FAYETTEVILLE -- With seven years to reflect on Dabo Swinney's big gamble, former Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips can add a bit of lighthearted hyperbole to that moment.
Phillips, a former defensive lineman and athletic administrator at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, had taken a risk in promoting Swinney to the permanent head coaching job at Clemson in 2009. Two years later, Swinney came to him after a bowl loss dropped the Tigers to 6-7 to say he wanted to hire an offensive coordinator with one year of college coaching experience.
Chad Morris had been a legend in the Texas high school ranks, winning three state championships in 16 years, but he had just one season at the University of Tulsa on his resume.
Phillips said he was worried about how hiring a little-known assistant coach from Tulsa would be received by Clemson's boosters and fans.
"What kept rolling around in my head was, 'Dabo, they're going to shoot us,' because we were going to bring in a guy with just one year of college experience," Phillips said. "Good high school coach, but very minimal experience at the college level.
"I know some of the higher-ups at Clemson probably weren't very excited about that move. But Dabo really believed Chad could bring something special to our football program to give it the jump-start we needed."
The jump-start was on its way.
Swinney and Morris had not met before December 2010. But the more Swinney researched the innovative Morris that winter, the more he liked him.
An on-campus interview in which Morris brought his wife Paula and children Mackenzie and Chandler convinced Swinney that Morris was the man to energize Clemson's moribund offense. The Swinney-Morris pairing seven winters ago set in motion defining events for both men.
Swinney's Clemson Tigers have emerged as a dominant national powerhouse with three consecutive appearances in the College Football Playoff, including a 35-31 championship game victory over No. 1 Alabama on Jan. 9. A rematch with the Crimson Tide in a national semifinal Monday is set for the Sugar Bowl.
Morris quickly ascended the college coaching ladder. He became one of the nation's first $1 million a year assistant coaches in 2012, took his first college head coaching job at SMU in 2015, then landed his first Power 5 head coaching job with the Arkansas Razorbacks earlier this month.
Morris had no prior connection to Swinney, but the pair hit it off on Morris' on-campus interview.
"Dabo did not know me," Morris said. "At Tulsa, we were the only team in college football that finished in the top 15 in both rushing and passing. Dabo wanted to be more balanced."
Swinney did extensive research on Morris before hiring him.
Morris was running an uptempo Spread offense that exploited mismatches, kept balance with a productive running game and racked up big numbers.
Tulsa finished fifth in total offense with 505.6 yards per game during a 10-3 run in 2010. The Golden Hurricane were No. 6 in scoring with 41.4 points per game, No. 15 in rushing (216.9) and No. 13 in passing (288.7).
"What I saw in Chad was a person who did what I wanted to do on offense," Swinney said in an email exchange with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
"This was based on what I saw him do at Tulsa. We used about 70 percent of what I wanted to do before he got here and in Chad I saw the other 30 percent at work. I saw that we had similar terminology, so I knew there would be a smaller learning curve for Tajh Boyd, who was going to be our starting quarterback in [Morris'] first year in 2011.
"I also saw that he was a winner everywhere he was. He had a winning attitude. He was a coach who could give us some answers."
Morris said his offensive ideas meshed perfectly with the direction Swinney wanted to go.
"That's what he wanted," Morris said. "I shared with him that, 'Look, if you hire me, you'll never have to worry about offense again.' And he hasn't."
Swinney, who has three sons, liked Morris' devotion to family.
"When he came on his visit he brought his entire family, " Swinney said. "That was important. We hit it off. We had the same family interests."
The pairing began paying off immediately.
"I strongly believed in Dabo, so I supported him hiring Chad," said Phillips, who retired from Clemson in 2012. "And, of course, Dabo absolutely nailed it by bringing him in."
Clemson improved to 10-3 in 2011 and ranked 26th in total offense with 440.8 yards per game and 25th in scoring offense with 33.6 points per game.
The next two seasons the Tigers finished ninth in total offense, averaging 512.7 and 508.5 yards, and sixth and eighth in scoring offense at 41.0 and 40.2 points per game during back-to-back 11-2 seasons.
Freshman Deshaun Watson took over at quarterback for Boyd -- a three-year starter -- in 2014 and missed several games due to injuries, but the Tigers went 10-3 while slipping to 61st in total offense (408.3 yards) and 54th in scoring offense (30.8).
"Chad came in and helped Dabo lay down a really strong foundation for Clemson," Phillips said. "He's very organized, he's very good with players. He's a good recruiter, and he's good out in the community."
Morris wasn't involved with Clemson's big College Football Playoff games against Alabama, Ohio State and Oklahoma since the 2015 season.
But Morris does share in the glory of those playoff runs after serving as offensive coordinator for four seasons from 2011-2014 and being involved in the recruitment and/or development of key offensive players such as Boyd, Watson, Sammy Watkins, DeAndre Hopkins and others in the build-up to Clemson's recent run.
Clemson has compiled a 40-3 record in the three years since his departure.
"I'm so excited, being a part of that staff for basically five years ... and recruiting a lot of those guys and helping build the vision of that program from where it was at 6-7 to where it is now," Morris said. "I'm still in touch with these guys.
"It's been great to see their success continue, running the offense and obviously recruiting at a high level"
Swinney called Morris on Dec. 5, the night UA officials were in Morris' living room in Dallas closing in on the deal that would lure him from SMU to Arkansas.
"Of course he was on speakerphone, and he had a chance to talk to everybody, so it was a great night," Morris said. "Some very, very dear, genuine people to Paula and I in the state of South Carolina. And we love them to death."
Clemson has maintained a roll offensively since Morris' departure, as evidenced by offensive coordinator Tony Elliott winning the 2017 Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant coach.
Yet Phillips is convinced Morris' hiring was a key moment in Clemson's rise.
"I can only say this, and it's unequivocal," Phillips said, "one of the reasons Clemson won the national championship and is now a program that people highly respect based on the kids we produce and how we play on the field is because of Chad Morris.
"He came here during a difficult period and helped build the program. He helped us gain confidence on the offensive side of the ball the same way Brent Venables has done for us on the defensive side.
"To this day, his mark is on this program and the people he helped tutor and mentor while he was our coordinator that took over when he left."
Since his arrival at Arkansas, Morris has compared the current Razorbacks with the state of the Clemson program he entered in 2011.
"I've got the blueprint of what it takes to win a national championship," Morris said he told his new Arkansas players. "I was sitting at Clemson when we were 6-7. And what excites me more than anything is seven years ago Clemson looked just like Arkansas does right now today."
Swinney and Phillips both envision good results for Morris at Arkansas.
"I think Chad is going to do very well," Swinney said. "He is going to bring excitement to that program. In two or three years no one is going to look forward to playing them."
Phillips said he was proud of Arkansas for making the decision to hire Morris.
"I think he's a perfect fit for the job," Phillips said. "I think the Arkansas people will be very pleased with the program Chad will put on the field and how he'll represent the university and the state.
"I can't say enough good things about Chad. First of all, he's great with people. He's easy to talk with. He's very engaging. So he'll do really well throughout the state visiting with people. You'll enjoy being around him and getting to know him.
"He's very smart, but he's not so full of himself that he thinks he has all the answers. He doesn't try to put himself on a pedestal. He'll just be one of us. Plus, Chad is one fine football coach."
Sports on 12/31/2017