Oklahoma State football hires North Texas' Eric Morris as next coach

Eric Morris is on the move.

Oklahoma State announced on Tuesday, Nov. 25 that it has hired the current North Texas football coach to be the program's next head coach. He replaces Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State, who was fired by the Cowboys on Tuesday, Sept. 23 following a 1-2 start to his 21st season in Stillwater.

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Oklahoma State becomes the second college football program to fill its head coach vacancy, with the other being Virginia Tech, which hired fired Penn State coach James Franklin.

The hire of Morris has created a bit of history for Oklahoma State. As noted by its news release, Morris is the first sitting head coach that Oklahoma State has hired since 1969, while it is the first time in program history that the Cowboys have hired a sitting head coach from a school that is in the Division I FBS level.

Morris had been looked at as one of the top candidates for Oklahoma State following Gundy's firing on coaching candidate boards, including USA TODAY Sports' Paul Myerberg's. According to On3's Brent McMurphy, Morris is expected to finish out the 2025 season with North Texas, including the postseason, where the Mean Green could make an appearance in the College Football Playoff before heading to Stillwater.

"Today begins the next era of Oklahoma State Football," Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg said in a statement. "I am thrilled to introduce Eric Morris, his wife Maggie and their boys Jack and George to the OSU Family. Coach Morris has proven his ability to build and lead winning football programs. He has consistently identified, recruited, and developed some of the best players in college football."

He added, "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. 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."

A former wide receiver for Texas Tech, Morris comes from the Mike Leach and Kliff Kingsbury coaching tree. He is in his third season at North Texas, where he has built the Mean Green program into one of the top programs in the American Conference and within the Group of Five.

At 10-1 overall and a 6-1 record in American Conference play on the season, North Texas enters Week 14 of the season in a three-way tie with Navy and Tulane for first place in the American. With already 10 wins on the season, North Texas will finish with double-digit wins for the first time in program history.

Before his time at North Texas, Morris spent a season as the offensive coordinator at Washington State in 2022. Before that one-year stint, he served his first head coaching position at Incarnate Word from 2018-2021, where he recruited and coached now Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward.

He is 21-15 overall in his three seasons at North Texas.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oklahoma State hires Eric Morris away from North Texas