From Coaching Journeys to Rebuilds, There Are Quite a Few Similarities Between Eric Morris and Tre Lamb

Support PFB with a PFB+ membership — $8 a month or $50 for a year.

STILLWATER — I’ve been so locked in on trying to learn all I can about Oklahoma State that this week was the first time I noticed that Eric Morris and Tre Lamb seem to be trying to do a lot of the same things.

There was almost a bromance of sorts brewing between their two pregame news conferences, with Lamb gushing about the work Morris has done in a short time in Stillwater and Morris reciprocating some of that love by noting how hard it is grinding from the FCS to the FBS as both of them did.

“For me, I’ve always respected him,” Morris said Tuesday. “But, I mean, Gardner-Webb and going to that place and being able to do what he did, and East Tennessee State, I mean, not places that have just a ton of history and where you can go in there and start learning how to solve problems as a leader. For me, that’s what I did. To be that young, to be a head coach at the Group of Six level and being able to put all of this together and organize. 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 I think they’ve done a good job of raising money over there too, I think pretty well-documented. That’s a tough league sometimes to be able to do that, and to be able to sell that at this point. I think their administration has done a good job of doing that, giving them more resources every single year. I think he’s a superstar in the making.”

There paths are certainly similar, with Lamb joking this week that he’s the JV version of Morris. Morris is 40. Lamb is 36. So, in terms of trajectory, Morris is ahead.

Although this marks Morris’ first Power Conference head gig, he’s no stranger to the level, as he was on staffs at Texas Tech, Washington State and Houston previously. Lamb, an alum of Tennessee Tech, hadn’t coached in any capacity at the FBS level before getting the Tulsa job going into last season, as he spent time on staffs at Tennessee Tech and Mercer before getting his first gig at Gardner-Webb and then moving on to East Tennessee State.

But Morris was 37 when he took over at North Texas for his first Group of Five head coaching gig, a few years older than when Lamb took over at Tulsa last season.

Aside from the similar career paths, it also sounds like they’re trying to do some of the same stuff on a football field.

Morris is known for his prolific offenses, a skill that Lamb has flexed in the FCS level. In 2022, Lamb’s Gardner-Webb offense led the Big South in points scored (418), touchdowns (56), total offense (441.5), completion percentage (63.4) and completions (281).

Some of the receivers Tulsa features Saturday afternoon will be 5-foot-8 Javon Ross, 5-foot-8 Oran Singleton Jr. and 6-foot Jimmy Calloway. Three of the four listed starters on OSU’s depth chart are 5-foot-6 Miles Coleman, 5-foot-7 Chris Barnes and 6-foot Wyatt Young. Both coaches seem alright giving up some size for some speed on the perimeter.

We had Tulsa sideline reporter Jeremie Poplin on The Reload this week, and there were times where if you didn’t know he was talking about Lamb, you might think he’s talking about Morris.

“He had a ton of work just to rebuild — not the image, image is a wrong word — rebuild any type of goodwill faith within the city,” Poplin said. “To get in front of people, shake hands, meet money people and kind of repair relationships, establish new relationships, you know. Play the game that Mike Gundy didn’t really want to play anymore. And you have to do that, I’m sorry.”

If I presented that quote to you, you’d almost certainly think it was about Morris, but it was actually Poplin giving an overview of Lamb’s Year 1 in Tulsa.

So, while the “JV version of Morris” quote might seem a little funny, there are plenty of similarities between coaches who will man opposite sidelines on Saturday.