Clemson to hire Chad Morris as offensive coordinator

Clemson is set to hire Chad Morris as its next offensive coordinator, per Tiger Illustrated. He will replace Garrett Riley, who will not return following the 2025 season.

Morris took this past year off from coaching while his son, Chandler, played quarterback at Virginia. It marks a return to Clemson after he served as an analyst with the Tigers in 2023 and was the program’s offensive coordinator from 2011-14.

Following his first stint at Clemson, Morris became the head coach at SMU, where he took the program from a 2-10 record in 2015 to a 7-5 mark in 2017. From there, he headed to Arkansas from 2018-19, where struggled en route to a 4-18 record before his departure.

Auburn then hired Morris as offensive coordinator in 2020 and he returned to his roots as a high school football coach at Allen (TX) in 2021. He spent two years as an analyst after that – one at USF and another at Clemson – from 2022-23. Most recently, he served as Texas State’s wide receivers coach and pass game coordinator in 2024.

Morris began his coaching career at the high school level in Texas after he graduated from Texas A&M. He totaled a career 178-43 overall record during his time at Eustace (1994-97), Elysian Fields (1998-99), Bay City (2000-02), Stephenville (2003-07), Lake Travis (2008-09) and Allen (2021). He won a national title at Bay City and two at Lake Travis.

Dabo Swinney makes change at OC

On3’s Pete Nakos reported Chad Morris as a name to watch in Clemson’s offensive coordinator search after announcing Garrett Riley would not return. The Tigers struggled in 2025 despite entering the year with high expectations. Their 392.2 yards per game ranked tied for eighth in the ACC while their 27.2 points on average ranked 11th out out of 17 teams. That led Dabo Swinney to announce a change.

“I have made the decision to make a change at offensive coordinator,” Swinney said in a statement. “This was a very difficult decision. These decisions are never easy, especially when you really love and care for the people that are involved, and I deeply love and care for Garrett Riley and his family. At the end of the day, we just did not get the production and the results that we needed, and I just feel like it is time for a change, and so we will be moving in a different direction with a new offensive coordinator.

“I just want to thank Garrett for all that he did for us here at Clemson and leading us and helping us secure another ACC championship in 2024 and get us back to the College Football Playoff that year. I appreciate all of his efforts on behalf of our players and our program. Garrett is smart, he’s got great work ethic and he’s a great coach, but it just didn’t work like we both wanted. He’s got an amazing career ahead and he’ll be a great head coach in the future.”