Chad Morris is the new head football coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU). Just six years ago he was coaching high school football at Lake Travis High School (2008-2009) in Austin, Texas. Morris also taught math. (He earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a minor in statistics from Texas A&M). As the head coach at Lake Travis, Morris had the good fortune of having star quarterback Garrett Gilbert, son of former NFL quarterback Gale Gilbert, as his starting quarterback. Morris’ salary at Lake Travis was $125k. After winning a second state championship title (with a 16-0 season), Morris was given a six-year-contract from Clemson worth $1.3 million to become the Tigers’ offensive coach.
Morris, a former quarterback at Texas’ Edgewood High School, believes math is the secret to his success. “That’s maybe why I see things a little different at times,” he told USA Today. “I love numbers — I’m engulfed with numbers and probabilities.” Morris will need to cast some serious math magic over his SMU team — they had a 1-11 record last season. SMU will play their first game of the 2015-2016 season against a talented Baylor team on September 4, 7pm on ESPN.
