Gus Malzahn's final Auburn Tigers offensive coordinator during the 2020 season, Chad Morris, has been given the dubious distinction of being college football's worst singular head coaching hire in the last 15 years.
CBS Sports' Will Backus said Morris's career at Arkansas was, at its most generous label, a "disaster."
"Morris made his name as an offensive coordinator at Clemson from 2011-14 and had deep ties to Texas' high school community. His three years at SMU were OK -- the Mustangs improved incrementally but had a sub.-500 record under Morris -- and he was clearly overmatched at Arkansas. He finished with an 0-14 record in SEC play, making him the only full-time coach in Arkansas history to depart without a single conference win. He also had just two victories against FBS opponents and was canned before he could complete two full seasons in Fayetteville. Calling the whole saga a disaster would be generous," Backus wrote.
Malzahn's complacency cost him his Plains tenure. The Morris mistake was a piece of the puzzle. Perhaps his most famous blunder was saying six wins was a "successful season" during the 10-game COVID-19-stricken 2020 campaign. His damage control couldn't undo what Tiger fans heard.
Let's not underplay the Morris aspect, though. Destroying Bo Nix's freshman year momentum, Morris led a predictable attack that held Tank Bigsby back too.
ESPN's Alex Scarborough noted that the offense became a problem in Malzahn's final days while reporting his firing in December 2020.
"The offense, in particular, stagnated in recent years," Scarborough wrote.
"Malzahn's up-tempo attack, which he wrote a book about and became famous for popularizing as a coordinator and then as a head coach, slowed and regressed in some aspects, as Auburn ranked seventh in the SEC in points per game since 2018."
Malzahn's firing has not aged well in Auburn. Unfortunately, his 2020 performance was essentially unforgivable.
Morris is a symbol of where things went irreversibly wrong for Malzahn's time with the Tigers.