Oklahoma State to hire North Texas’ Eric Morris as new football coach

Oklahoma State has chosen North Texas’ Eric Morris as its new head football coach, the school announced Tuesday.

Morris has been the head coach at North Texas since 2023. The program went 5-7 his first season, but now is 10-1 and contending for a conference championship and College Football Playoff berth. The Mean Green are No. 21 in the AP Top 25.

Morris has a reputation for helping quarterbacks, having coached, developed or recruited Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, John Mateer, Cam Ward, Chandler Morris and Drew Mestemaker.

“For many reasons, including the kind of person he is and the lasting relationships he builds with his players, Coach Morris is the perfect fit as the next leader of Cowboy Football,” Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg said. “The future is bright for OSU Football and I look forward to introducing him and his family to our team, our former players and all Cowboy fans.”

The hire is pending board approval.

North Texas leads the country in scoring offense and total offense this year, and the team has reached the AP Top 25 for the first time since 1959. Mestemaker, a redshirt freshman walk-on, leads the FBS in yards passing.

North Texas said in a news release that Morris will coach through this season.

“On behalf of the University of North Texas, I want to express our deep gratitude to Eric for everything he has done for Mean Green Football over the past three seasons,” North Texas athletic director Jared Mosley said.

Morris will step in for Mike Gundy, who was fired in September during his 21st season. Doug Meacham is 0-8 as the interim coach. Oklahoma State is 1-10 heading into its season finale at home against Iowa State on Saturday.

Morris was head coach at Incarnate Word for four seasons, then was an assistant at Washington State before becoming head coach at North Texas. He was offensive coordinator at Texas Tech, his alma mater, from 2015 to 2017 and has been an assistant at Houston.

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