So How Did Eric Morris Stack Up So Far, You Can Only Count One - The Opener with Tulsa
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TULSA – It started back on Nov. 1, 1899 with no head coach and Oklahoma A&M College lost their first ever football game 22-0 to Kingfisher. The first Oklahoma A&M head coach Frank A. McCoy tied his first contest of record 0-0 in Stillwater against Chilocco Indian College. The first head coach of the program to win an opener was the seventh head coach in history as James E Pixlee, sounds more like a botony prefessor than football coach beat Southwestern Oklahoma State 37-0 in Stillwater. Eric Morris is head coach No. 24 at Oklahoma State University. He came in off two historically bad seasons and the dismissal of the all-time winningest coach in school history in Mike Gundy. He also did a complete rebuild of the roster through the transfer portal, something only Gundy had to navigate. There is also NIL/revenue sharing. This Cowboy football team has an estimated pay roll of $23 million and a quarterback making $3.5 million in Drew Mestemaker.
Obviously, now we know it did not go well. Tulsa actually led from start to finish and because of some questionable decisions throughout the game, Tulsa stayed in front almost comfortably. To his credit, Morris took the blame afterwards in postgame. Morris will undoubtedly have better days as the Cowboys coach, but the debut at Chapman Stadium was a fail.
By far the best opening performance by an Oklahoma State head coach was Pat Jones in 1984. He would eventually become the all-time winningest OSU coach for awhile. Jones took an Oklahoma State team led by quarterback Rusty Hilger, jumbo back Charles Crawford, and a defense led by Leslie O’Neal and Rodney Harding. That crew crashed the day in Tempe, Ariz. for No. 12 Arizona State 45-3. It was a rousing win over a team that some picked to be national champion that season.
Mike Gundy booted 16 players off the team before his opener in 2005. His team still beat Montana State 15-10, but would only register a 4-7 season in his first year.
As of Saturday evening there is only one criteria to grade Eric Morris so far, how did he do, how did his team do in game one? Not very well.
| Modern Day (1970 and beyond) First Games for Oklahoma State Football Head Coaches |
| Head Coach | Date | Opponent | Result | Notable |
| Dave Smith | Sept. 16, 1972 | UT-Arlington | 21-3 win | Smith went 7-4 and left for SMU |
| Jim Stanley | Sept. 15, 1973 | UT-Arlington | 56-7 win | Stanley would coach 6-years and tied for the Big 8 title in 1976 |
| Jimmy Johnson | Sept. 8, 1979 | North Texas | 25-7 win | Johnson was 30-25-2 with 2 bowl games |
| Pat Jones | Sept. 8, 1984 | No. 12 Arizona State | 45-3 win | Best opener ever beating a team one publication picked to win the NC |
| Bob Simmons | Aug. 31, 1995 | No. 2 Nebraska | 64-21 loss | Bucked up and played defending National Champs in opener |
| Les Miles | Sept. 1, 2001 | Southern Miss | 17-9 loss | Miles would wind up with three bowl games in four seasons as HC |
| Mike Gundy | Sept. 3, 2005 | Montana State | 15-10 win | Ended as all-time best HC with 170-90 record and 18 bowl games |
| Eric Morris | Sept. 5, 2026 | Tulsa | 24-10 loss | The Morris era ends with a surprising disappointment |
