A sidelight to the American Conference Championship game is that both teams will be guided by coaches ready to move on.
North Texas head coach Eric Morris has been named the new head coach at Oklahoma State. Tulane HC Jon Sumrall is looking to revive the Florida program.
Both coaches will not only guide their teams in Friday’s 8 p.m. conference championship at Tulane, but if their team earns a berth in the College Football Playoff, they will stay on for that.
Morris has been at North Texas for three years and has his team 11-1 after a 6-7 season a year ago. Sumrall, completing his second year at Tulane, has guided the Green Wave (10-2) to the title game both years. In fact, this is the fourth straight year for Tulane in the championship. Sumrall and the Green Wave lost to Army 35-14 in last year’s title game.
Both have been up front about the complexity of coaching a team and trying to win a championship while also laying the foundation for their new program.
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Complicating matters even worse, the three-day early signing period for high school football players started Wednesday.
Neither coach dodged the tough questions about having their allegiance to two schools, at least for the short term.
“It’s not ideal,” Morris said during a Zoom call with reporters on Monday about the situation. “The time management and the commitment that goes into building a program this day and age is just something that takes so much time.”
Morris said that it’s been more difficult to decompress at the end of a long day.
“It’s been a little bit tougher to sleep, just with everything going through my head,” he said. “But you know, I haven’t missed a beat in preparing this team.”
Not only is he preparing the North Texas game plan, but Morris is the offensive play caller, adding to his duties.
“I think consistency is key right now for our players and our coaches here to give them a great chance to go in and win this football game,” Morris said. “And so this has been my priority, No. 1.”
Still, the demands of the new job complicate things.
“Obviously, your mind starts focusing on some of the time that you spend recruiting during the course of the week, on building a roster somewhere else,” he said. “I’ve begun to do that, but that has not pulled back from any of the time that I’ve spent normally on a game week of preparing this team, the play script of what we’re going to run.”
Similar Dilemma
Like Morris, Sumrall has not gotten much shut-eye lately.
“The biggest difficulty is when do you sleep,” Sumrall said on the Zoom call, where he was in Gainesville, for what he said was a few hours before getting ready to return to New Orleans. “You do have maybe some duties that can distract at times. You have to make sure you’re focused.”
Both coaches credited their coaching staffs through this transition. One difference between Morris’ and Sumrall’s situation is that Sumrall doesn’t call plays on offense or defense.
“I don’t call the offense, the defense, or the kicking game, so that has allowed me to be a little bit more freed up,” Sumrall said. “I manage how we play the game in all three phases and kind of help our guys put a plan together on how we orchestrate trying to give ourselves the best opportunity to win each week.”
What’s interesting is that Sumrall has had to talk to prospective recruits for Florida, but he also did the same for Tulane.
“I made a zoom call (Sunday) to try to help (Tulane) keep all their guys committed,” Sumrall said.
Seeing Things Through
Both coaches have conferred with each other over their similar situations. Morris says it’s not easy for anybody – himself, the players, or the assistant coaches – but he appreciates how they have handled things.
“I’m just super proud of our coaches and our players to be able to stay committed to the process and each other,” Morris said. “…It’s been awesome for me to be in my position and see the way our kids continue to respond and the way that they played throughout, (despite) having a lot of distractions.”
Sumrall, like Morris, has a great appreciation for their administrations to allow them to coach in the championship game and, if it warrants, in the College Football Playoff.
“Tulane football is bigger than a head coach, it’s bigger than (former coach) Willie Fritz, it’s bigger than who the next guy will be, and so it’s player driven, it’s about the players,” Sumrall said. “And I couldn’t be more thrilled to get the chance to coach these guys in a conference championship game and see them pursue something that is very special.”
