Baylor187 said:
Chamberman said:
Alzheimers is a disease I wish on no one. Seen it's devastating impact way too close.
But let's not sugarcoat Morris' impact on our program. He was a bad hire.
After the disasterous Kevin Steele tenure, Morriss was a great hire in that (1) coaching candadites weren't exactly clamoring to come and coach here, and (2) he was actually able to get us competitive in the big 12. The state of the program in 2007 was leaps and bounds above where it was when he took it over after the 2002 season. If he had managed to get bowl eligible in the 4 years he was here, he probably would not have been let go at the end of the 2007 season. I liked him personally and I was grateful for his contributions to our school and the football program.
The year Guy was hired, I'd say two things about our program.
1-Few people in our fanbase were aware how bad things were in our program. Player morale. Equipment. Facilities. Support. All of it was below that of a good.....HIGH SCHOOl.
2-The Baylor Board were not willing to admit they didn't have the experience or expertise to lead the program. They'd trot out Tom Stanton and talk about 'building it the right way.' It was a comic level of ineptitude. Save for the few blue hairs, we had no fans that would suggest we were competitive. But yet we spent millions upgrading the luxury suites so that the jumbo shrimpers could watch blowouts in comfort. Spare me the story about money, it was a disaster of leadership. And that fell entirely on the Board.
Guy Morriss took the job for retirement reasons. The program was so bad that when the assistants arrived, many thought about rejecting the offer and going elsewhere. We were missing things like ...a film room, LOL. The blocking sled was broken and out of date. And the weight room? Hilarious.
Mark Nelson, one of his assistants, had gotten his first coaching gig at...my Jr. High. He was an exceptional leader and damned good guy. Wasn't shocked to see him make it all the way to the SEC.
After year 3, Ian told me that if he didn't win, they wouldn't renew his 5 year contract. When he wasn't renewed, it fell back another two years. Which was basically Ian cutting Guy to find someone else. Truth was, Guy was doing Ian's job. He was calling donors and raising money for the program while Ian was on his PC logging into the old site. We have that practice facility because he picked up the phone, not Ian.
That decision cycle was a precursor for the decisions later to come.
Morriss was a straight talker who turned us around.
