Note: The following appears in the Miami (Fla.) football digital gameday guide, available HERE.
When Head Coach Dabo Swinney decided to make an offensive coordinator change after the 2010 season, he called and asked me to bring to him all the national offensive stats I could find on the NCAA football website. I did just that and brought him pages of data that dealt with total offense, rushing offense, passing offense, total touchdowns and per-play statistics.
I knew he was going to do some research on the most productive offenses in the country during the 2010 season. He told me he was looking for offenses that had been productive in both passing and rushing.
He gave me no hints as to whom he was looking at specifically, but I did put a list together of the teams that had averaged 200 passing yards and 200 rushing yards the previous season. I had told him that (at the time) Clemson had lost just one game in its history when it had at least 200 rushing yards and 200 passing yards (now 119-2-1 entering this weekend’s game against the No. 4 Hurricanes).
There were nine teams who reached at least 200 of each in 2010. On the list I noticed that Tulsa was 15th in the nation in rushing (216.9) and 13th in passing (288.7). So, I made a list of schools that finished in the top 15 in the nation in both rushing yards per game and passing yards per game.
There was only one school on that list…Tulsa.
I left those numbers with Swinney, and I added, “You know that Tulsa beat Notre Dame in South Bend this year and scored 28 points and had nearly 400 yards, 196 passing and 203 rushing.”
I did not know who the offensive coordinator was at Tulsa, but those facts piqued Swinney’s curiosity.
About a week later, I was writing a release announcing Chad Morris as Clemson’s new offensive coordinator.
The hire was not popular with many who were already upset after a 6-7 season. Morris did not have a long resumé as a college coach. In fact, the year at Tulsa as offensive coordinator was it. He had been an ultra-successful high school coach in Texas.
However, Swinney had a sixth sense about Morris, and that intuition proved to be correct.
The 2011 season was electric at Clemson. The Tigers defeated defending national champion Auburn 38-24, No. 11 Florida State 35-30 and No. 11 Virginia Tech 23-3. It was the first time an ACC team beat top-25 teams in three consecutive weeks.
The Tigers went on to their first 10-win season since 1990 and won their first ACC championship in 20 years. An offense led by sophomore quarterback Tajh Boyd, tight end Dwayne Allen, wide receivers Sammy Watkins and DeAndre Hopkins and running back Andre Ellington finished in the top 25 in the nation in scoring offense and passing offense.
The next two years, Clemson averaged over 500 yards per game and finished in the top 10 in the country in total offense, big reasons the Tigers totaled 11 win during both seasons and finished with top-10 rankings, No. 9 in the coaches poll in 2012 and No. 7 in the same poll in 2013. Program-branding bowl wins over LSU and Ohio State were recorded in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Morris left Clemson after the 2014 season to become the head coach of SMU. In his 52 games as Clemson’s offensive coordinator, the Tigers posted a 41-11 record, including a 27-6 mark against ACC teams. During the 52 games, Clemson averaged 36.3 points and 468.5 yards per game, both top-12 marks nationally among for that period of time.
He has been around the college football world and back since since 2014, but he has now returned to lead the Clemson offense in 2026.
“I am thrilled to be back,” said Morris. “This is a place our family has always loved. I learned so much the times I have been here (including the 2023 season as a special assistant). We have followed the program closely since the day we left in 2015.
“I have spent the last year learning from other programs that I visited all over the country. I was able to spend a lot of time with Tony Elliott at Virginia (where his son, Chandler, played in 2025 and led the Cavaliers to a record 11-win season). I had great access to programs because of the credibility Coach Swinney has across the country.”
The game has changed since Morris was the offensive coordinator at Clemson 12 years ago, but some basics remain constant.
“The pace of play has changed since I was here previously. The defenses have caught up with the fast-tempo approach. We still want to play fast, but in my talks with defensive coaches around the country, a key will be changing tempo and keeping the defense off balance over the course of the game.”