Vacation Time and Eric Morris Says He Will Decompress, Then It's Full On into the Season
STILLWATER – Driving by the West End Zone earlier this week and seeing most of the parking slots reserved for the football coaching staff empty was the sure sign that football recruiting had hit a dead period (midnight on Monday) and that camps were completed, which they were over the weekend. This is the time that coaches get a break and that includes the new head coach Eric Morris. Morris did something that former head coach Mike Gundy had not done is quite some time. He did an appearance on the Sports Animal radio station in Oklahoma City. Gundy had igngored the station because of things said about him and his family by one of the hosts there. Morris has a clean slate.
The new Oklahoma State coach started off with saying he was probably needing a break. The first seven months of being head coach and working to rebuild the sustained success of the Cowboys football program has been akin to drinking out of a fire hose.
“I’m going to spend the next two weeks kind of decompressing,” Morris opened up on the Sports Animal interview. “I always like to think about what we did good and haven’t done well. Where we need to improve internally. I’m going to decompress for two weeks, maybe enjoy a cocktail or two, and then when I hit the ground running it’s six months of straight football. I like where we’re at right now. I think we’ve grown a ton over the course of the spring and into summer. Once I get back and start working, I think the anxiety starts to build.”
Morris has been involved with fund raising and certainly working to enhance the NIL/revenue share bankroll for OSU football. During the past month plus, which included official visits for the past four weeks, camps, and just working to prepare for the upcoming season he has done several fund raising dinners and events.
“I’m a relationship guy. I’ve done a lot of groundwork on relationships with people who care a lot about Oklahoma State. People who have given a lot financially to Oklahoma State,” Morris explained and in the interview thanked those that stepped up to help him bring his big three (QB Drew Mestemaker, RB Caleb Hawkins, and WR Wyatt Young from North Texas).
“We’re in some bidding wars with some good recruits, and we need to acquire as much talent as we can on this roster,” Morris kept going. “That takes money sometimes. When you talk to these guys who are donors … if they are going to invest they want a return on the investment. Let’s put a great product out there and give them a reason to continue that investment. Do that and maybe that investment (grows) as we prove what we’re doing is working. We’ve got to put a good product on the field that (OSU people) are proud to watch.”
Morris also implied from past experience, that he would be a good steward of the money he does have to work with.
“We don’t have an unlimited budget right now,” Morris said of the process. “We’re not going to go out there and outbid a lot of teams, and I was comfortable with that. At (Incarnate Word - his first head coaching stop) we had no (football) history and no resources. At North Texas, we were in the bottom three (in the American Conference) in revenue share. I haven’t been at places with a lot of resources. (Players) with a high football IQ and a competitive character, (type) players that embodies Stillwater people. That’s how the team was built this year.”
Morris is brash and reportedly during his playing career and some of his coaching career wasn’t afraid to do some talking. However, in this first game for his program, Oklahoma State is at Tulsa and Golden Hurricane head coach Tre Lamb ahas done plenty of talking after a 19-12 win in Stillwater last year ending a 74-year drought for Tulsa at Oklahoma State.
Asked about that game, Morris was on his best behavior.
“Super excited about (Tulsa) being our first game. We have a ton of fans in the Tulsa area, and this allows them to see us first-hand,” Morris said of the Sept. 5 game and then jumped right into week two. “And we’ll figure out really fast where we stand on a national level in week two in Boone Pickens Stadium, when we have the Oregon Ducks coming to town. A really quality squad. Hopefully, we’ll get this team ready to roll and get out there and compete on a national stage.”
Pokes Report and the rest of the Oklahoma State and the media across the Big 12 and nationally will get their next opportunity with Eric Morris on July 7 in Frisco, Texas at the Big 12 Conference Football Media Days.
