to do it under very similar circumstances from where we were in 2011 and where we are in 2026. I can’t thank Coach Swinney, Graham Neff and the Board of Trustees enough for this opportunity.

“I also want to extend my deepest thanks to Tony Elliott, Des Kitchings and the staff at Virginia for allowing me to be around their program during their historic 2025 season. All last year, I was able to travel and watch and visit and learn from so many different coaches at Virginia and beyond, and I’m excited to bring all that wisdom and knowledge back to Clemson.

“Paula and I are so excited to be returning to a place that means so much to our family, a community where our daughter Mackenzie graduated from Daniel High School and our son Chandler attended school through eighth grade. Clemson is truly home. It’s good to be home, and I can’t wait to get to work to help lead this outstanding group of players and staff and once again coach in front of this amazing, passionate fan base.”