← See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack
See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack
David Pollack ONE-ON-ONE CONVO with Oklahoma State Head Coach Eric Morris
00:38:03
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- [00:00]
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- [01:00]
Interviewer / Host
And how about that Polack interception in the end zone?
- [01:03]
Eric Morris
Well, it's David Pollock and I think people are going to learn what kind of ball player he is. He's got a heart of a lion. I'm real proud of that kid.
- [01:09]
Interviewer / Host
This is C Ball Get Ball, college football's top show for football analysis, predictions and coach interviews. Now here's your host, three time all american, seven time Emmy award winner, David Holland. All right, welcome in the new coach of Oklahoma State, Eric Morris. We've done this throughout college football getting all the new coaches in the new spots. Coach, Oklahoma State why was that your your spot? Why was that something you were comfortable with and wanted to go to? What made Oklahoma State home?
- [01:44]
Eric Morris
Yeah, I think just culturally a great fit for me and my family. I grew up in a really small farming community in west Texas and my dad was a high school coach and so I grew up, you know, playing all different sports and just I think sports is such a great teacher of life and teaching me how to compete at a young age. And then also Now I got two young boys, my family is got a 10 year old and a 5 year old and so for us to have the opportunity to raise them in a community like I grew up a smaller town where you get to know everybody and just the reception has been great. I mean I think everybody wants this place to be great. Everything's all about Oklahoma State and in Stillwater, you know, they've been over backwards to be able to help us. Super generous group of alumni. And so I thought I kind of got that perfect mix of raising my family in a small town and being able to coach, you know, some big time power four football. Super familiar with the Big 12 playing at Texas Tech and coaching at Texas Tech. And so I think there's a lot of similarities to those two programs, to the two institutions. And so, and I saw just a short time ago, you know, this place is really good. Coach Gundy did a phenomenal job and in winning a ton of games, going to a lot of bowl games, had some great players come through this program. Boone Pickens had, you know, grown this place. The facilities are phenomenal here. And I think the Big 12 is just in a good spot right now, you know, for us to be able to come in here and bring some dynamic playmakers in here, bring this offense in here with a quarterback, young quarterback like Drew Messamaker and some people around him. I think this is a conference or we have a road where, you know, if we can improve, we can, we can really make a run at this thing.
- [03:26]
Interviewer / Host
Yeah, I'm going to get to Drew in a second. I definitely want, I definitely want to get to that story. But coach, what, what are your boys like to do, man? What are they into? What do y' all do? What do y' all like to do as a family? Are we, are we sports? Are we, are we the competitive dad? Are we the chill dad? Like how, how does it go with, with raising two boys?
- [03:47]
Eric Morris
Yeah, my wife gets mad at me because I'm chill with them, but they're super competitive. The 10 year old plays and probably the best 7 on 7 team in Tulsa right now. They've won two tournaments the last couple weekends. He goes straight from that to baseball. They've started practice and, and then a basketball player as well. The five year old's just getting involved. He has his first T ball practice tonight. And so my wife's the screamer and the yeller. She takes the videos. I kind of sit in the outfield by myself and I knew what that relationship was with my, with my dad. My dad was pretty militant in a good way and, and, and made us boys. I had two brothers and we had to be super accountable. We got up early, we went and practiced, went to the gym, you know, went to off season workouts, went and lifted weights early. And so at some point, I think when my son tells me this is what he loves. That's what he wants to do. I know my personality and the way I coach. Like, our relationship is going to change forever. And. And I don't want to cross that line until he tells me, hey, dad, this is what I love. This is what I want to do. And so I think I have a great sense of that right now. Just because I know, you know, when he gets to be 14 or 15 and he said, hey, football's my sport, I love it. This is what I want to, you know, commit to. It's going to change our relationship.
- [05:01]
Interviewer / Host
So. So you're letting him be a kid.
- [05:04]
Eric Morris
Straight kid. We love to hunt, fish. We're outdoors people. I love to grow. I love to just be outside anytime I'm not coaching ball. And so, same thing, you know, we'll. We'll put some fishing poles in the back of the little Polaris Ranger and go find a pond, and. And the boys like to get dirty, and so the red dirt's been good to him. My wife doesn't like dragging that red dirt in.
- [05:24]
Interviewer / Host
No, no woman. No woman likes that by any stretch of the imagination. I just think that I love that coach, because that's a good word for these parents. And. And I have so many friends that look at me like I'm crazy, but I'm like, listen, like, and. And I. And I tell them I was like, when they're younger, aggressiveness wins. When they're in middle school, puberty wins. When they're in high school, genetics wins. Like, let them be a kid. And everybody would always be like, wait a minute. Like, why don't you do drills that they're going to do in college? I'm like, because why would I do drills when they're going to do in College when they're 7 and 8 and 9? So that's a good word, man. I love that for. For dads out there, man. Like, because it does. My son did the same. My son said to me. I remember. I'll never forget. He said to me, like, 14 years old, 13 years old. He was like, hey, like, dad, I want to do this. Can you help me? Can you. Can you help me go play college football at a high level? And I'm like, listen, I want to be dad. Like, I don't want to be your coach. And listen, I know his personality, too, and he's chill and calm, and that is not me. So, like, that's. I just think that's such a great word, man, for people that are chasing and their kids. They think they need to grind at 11 and 10 and 9 and they're going all over the place for all these things and it's like, okay, you know, you can pump the brakes like they can be a kid and kind of chillax a little bit.
- [06:45]
Eric Morris
Yeah, I think it's almost embarrassing. Like I've got to see you sports from a different angle these last three or four years. And my 10 year old's naturally gifted and so, you know, he's excelled the last couple of years in baseball and, and football and all the travel teams and, and you know, the amount of money people are spending and resources for families to get to these practices. But the one thing I hate now is just in the 7 on 7 circuit, like seeing the, the way these coaches act and respond and run on the field and, and are cursing at these kids. And like, to me, I remember like looking up to my father as a coach when I was 10, like I mocked everything my father did. Right. I mean that, that was, you know, one of my greatest influences and, and someone that I respected and everybody in our, in our town respected him. Right. And so I think some of these youth sports are setting such a bad example for today's youth and, and it's going to put them in a bad spot. And we were in a 7 on 7 tournament last weekend and, and seeing the way some of these coaches reacted and the way they talk to these kids, I mean these kids are still learning and they're growing and developing. They need to be loved and they need to be taught. Right. I mean coaching is just another extension of teaching. Right. And so I think you hit it head on. Like, I mean youth sports is going down a bad path right now, man, let them fail.
- [08:03]
Interviewer / Host
Teach them it's okay to fail. Like I tell my kids all the time, like, I'm going to fail you as a coach. Like I'm going to fail you. You're going to fail as well. Fail forward. All right, coach, what's the reason? Who's the influences? The, the, your dad you mentioned. So besides your dad, I guess, like what's the reason that Eric Morris is sitting in that chair? Who are the guys that really impacted you as a coach?
- [08:29]
Eric Morris
My list is pretty crazy. You know, when I signed at Texas Tech, Art Browse was the running back coach. Sonny Comeby was outside receiver or, sorry, Sonny Dykes was outside receivers. Dana Holgerson was inside receivers coach. Lincoln Riley was a ga. Dave Aranda was a ga Was our special teams coordinator. Mike Leach was a coach. Cliff Kingsbury and Sonny Cumby Were both players there with me. And so when I got, when I got Mike Leach, the whole thing blew up with Mike. The year after I got done with, with, with Adam and Craig James and he got fired. And so I went and played in the Canadian Football League for a year. Tore my knee up returning the punt and so knew I was going to be done and wanted to start coaching. So you know, I had four or five guys that, that called and offered me a graduate assistant position just because, you know, as a player, you know, I was a gym rat. I'd sit in Sonny Dyke's office, I'd sit in Lincoln Riley's office, I'd sit in Dana Hoger's office and make him teach me everything, not just receiver. Like what are we doing up front? What are the calls, what's the O line doing? You know, what's the running backs reads on, on our pass protection, what's our quarterback's reads on, on quick game and how are we reading the progression on some of this drop back. So I think they knew that, that obviously this is what I wanted to do. I was committed to it. I put the time in and so I was actually going to go to East Carolina with, with Ruffin McNeil and Lincoln Riley and, and Dana Hogorson actually called me and said, hey, I think you need to go with Cliff Kingsbury. He's kind of a young up and coming coach at Houston. And I think Kevin Summons going to move pretty fast. So I think that'll be the fastest way you can, you can get a full time position. So I ended up going there. Coach Kingsbury let me help coach the inside receivers as a graduate assistant and, and then obviously was able to get on with Mike Leach on his first staff at Washington State. I was the first guy hired, so I got to watch him hire his staff. Was such a valuable experience for me at 24 years old.
- [10:38]
Interviewer / Host
What did you learn?
- [10:40]
Eric Morris
Oh, just everything. I mean we could, I could talk for hours about that. But the next year I watched Cliff Kingsbury do the same thing. He hired me as an offensive coordinator at Texas Tech.
- [10:51]
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- [11:49]
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- [12:03]
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- [12:19]
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- [12:50]
Eric Morris
So I kind of got to see it in two ways and I think, you know, Mike's biggest thing first and foremost is we need to change the culture at Washington State. And the most important hire was going to be our strength coach. So we got on the airplane, we flew all around America and he spent more time looking for the right strength coach before anything else because he knew how much time that strength coach was going to spend. And this was back, you know, 20 something years ago when, when you know, the summer access was way different and you know, you only had your eight hours. We didn't have the OTA stuff. You couldn't really practice or do football related stuff. So strength coach was not more important but it was just I think a little bit of a different role back then.
- [13:28]
Interviewer / Host
I think spent the most time with
- [13:29]
Eric Morris
the kids, no doubt more, more than your position coach even, you know, and so and then moved on to the coordinator and, and he looked at all kinds of different stats and, and what was good with playing with this offense, a coordinator that wasn't going to get upset that we did tempo or that we threw the ball 60 times a game and, and somebody who got.
- [13:49]
Interviewer / Host
I can relate to that as a defensive guy.
- [13:52]
Eric Morris
Yeah, so he wanted aggressive defensive mentality always. I mean, he wanted to get tackles for losses. He wanted, you know, the turn 8 turnover rate to be high. He thought that was the defenses that played the best with this offense and, and for us to get more possessions and so, and, and then went on to watch Cliff Kingsbury do it. And I think, you know, Cliff would be the first one to admit that, that he made some mistakes. You know, he pretty much hired a bunch of his friends that played at Texas Tech who were all great coaches. I just think the experience level and where they had been in that time of their career probably weren't ready to all mesh together and didn't all bring a certain skill set that you needed from recruiting to discipline to all the different things as, you know, you around great staffs. You know, everybody kind of has their own little niche personalities and has their own strengths and weaknesses. And I think as a head coach, Mike always knew what his weaknesses are and he always tried to surround himself with people that would fill those gaps for him. Right. Because this isn't a job for one man. Like, I mean, you know, I mean, I'm responsible for, you know, 120, 18 to 23 year olds and you know, the support staffs have gotten so big and so you really have to surround yourself. You know, it takes an army of people that are willing to serve these kids and serve your program every day and be able to, you know, speak my verbiage on down from the top, all the way, all the way to the, to the bottom of the program. And so when I was ready, when I finally got my first chance to be a head coach at Incarnate Word, now every one of my mentor, all those guys I just told you about, told me I was absolutely crazy and stupid if I took the Incarnate Word head job and said, this is, you know, career suicide. Don't do it. And so I was a young dad at the time. I wanted to spend some time with my kids as they grew up in the spring and not be on the road recruiting. And, and I thought I could do it. I thought I, I learned enough from all these people, mentors around me that I was ready to take over a program. And, and, and so, so yeah, Incarnate Word was a great experience for me as a head coach to start with because it wasn't under the microscope and really, we had zero resources there, zero history. So I kind of had this blank sheet of, all right, I'm going to do this my way and, and you know, we're going to grind at this thing. I'm gonna wear a lot of different hats and with not much support it. And we're going to find a way to go, you know, almost be a high school program and, and go out there and get some kids that love ball and want to win games.
- [16:21]
Interviewer / Host
Yeah, it wasn't bad when your quarterbacks. Cam Ward, the number one overall pick, I guess that wasn't a horrible start.
- [16:28]
Eric Morris
That was a good way to start right there. Like that gave us a little bit of a leg up watching him spin the ball against some FCS program.
- [16:36]
Interviewer / Host
But you know that, that, that leads really good into the next one though, like, but also a zero star kid. Nobody, nobody looked for Cam Ward, like. And instead of asking you about Cam Ward, I'm going to spin that to Drew Messamaker, who wasn't a starter in high school football at the quarterback spot.
- [16:56]
Eric Morris
Right.
- [16:56]
Interviewer / Host
Never started a game, walks on with you at North Texas, starts at the six string quarterback, I think is what I read, and then works his way up and leads the nation in passing. So I just want to know how, what, like what, when you're recruiting, did you, did you see that? Are you that smart or did that fall in your lap? And what did you see in Drew and how did that happen, bro?
- [17:22]
Eric Morris
You know, I've been blessed to be around some really good ones and with Legion, Kingsbury, they couldn't go on the road recruiting. So I was always responsible for recruiting the quarterbacks in the spring and going for the in person eval. So I had a great idea of what we were looking for and they kind of had a little, you know, there's some, some method to the madness and some science behind what they wanted in their quarterbacks. And so, you know, we had great ones. Starting Case Keenan was at Houston that we had. And, and then obviously at Texas Tech we had, you know, Davis Webb, Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield were all guys who recruited.
- [17:56]
Interviewer / Host
Yeah.
- [17:57]
Eric Morris
So I knew what it looked like. Then we got Cam at Incarnate Word. So, so I'd been around like these incredible quarterbacks my whole career, luckily. And so the one with Drew Messmaker is one I'm not going to take responsibility for. Like we did that other one. I mean we went through the whole evaluation process. Those are the people we picked. I actually had a friend of mine, Jeff Christiansen, who's a Quarterback trainer that called me in the spring when Drew was a senior. And he said, hey, I, I found, you know, the next NFL quarterback. And I'm like. And then he said, do you have a walk on spot? And I'm like, Jeff, what do we tie? Like, why are we even talking about this right now? He said, do you have one? I said, yeah, we have a walk on spot right now. And, and I said, well, send me the film. And me and our quarterback coach, Coach Brophy, we'll, we'll get it evaluated and we'll see if we want to bring him on. And he kind of started laughing. He said, that's the thing, he didn't play. And then I'm like, Jeff, like, what are we doing? Like, you want me to take a kid that art and I can't even watch his tape. I mean, zero start since 9th grade B team was the last time he played quarterback in a football game. Game. He said, you just got to trust me on this one. He said, I'm gonna have a throwing session down there in, in, in Dallas here in a couple weeks. I'm gonna bring him down, let you watch him throw. So Jeff brings him down, we go out, we watch him throw. So just from what, Jasper perspective and, and this kid's 6 4, you know, 215, super athletic, absolutely zero wasted motion in his throwing motion, which is something we look for like, I mean, there's some stuff of getting the front down, the front foot down early, where he puts the ball, where he slots it in the back, and, and some things that we like to look mechanically. And he was pretty flawless on all this stuff, like Jeff said, which is pretty spot on. Now, did I know this kid could process information the way he does that, that he was going to have these leadership qualities that, you know, he was going to be an alpha when he gets on the field and be able to be smart enough to change these protections to, to process information. And he's one of the best anticipated passers I've ever been around, which is really, really rare because he hasn't played that much football. And so super accurate, can make all the throws. And so I'm not going to take all the credit for this one just because there's so much that goes into the evaluation process that like, I didn't know. And, but you know, Drew got in. He was the fist string quarterback. We brought him in for an arm and cam, and by the time that first year he got there, he beaten out, you know, three other scholarship guys. He was Chandler Morris's, backup for a whole entire year, which I thought really helped. Like, Chandler is a smart guy. He's been around football his whole life. So for Drew to watch Chandler prepare for a whole year and the way he went about his business as an older guy that had been at Oklahoma, that had been at tcu, that had played in big games, I think that was super valuable for Drew to sit back and kind of watch that as a young buck.
- [20:47]
Interviewer / Host
So, so how you, you, you bring in 80 new guys? Is that, is that the correct number?
- [20:53]
Eric Morris
80? I think 81, which I think's a record. You're gonna have to check that. But.
- [21:00]
Interviewer / Host
So 81 new guys, you're new. I mean, what, what is the, what, what, what was the, what was the immediate message? Like, how are we, how are we starting this thing off? What's the first team meeting look like with 81 new guys and all new coaches?
- [21:17]
Eric Morris
Yeah, I'm a little old school. And like, I truly believe in building relationships first and foremost. And I think there's a level of trust in football that's always going to be there, and that has to be there if you want to have a good team. Like, I still think football is the greatest team sport in the world. And, and trying to figure out a way to get all these guys to pull in the same direction that are coming from all these different backgrounds. And now you've added the dynamic of paying these kids so much money and, and so there's a whole another, you know, you know, set of, of rules in there where there's a financial piece and trying to put this thing together financially in a smart way. But we're, we're a little bit old school. I mean, we just, we do now we do breakfast club where, you know, twice a week we eat breakfast with these kids. They're split up in different groups and they have to eat breakfast with a different coach. We have five questions that are sitting out there for them. They're icebreaker questions. And pretty organically you want these guys to start opening up and figuring out, you know, what motivates these kids, because at the end of the day, we're paying them, but, but they're still kids. They still want to learn, they still want to grow, they still, you know, want to get to the NFL. They still have all these things that are in front of them. Although I don't really agree with the way NCAA has set all this up and, and the way it's running right now on a day to day basis, I think it's a broken system on so many different levels. I think I'm young enough to know like, you better adapt with these times as they're moving in real time or you're going to get left behind. Right? And so, but at the end of the day, I try to, I keep all the money separate. Like, I mean I, I don't do any of the money talks. I, I allow our GM to do that because I'm going to coach these guys extremely hard and, and they're gonna still, if they make a ton of mistakes and they're not pulling, you know, they're, they're into things out there on the field, they're going to come stand by beside me and, and they're going to sit and watch somebody else do it out there no matter how much money they're being paid. And so I always think forming those relationships are the most important thing and, and we truly are super intentional on just spending good quality time with them in different settings. You know, our kids come up on Saturdays and, and they throw seven on seven, do some voluntary stuff on Saturdays and I went and bought two barbecue pits and our coaching staff, you know, we all sit outside underneath the, the concourse and we flip burgers and hot dogs and when they get done, they come over and you know, we set out dominoes, we play spades, we got beanbag toss and, and just spend time together. And so I don't know a better way of forming relationships and building trust and allowing these. I allow our coaches to bring our families up here at all times. I think it's important for these kids to see our guys not only, you know, the D line coach out there ripping somebody's ass and coaching them extremely hard during practice, but also want to see, you know, when, when their 12 year old son runs to him and they give him a hug and, and I want to see them be loving fathers and, and I think it's good for our kids to visually see that and that we're being role models and in a different way than just on the field. Right. And so, so yeah, we're in the process right now. I think you have to be really intentional because it's so expedited now and building relationships in the old days you get 25 new high school kids and you know, the program naturally, I think kind of starts running itself and the strength coach has a big part of that. I think now we have to be more visible. And so yeah, I do think it's harder to be able to bring everybody together and really figure out, you know, what motivates these kids in such a short amount of time. But I do think it's doable.
- [24:48]
Interviewer / Host
You mentioned, you've mentioned like hiring coaches and you've mentioned watching others do it. What about the GM position now in, in college sports? Because it didn't used to exist. So growing up as a coach, you didn't used to see that. And now having that GM position, like how important is that and how did you make those decision on, on who you were going to hire as a GM?
- [25:11]
Eric Morris
Our GM I think is 24 years old and so. 24. 24, yeah. And so his name is Raj Murdy. So actually I met him. He, he was kind of, he graduated college in one year at Houston and he worked for Dana Hogorson, kind of his right hand man for, in the recruiting department for three or four years. And then when they got let go of Houston, Sonny Dykes actually hired him as a dpp, as a player personnel and in recruiting and then at North Texas. Kind of the supports that people are so hard to keep right now at the G5 level, if you find a good one, you know, you're not going to be able to retain them just for financial reasons usually. So you know, the two guys that we had had previous years, one went to the Denver Broncos as a scout and, and then the next year Wisconsin hired our guy and so we just couldn't keep him. So I was hiring somebody, interviewed a ton of guys and Raj I think was 23 at the time and I thought he was the best guy for the job. Super smart. You know, he has a financial degree background and so he's a wizard on spreadsheets. I'm terrible at Excel. I don't know how to run that damn thing. Never mind.
- [26:24]
Interviewer / Host
That goes back to your Mike Lee. That goes back to your Mike Leach. Knowing your weakness.
- [26:27]
Eric Morris
That's right. And so as I interviewed people, I needed somebody and he had done a ton of research on NFL models and how they kind of structured roster. But it wasn't something that was just set in stone. I mean, I think, you know, every year is just such a move, movable target on, you know, if you get a good quarterback and you got to pay him, you know, obviously you got to take that money from different positions and, and there's different ways you got to structure your cap. Right. And so I think he was young enough and smart enough and, and, and knew kind of how to manipulate the system and, and we're in a spot right now where we're not going to be able to go out there and just outbid people and. And so it's been important for us the last couple years, like, even at North Texas, when we built the roster, like, we didn't have a ton of money. And I was never one of those guys that was out there talking to media and complaining about what we didn't have. Like, is finding a way, like, okay, this is what we have. We want to continue to grow it and allow it get better. But like, competitive character, I think is still one of the most important things in all of college sports and sports in general. And I think sometimes people don't find the time to pick up the phone and call about kids and figure out why he didn't play at another school. And I wasn't scared to go out there and take Division 2. You know, all Americans that were three year starters that had, you know, 2,000 snaps under their belt that proved that they could do it at this level. And I didn't just go look for kids that were bouncing back from Texas and Texas Tech and tcu. When I was at North Texas, like my best player last year, you know, one was from shepherd, who was a two time all American receiver, and one was a tight end from Limestone. Right. And in a school that had gotten rid of football. And so there's a lot of different ways to do it. And I think, you know, when, when you put the money aspect into it, you got to get a little bit more creative. And I think some people have gotten lazy and they don't spend the time to go find people that love football. Like, there's plenty of kids out there in America that love this game and will play it for the right reasons. And really, when you find those kids, it's really not all about money most of the time, which is refreshing. And so for us now, like, I know I don't have a million dollars to go go find a left tackle this year. Right now I, I'm gonna do my research and homework and, and you know, even if I have, you know, half or a little bit more of that, then I'm gonna go find a really good player somewhere that has a bunch of game snaps under his belt. But once we find out a kid's out of our market, like, we're on to the next one and we're not afraid to pick up the phone right here. That's. My staff knows that very well. Like when we sit down and we have decisions on, we're taking people like, I want to know who they talk to and what's the competitive character of this kid that we're bringing into our program, does he fit the way we coach? Does he fit our schemes? Does he fit our culture? And you can still do it. It's just a little bit different way of looking at it. I think.
- [29:20]
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- [31:19]
Interviewer / Host
Coach, I look around, I hear you talk about that and it just, it made me think of Indiana obviously, but just, but just looking around college football, man, like I feel like I would like listen the craziness of the schedule and the stupidness of the ncaa I'm not going to get into because I'm not going to get my blood hot and talk about that. But like I also love this world that. Like I love the world that everybody has a chance. Like it's not just a few teams anymore, man. Like if you'll do your homework, if you'll find guys with character that want to compete, to me, it's more important than ever because you don't get to stack these guys like you used to. You're not stacking five stars and somebody's sitting on the bench being like, hey, yeah, it's cool, coach. I'm going to develop like, nah, bro, I'm going to go over here and play and get. And get a bag. Like, so it's changed the landscape, like, to me, the competitive aspect of that, I feel like it changes and it includes so many more teams. Do you agree?
- [32:19]
Eric Morris
Yeah, I totally agree. And I think as a coach, you always want to be on an even, even playing field. Right. That's one thing. I think if you talk to the majority of coaches around America, like, and you hear people talk all the time, you know, if usually if they have money and they're able to financially, you know, support what's going on in this world, you know, they're happy, go lucky, and they're fun. And. And it's been fun for me to, like, I'm alumni at Texas Tech. When I went to Texas Tech, we had nothing. We had the worst facilities in the Big 12. You know, we were kind of the. Not anymore. It's fun for me as alumni, like, going back, like, Joey's a good friend of mine, has been forever. You know, some of my great from, you know, my old quarterback coaches the OC at Texas Tech. And so, like, there's great people there, so it's fun for me to see that community get behind them and then be looked at in a different light, you know? Yep. And so, you know, for. For us right now, I think that. That you're exactly right, is that we can. The top tier of our roster we can put together right now that we're able to compete with anybody. And, and so, you know, the only problem, like you said, is how do we practice? You know, we did a lot of research, you know, a year ago and two years ago and went and visited some. Some NFL teams just to see because, you know, your top talent. You know, once you get a couple people hurt here and there, like, I mean, you. You get really thin in a hurry. And so I think it's interesting to see how people have monitored that, how they've adjusted, you know, their practice schedules and, and just to know that, hey, ROI is a real thing in college football. Like, I mean, your. Your money be. Better be on the field. We have a lot of business people that are super Smart. That graduated from here that we're trying to raise money for right now. And. And I take the time to talk to them, like, just from a business aspect. Like, I mean, all these guys that make a ton of money and have forever, like, they want to return on their investment, right? And I think some of these alumni and donors that are. That are opening up their checkbook right now, I mean, obviously, if they're winning and. And they're seeing a return on it, they're all happy and go lucky and life's good and. And if not, if it's the other way around, right? There's a bunch of schools out there that have spent a lot of money and have filled with some bad football teams the last couple of years. And so I think you can get yourself in a pickle just as. Just as fast if you don't spend time on really figuring out what we just talked about and figuring out, hey, do these guys really love football and love to come in here and do they want to compete? Right?
- [34:44]
Interviewer / Host
Yeah, Coach, we could do this forever, man. You're really good at this. I bet Oklahoma State's excited to have you. Coach, I have to ask because when I, when I looked you up, it was Quarterback Whisperer. I. I saw that as. As one of the things that, that I saw, but I also saw the names that you kind of talked about, like, I've got to know. Patrick Mahomes. Did you know? Like, what did you know? When did you know? Like, what did you. Patrick Mahomes and you at Texas Tech?
- [35:14]
Eric Morris
Yeah. So all those stories, everybody always asks, like, what was it like recruiting these guys that are obviously super famous now between, you know, Baker and Cam and Patrick and like, we didn't have to recruit those guys. Like, nobody really recruited those guys, which is back in the day, you know, I mean, Patrick didn't have anything. You know. Now we found Patrick at a camp and is actually at Longview. Texas is where we did the Cam. And so we had a year up of recruiting him or recruited a guy named Dylan Cantrell that was a receiver for us that was a year older, that was from the same high school. So we had watched Patrick. Now we, we love. We go watch Patrick play high school. He dropped 35 in basketball. We'd go watch him play baseball, you know, hit, pitch, you know, 95 off the mound and hit two home runs. And so I think he was just so good at everything he did, and people got a little bit locked in. Like, his mechanics were really raw and not very good throwing the football in high school, he kind of just ran around and made crazy plays. And everybody said, you know, at our level, hey, like, you're not going to be able to do that at college. Right.
- [36:13]
Interviewer / Host
And got to play with instructure.
- [36:15]
Eric Morris
That's, that's, that's right. And so the first scrimmage we had at Texas Tech, we. He kind of got out of the pocket and he was rolling left, running away from our best defensive end and run as fast as he could, and he didn't turn his hips and he threw a backside dig at probably 15 yards without, you know, re tapping the ball, running left just on a dot to this guy running, you know, when he was running full speed to his left and it was the first time coach Kingsbury sat on the mic and he was like, guys, we got something really special to win work with here. And so I think, yeah, the first throw, like, really live in action with a, you know, all. All Big 12 defensive end chasing him from behind at that level and, and, and throwing a dot like that for a touchdown to backside dig was the first time you're like, holy smokes. Like, not. Not many humans in America could make that throw.
- [37:07]
Interviewer / Host
Was there a bake moment when you knew, like, like, this dude's got something extra to him too?
- [37:15]
Eric Morris
Yeah. I think Baker's personality was so infectious. And so I think, you know, the. Really, the first time he was battling back and forth to win that job as a freshman walk on, which he did win the job, and he had had a great scrimmage and kind of the. The team started rallying, rallying around him as. And we did something at night. You know, you always have these different things where people have to get up and sing or they have to dance, you know, stuff you do in camp just for team building, all the things. And we had a dance off and. And I think Baker, he has a couple famous dances out there on TikTok or whatever that he did at Oklahoma, but I think that was the first time where you could see his charisma take over the team as he got up there as a freshman walk on, and he had just had a great scrimmage and. And the whole team's going crazy, you know, because he's up there doing one of these trendy dances, you know, one of the. One of the rap video dances or something.
- [38:05]
Interviewer / Host
Something about that, though, ain't there? Something about, like, being comfortable in your skin and being able to do that with confidence, especially at that age?
- [38:14]
Eric Morris
Yeah, I think that was the first time where I was like, okay, like, this kid's really about to win this job and start for us as a true freshman. Walk on right now. And so. So Baker is a little bit different. I think people are naturally drawn to him. Obviously, he's gritty, he's tough. It's been fun for me to watch him too, because I think Bakers have these ups and downs and bumps in the road. And I think Baker's done a great job learning for from his mistakes and, you know, sometimes, you know, talking too much. And now, you know, I think he's really calmed down. And you see him in his personal life, and he's a great father and happily married. And watching him have success these last couple years in Tampa has been fun for me to kind of watch him grow up and become the man that he's become.
- [38:57]
Interviewer / Host
He got a little humble pie, which is good for all of us. We all need those humbling moments. Last question, Coach. I'm watching college football. You're an offensive guy, you're an offensive guru. Been around so many offensive gurus. To me, I'm watching college football and I feel like defenses have caught up. They're starting to. They've closed the gap between the Big 12 games that used to be. When you're coaching and it's, you know, Baker versus Mahomes, and it's 70 something to 70 something. Like it's just back and forth. Do you agree? And what's next, do you think, in college football offensively?
- [39:36]
Eric Morris
Yeah, I think, you know, history always repeats itself in this game. And I think Mike really revolutionary, revolutionized the game, and it kind of spread through the Big 12 pretty fast. I think, you know, Texas Tech did something different. And then all of a sudden, you know, everybody's spreading it out and in the whole entire big 12 and putting up all these crazy stats. And, you know, you look back at what tca, TCU was able to do, Oklahoma did it under Lincoln there for a while. Texas started spreading it out. But, yeah, I agree. I'm watching this tape right now. I'm getting through some Big 12 tape and. And there's so much more. 12 personnel and 13 personnel, and everybody's slowing it down and pounding it. So I think it's kind of come full circle and. And people are kind of leaning into defense a little bit more. I think people have learned how to stop the spread. The RPOs. You know, these defensive coaches are extremely smart. And that's why, you know, for us right now, I mean, Drew was obviously really good. You know, we ran the ball for 200 yards a game last year. And our running back, you know, led the nation in touchdowns last year. So it's a, it's a different mindset and it's something that I'm very well aware of. And, and I think, you know, for us to be able to continue to play great offense and use different formations to dictate what the defense does to give us advantage still is something that we're still actively trying to, to monitor and grow each and every year. But I'm a big believer in running the football. And you got to run the football to win championships. And so that's one thing where, you know, I differ from Mike Leach and, and some of his old.
- [41:09]
Interviewer / Host
That was a wasted play for Mike.
- [41:12]
Eric Morris
Oh, he'd argue with you, you know, till the cows come home about, you know, he'd tell me how stupid I was right now if he was watching my date for running the ball so much.
- [41:20]
Interviewer / Host
D. Dana was more the running fan though, right? Dana. Dana had a lot more want to want.
- [41:26]
Eric Morris
Mike did things one way and only his way, and it never changed for so many years. And I think that's why you see people from his tree go out and, and have some creativity, is because you were kind of stuck with Mike for all these years and all the coaches had these great ideas and like, you never get to go out there and try them. Right. You just did the same offense. I mean, I, I saw Mike for, you know, knew him for 25 plus years and he ran the same exact plays. His scripts never changed and it just is what it was. And there was some sign, I mean, some, some A method behind the madness. There's a reason Mike is a hall of fame coach. Right. But I think when everybody got away from it, you know, the ideas that they'd had, you know, in, in. In their mental bank for so long, you know, they want to go out and you see Dana and Sonny Dykes and Lincoln Riley and I think all those guys now believe that you got to run the football and, and there's a toughness and I think it just makes your team. You know, there's an identity that comes with the team that practices that way, that, that prepares that way, and a toughness that comes with, hey, we got to establish run and also we got to stop the run. And usually it starts and ends with that on both sides of the ball.
- [42:32]
Interviewer / Host
Yes. Well, coach, Coach Eric Morris from Oklahoma State. I think Oklahoma State fans, you just got to know him a little bit behind him and everybody else in the country too. Man. We appreciate so much your time. Best of luck this season. Looking forward to see if that orange and black gets going again, man, because there's. There's been some offenses and some playmakers there over the years, for sure.
- [42:53]
Eric Morris
It's been fun. Hey, good luck to you and your son with. With all of his stuff coming up. That's gonna be a fun journey for you. See, as a dad, man, I'm happy for you.
- [43:00]
Interviewer / Host
Thank you very much, brother. Appreciate it. Have a good one.
- [43:03]
Eric Morris
God bless you.