Oklahoma State football coach Eric Morris sees Tulsa's Tre Lamb as 'superstar' in making
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STILLWATER — Oklahoma State football coach Eric Morris started his press conference Tuesday with a question.
“Excited?” Morris asked.
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The obvious reason to be excited is because it's time to talk about a football game. OSU opens its season at 2:45 p.m. Saturday at Tulsa (ESPNU). It’s been a long nine months since Morris took over as OSU’s 25th head coach. It’s been an even longer two years in Stillwater as the Cowboys have a 4-20 record in that span.
Here are three takeaways from Morris’ press conference:
Tulsa coach Tre Lamb sees himself as 'JV Eric Morris'
Tre Lamb, 36, said this week he is the junior varsity version of Morris, 40.
“I’m like the JV version of Coach Morris right now, but he’s a few years ahead of me in his career and more experienced,” Lamb said. “Incredible evaluator of talent. Not only quarterback — everybody talks about the quarterbacks, but man, these guys developed some wideouts and running backs that nobody wanted. I mean, (Miles) Coleman was an under-recruited player. Wyatt Young was an under-recruited player. (Caleb) Hawkins had one offer, and it was North Texas. So, the guy can evaluate and develop talent, particularly offensively."
Morris disagrees with Lamb’s comparison. He commended Lamb on his rise up the head coaching ranks through Gardner-Webb (2020-23) and East Tennessee State (2024).
“I’ve always respected him at Gardner-Webb, going to that place and doing what he did and then East Tennessee State, not these places that have a ton of history and going there and you learn how to solve problems as a leader," Morris said.
Far from the JV moniker, Morris called Lamb “a superstar in the making.”
“To be that young, to be a head coach at the group-of-six level and to be able to put all this together and organize it and you can just tell when you listen to him talk that he always has a process and he’s trying to grow and learn and he’s figured out new ways and they’ve done a good job of raising money over there too," Morris said.
Which Oklahoma State football full-time assistants will be on sideline
All of OSU’s full-time offensive assistant coaches will be on the field during games.
Only two full-time assistants — linebackers coach Reggie Johnson and defensive backs coach Jordan Malone — will be in the upstairs coaching box.
The increasing presence of tablets on the sideline lets coaches on the sideline communicate information from a bird's eye view to their players.
“So having a guy in the box who was really good at play calling and could get you into adjustments in real time was super important,” Morris said. “That’s in, my opinion, become a little less important because I like (coaches) talking to the guys who are used to hearing that voice in the meeting room and what they’ve been over all week.”
OSU’s depth chart lists the locations for assistant coaches during games.
Offensive coordinator Sean Brophy: field
Run game coordinator Patrick Cobbs: field
Offensive line coach Cody Crill: field
Wide receivers coach Nick Edwards: field
Associate head coach Drew Svoboda: field
Defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity: field
Linebackers coach Reggie Johnson: booth
Defensive backs coach Jordan Malone: booth
Defensive line coach Greg Richmond: field
Defensive backs coach Julian Wilson: field
What music makes Eric Morris' pregame playlist
Morris isn’t superstitious on gamedays. He leaves all that for his wife, Maggie.
“My wife is superstitious," Morris said. "She takes over all of it, she changes seats and cares who she’s sitting by, all the things.”
As a player, Morris said he had a tendency to get worked up pregame. He would get so amped that he’d listen to calming music to help balance out.
“Any of this crazy rap that they listen to now that gets everybody excited, or old school everybody loves AC/DC and all that stuff I was totally opposite," Morris said. "I like to go to a calm spot in my brain.”
Now coaching, entering that state of tranquility before stepping on the sideline is more important than ever.
“And really, my role is different,” Morris said. “I need to have that on the sideline. I need to be cool, calm, collected to make real-time decisions for our ball club.”
Ben Hutchens covers OSU athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Ben? He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @ben_hutchens_. Sign up for OSU Sports Minute newsletter to access more coverage of the Cowboys and Cowgirls. Support Ben's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football coach Eric Morris sees Tulsa's Tre Lamb as 'superstar' in making