After Eric Morris signed with his hometown Texas Tech Red Raiders in 2004, he read an article in the local paper that called him undersized and a waste of a scholarship.

He bought five copies.

When he moved into his dorm at Tech, the 5-foot-8 receiver taped the newspaper clippings to his bathroom mirror.

“It’s always helped me when people tell me I can’t do something,” Morris said. “For me to prove them wrong is always something that has really hit home for me.”

Morris racked up almost 2,000 receiving yards during his college career. About 10 years later, Morris faced doubters again.

When he agreed to leave as Texas Tech’s offensive coordinator to take his first head coaching job at Incarnate Word, many people told him he was crazy. He took the reins of a program that went 1-10 in 2017. UIW was only a few months removed from completing the transition to Division I and was 30-67 in nine seasons.

Morris changed the culture of UIW football and installed an Air Raid offense that morphed the Cardinals into a high-flying spectacle. For his work leading UIW to a 6-5 season, a share of a Southland Conference championship and the first playoff berth in program history, Morris is the Express-News 2018 Sportsman of the Year.

Past E-N Sportsman of the Year winners 2017: Tim Duncan (basketball) 2016: Jimmy Walker (golf) 2015: John Gibbons (baseball) 2014: Kawhi Leonard (basketball) 2013: David Bailiff and Larry Coker (football) 2012: Johnny Manziel (football) 2011: Lance Berkman (baseball) 2010: Justin Olsen (bobsled) 2009: McAllister Park Little League team (baseball) 2008: Chase Clement and Jarrett Dillard (football) 2007: Gregg Popovich (basketball) 2006: Frank Martin (youth programs) 2005: Bruce Bowen (basketball) 2004: Manu Ginobili (basketball) and Darold Williamson (track & field) 2003: San Antonio Spurs team (basketball) 2002: Priest Holmes (football) 2001: Lance Berkman (baseball) and Charlie Migl (baseball) 2000: Ross Davis (paralympics) and Sean Elliott (basketball) 1999: Tim Duncan (basketball) 1998: D.W. Rutledge (football) 1997: Ron Roenicke (baseball) 1996: Josh Davis (swimming) 1995: David Robinson (basketball) 1994: David Robinson (basketball) 1993: Bob Coleman (basketball, sports foundation) 1992: Cito Gaston (baseball) 1991: Robert Quiroga (boxing) 1990: Ty Detmer (football) 1989: Shaquille O’Neal (basketball) 1988: B.J. “Red” McCombs (basketball) 1987: Fennis Dembo (basketball) 1986: Reuben Reina (track & field) 1985: Reuben Reina (track & field)

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“Any time you get these awards, I think it’s good for the team. Good for the program, just to consider where we were a year ago at this time and make the jump so fast,” Morris said. “The winner last year was Tim Duncan, so that's pretty impressive.”

Duncan was named the Sportsman of the Year on Dec. 31, 2017, dominating the front page of the Express-News sports section. A tease at the bottom of the page read, “Cardinals hire Tech offensive coordinator Eric Morris to be next head coach.”

The release detailing Morris’ hiring at UIW ran on the bottom half of page 11. One year and one day later, Morris is the centerpiece of the Cardinals’ resurgence.

“Us being able to win this year put us on the map, and people are taking notice,” Morris said. “When I first got the job and we went out spring recruiting, nobody knew what UIW was.”

Within the locker room, Morris embraced the anonymity. When his players grew angry that other programs were posting disparaging things about UIW on social media, Morris told them to stay silent.

Throughout the season, UIW used “Stealth Mode” as a hashtag on Twitter.

“I told them we’re not going to talk until we win some games around here. We don’t deserve to talk trash right now with what our record has been here,” Morris said. “Only the people in that room believed in us. So we were going to work hard together, fly under the radar, and come out and surprise some people, and I think that worked well for us.”

Washington State’s Mike Leach coached Morris’ teams at Tech, then gave Morris one of his first jobs as an assistant. Leach said Morris’ confidence was his defining attribute as a player, and as a coach Morris displayed an experimental nature and an understanding of every aspect of the game.

“The other thing is he has enough charisma to elevate the play and focus of his team,” Leach said.

Running back Ra’Quanne Dickens said Morris brought fresh energy and “a whole new swag” to the UIW program. Receiver Kody Edwards said Morris’ standout characteristics are his desire to win and his ability to demand respect while also eliciting laughs. Senior Phillip Baptiste said Morris “understands life” and bonds with his players on a personal level.

Seemingly every player fell in love with Morris’ coaching.

“He’s always full of energy. Always keeping us going,” offensive lineman Terence Hickman said. “He’s super fun, for sure.”

Hickman said Morris quickly connected with the Cardinals — a process that didn’t happen by accident. Morris said he enjoys hunting and fishing in his free time, and country music is typically playing in his car. But he also selected a couple of UIW players to help him keep in touch with whatever music is most popular, including the associated dances.

Morris called himself an “average-at-best” dancer — “though I did win ‘Dancing with the Stars: Lubbock, Texas’ when I was a senior in college,” he noted — but that doesn’t stop him from busting a move to impress a recruit or boost the mood in a team meeting.

“It went from the Dougie, to the Whip and the Nae Nae, to the floss, now,” Morris said. “There's so many different things that they do. I can’t keep up with them all. But whatever is trendy, I'll pull up on YouTube and try to learn how to do it, just to get a good reaction from them.”

If the playoff berth and his Southland Conference Coach of the Year award didn’t make it obvious, the Cardinals are out of stealth mode now. He said UIW’s goals have shifted from conference titles to deep playoff runs and national championships.

UIW opens the 2019 season against UTSA on Aug. 31 in the Alamodome. Morris acknowledges the matchup will be difficult, with UTSA recruiting “a different level of athlete” given the Conference USA affiliation and everything that comes with it. But Morris has never been one to back down from a challenge.

“It’s the haves and the have-nots, but we’re going to grind all summer and work extremely hard so that hopefully we can step into the Alamodome and at least be competitive with them,” Morris said. “It’ll be a great experience for our kids, No. 1, and a chance for us to go out and, quote-unquote, play against the big boys in town.”

greg.luca@express-news.net