It’s been fairly common knowledge for awhile, but when CBS Sports Network put up a graphic about Chad Morris’ travel schedule last week, everyone knew he was going to his son Chandlers’ games on Friday nights.
When Arkansas lost to Colorado State, suddenly fans seized on that as a contributing factor.
And, of course, that’s a ridiculous reach.
“Football is what I do, it’s not who I am,” he said before Wednesday’s practice.
In other words, he places a high priority on family, which is something many fans don’t want to understand. They also don’t understand that it really doesn’t matter because he would be missing a lot of Friday nights anyway.
“Everything is done here before we ever get on any plane or before we ever travel to any team hotel,” Morris said.
Friday nights are a time when they try to get the players to relax. There are movies, card games and everything but football stuff. That’s the way it is with every team, by the way.
And a lot of the coaches are at games recruiting
“The important thing is to get out and recruit when you get the opportunity,” Morris said. “You only get so many days to get out.”
Morris really gets to kill two birds with one stone. While watching his son play on Friday nights he gets to see some really good players.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a four-star wide receiver from Rockwall, got an offer after Morris watched the Yellowjackets play Highland Park early in the season.
The recruiting part is a bonus. Even if that wasn’t part of it, it takes nothing away from the Hogs’ preparation for a game for him to be away from the team.
“Again, going back to building this program and taking it from the blueprint of where we were at Clemson and watching Dabo and his success, and being able to go watch his two boys play and being on the road on Friday nights … a lot of programs do things different on a Friday,” Morris said.
This has come up before. It’s only something fans tend to point at when the team loses a game.
It’s even been a headline for pro teams.
When Barry Switzer took over in Dallas after Jimmy Johnson, he went to his son’s games with Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturdays, then flew back to wherever the Cowboys were playing.
That gave Johnson, still bitter over his parting with Jerry Jones, ammunition as the Cowboys at times resembled recess at playschool during those days.
“Barry doesn’t want to be there grinding on Saturday nights,” Johnson said on the Fox pregame show he was doing then.
Of course, Jimmy wasn’t watching film on Saturday nights before games, either, and when the Cowboys won the Super Bowl that year, well, Jimmy shut up about the whole thing.
Let’s face it, if a college football team hasn’t gotten it done by Friday night then they aren’t going to get it done.
Coaches are usually not with the team on Friday nights anyway. They are out recruiting.
But, and I’m fairly certain this comes with a guarantee, no college player has ever felt one way or the other about his head coach being there on the night before a game.
“That’s their one time during the course of the week they don’t have to worry about their studies,” Morris said. “We want them to get away from football for a little bit. Just get to your room and relax.”
Whether Morris is with the team or not means absolutely nothing on a Friday night. You can’t cram the night before a game the way some do for a test the next day.
They either have it or they don’t on Friday night.
Whether Morris is there or not.
