CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Former Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris — a key architect of the Tigers’ offensive transformation a decade ago — has emerged prominently in early chatter as a possible candidate to return to Clemson and fill the school’s vacant offensive coordinator position, multiple reports say.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney announced this week that offensive coordinator Garrett Riley will not return for the 2026 season after a 7-6 finish and an uncharacteristic offensive downturn in 2025. The Tigers’ scoring output dipped from 34.7 points per game in 2024 to 27.2 in 2025, leaving the offense ranked outside the upper tier nationally and prompting a coaching change.
Among the names circulating as candidates to replace Riley is Morris, who served as Clemson’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2011 through 2014 and played a foundational role in the program’s rise into national prominence.
During Morris’s four seasons as coordinator, Clemson posted a 41-11 record, including an ACC Championship and four bowl game appearances. His hurry-up, spread offense helped establish 127 school offensive records — 89 individual and 38 team marks — and produced some of the most potent Tiger attacks in school history.
Under Morris’s scheme, the Tigers averaged approximately 36 points and 468 yards per game over his final 52 games, according to records from his departure in 2014. Clemson’s offense during that span included three of the top scoring seasons and four of the top five passing seasons in program history.
In 2013, Clemson’s offense ranked among the nation’s best, averaging roughly 508.5 yards and 40.2 points per game, figures that placed the Tigers in the top 10 nationally in both categories.
Morris’s work also fostered the development of standout quarterback Tajh Boyd and helped elevate Clemson’s recruiting profile, ultimately laying groundwork for the national championship runs that came later in the decade under Swinney.
Since leaving Clemson, Morris has worked in a variety of roles at both the collegiate and high-school levels, including head coaching stints at SMU and Arkansas, offensive coordinator at Auburn, and most recently as a wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Texas State in 2024. In 2025 he stepped away from full-time coaching to watch his son, Chandler Morris, quarterback for the Virginia Cavaliers.
Though nothing has been finalized, Morris’s name continues to surface in Tiger circles and recruiting punditry as Swinney begins what promises to be a pivotal offseason search for offensive leadership