Gus Malzahn considers Chad Morris to be one of his closest friends in the coaching industry.

The two former high school coaching stars' careers have been intertwined for the last 15 years -- a rather remarkable development considering the two have never coached together, lived in the same state or even squared off as head coaches at any level of football.

That will change Saturday, when Malzahn's ninth-ranked Auburn (2-1, 0-1 SEC) hosts Morris' Arkansas (1-2, 0-0) at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

"You know, he's one of my buddies," Malzahn said. "The challenge we have now is we're in the same conference. In the past, we've shared ideas. He's helped me, too. But now he's in competition. And we both understand that. He's a great competitor, and we'll compete. After the game, we'll shake hands, and everything will be great."

Theirs is a friendship -- an unlikely one, at that -- that dates back to 2003, when both Malzahn and Morris were prep coaches in Arkansas and Texas, respectively.

Malzahn was at Springdale High, already an established star after turning Shiloh Christian into an offensive juggernaut with his Hurry Up, No Huddle attack. Morris had just taken over at Stephenville High, where Art Briles won four state titles between 1988-99, including back-to-back championships in 1998 and 1999.

"That's kind of a legendary deal," Malzahn said.

Except Morris had a rough start at Stephenville, missing the playoffs altogether in his first year. It didn't take long for Morris, looking for offensive innovation, to seek out Malzahn.

"We were playing a state championship game and he called me out of the blue and asked if he could bring his staff to stand on the sideline," Malzahn said. "And I was a little bit leery, but I said yeah."

Morris brought his staff to Little Rock, Ark., to observe from the sideline as Malzahn's team took the field. While Malzahn invited Morris and his assistants to Arkansas, he remained his typically reserved self and made them stand off to the side -- not allowing them to get too close, as he likes to keep his ideas close to the vest.

"He stood on the sideline, kind of on the outside, down the line," Malzahn said. "I was glancing down there."

Morris said he brought his staff to Arkansas "several times" before Malzahn eventually opened up, and while he didn't completely divulge his system to Morris, he did provide him with some ideas to work with moving forward.

"He was very reserved at that time," Morris told reporters this week. "It wasn't until my persistency or my persistence, I should say, and he eventually opened up the door and said, 'Come see us in January.' So, we did, and that was January of that year, whatever year it was. From that point forward, we've talked ball quite a bit."

Morris used those ideas to bring Stephenville back to the playoffs in each of the next four seasons, going 75-6 during that spen, and then he carried them to Lake Travis High, where he went 32-0 and won back-to-back state titles in 2008-09.

"I always knew he had something special about him," Malzahn said. "He's a great person. He's one of the good guys in our business. But he's one of the best coaches I've ever been around. So, we just kind of developed that relationship."

Since then, the careers of Morris and Malzahn have somewhat mirrored each other. Malzahn made the jump from high school to college in 2006, when he became the offensive coordinator at Arkansas before taking the same position at Tulsa in 2007-08. Morris followed suit, making the jump from Lake Travis in 2010 to Tulsa, becoming the offensive coordinator there a year after Malzahn's departure for a position on Gene Chizik's staff at Auburn.

After orchestrating one of the nation's most prolific offenses at Tulsa in 2010 -- when the Golden Hurricane were sixth nationally in scoring at 41.4 points per game, just ahead of Malzahn's 41.2 points per game at Auburn -- Morris was hired at Clemson by Dabo Swinney, who consulted Malzahn before making the move.

Following four successful seasons at Clemson, Morris earned his first college head coaching opportunity at SMU, where he helped turn the program around during his three seasons from 2015-17.

"You look at Clemson now and look back and when everything changed, it's when they hired Chad Morris," Malzahn said. "He got the offense going, recruited Deshaun Watson, and look at him now. He went to SMU, and it was low, low, low. He got them out of it."

Malzahn expects his close friend to do the same at Arkansas, where Morris was hired in December after the Razorbacks made a run at Malzahn for their head coaching vacancy. Although Arkansas has struggled to open the Morris era, Malzahn anticipates an improved team when the Razorbacks come to the Plains, noting that his inaugural team as head coach at Auburn didn't really hit its stride until the third or fourth game of 2013.

While both remain good friends, and their wives remain close as well, Malzahn and Morris are downplaying their relationship ahead of their second-ever game against each other and first as head coaches.

"You know, I know he's the same way -- he's got a team to coach, and I've got a team to coach," Malzahn said. "You've got to do everything you can to help your team win."

The two previously went head-to-head in 2011 as coordinators, when Malzahn and Auburn were coming off a national title and Morris was in his first year under Swinney at Clemson. Morris got the best of that meeting, as Clemson put up 38 points on the way to a 14-point win in Death Valley during the Week 3 matchup.

"I've played against Gus before and have great respect for him and what he's done and how he's taken that program and definitely done a fabulous job, as he's done everywhere he's ever been," Morris said. "I look forward to getting our football team better. That's what I look forward to."

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.