Chad Morris owes the opportunity to be a head coach on the college level to Gus Malzahn.

That’s the SMU coach’s take on his situation with the Mustangs, where he enters his second season as head coach after a lengthy and successful career calling offensive plays for Clemson.

The former Stephenville (Texas) High coach hooked up with Malzahn when he was coaching high school football in Northwest Arkansas, where he won two state titles at private school Shiloh Christian and one at Springdale High. That Springdale High team is considered by many to be the best team ever assembled in Arkansas high school history.

“We reached out to Gus and flew our offensive staff up in late November and early December two weekends in a row from Stephenville to Little Rock, Arkansas to watch him play in a semifinal and state championship game,” Morris said, according to DallasNews.com. “Gus was really closed and didn't want to share much but saw the persistence we had with me reaching out to him saying I needed some help. He really opened up. He let us be a part of him and his staff. From that, we developed a close friendship. I am where I am today because Gus Malzahn lent a helping hand. He has become one of my dear friends in this business."

Malzahn is notorious for keeping things close to the vest and rarely allows coaches into his inner circle, but Morris cracked the Malzahn egg in the early 2000s.

Morris coached Stephenville to back-to-back undefeated seasons and state titles just as Malzahn was joining the college ranks as an offensive coordinator at Arkansas in 2006.

Morris was 2-10 in his first season coaching SMU last season.

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