Sources: Arkansas fires Morris after 4-18 start
K.J. Jefferson throws and the ball is deflected and caught by Devon Key, who returns it for a touchdown. (0:27)
Arkansas has fired Chad Morris as its head football coach, and tight ends coach/special teams coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. is expected to finish out the season as the Razorbacks’ interim coach, sources told ESPN.
In less than two seasons, Morris was just 4-18 overall since replacing Bret Bielema in December 2017 and was winless in 14 SEC games. Arkansas suffered its second embarrassing home loss of the season on Saturday in a 45-19 setback to Western Kentucky. The Hogs also lost 31-24 at home to San Jose State on Sept. 21, triggering a seven-game losing streak.
Arkansas has an open date this coming weekend before finishing the season against LSU on the road and then Missouri at home. The Hogs are 2-8 overall this season and have lost 17 straight SEC games dating back to the end of the 2017 season.
Lunney, a former Arkansas quarterback, is in his seventh season on the Arkansas coaching staff.
Under the terms of Morris’ six-year, $21 million contract, the Razorbacks will owe him 70% of his remaining compensation, which totals about $10 million. The Razorback Foundation will make monthly payments to Morris through 2023.
The Razorbacks owed former coach Bret Bielema about $11.9 million when they fired him in November 2017. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported last month that the Razorback Foundation had stopped making monthly payments of $320,833 to Bielema and asked him to return $4.2 million it has already paid him.
At issue is whether Bielema, who now works as a defensive line coach for the New England Patriots, has breached his agreement by not actively pursuing another job with similar compensation to what Arkansas paid him.
The Hogs have been outscored by 138 points in their last four losses and have given up 45 or more points in all four of those losses. This will be the fourth straight year in which they’ve finished with a losing record in SEC play.
Morris was previously the head coach at SMU before being hired at Arkansas.
Possible successors include Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, who the Hogs targeted when they hired Morris, and Memphis coach Mike Norvell.