ESPN: Why a coach with a 14-22 record just got a big promotion

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Ignore the record.

Yes, it defies logic, but if you can't look beyond the wins and losses with Chad Morris, you'll never understand why he landed a good Power 5 job.

Not every on-the-rise college coaching candidate is created equal, and if it seems as if Morris is put in a different category than others in similar positions, it's true. His tenure at SMU includes eight more losses than wins, and the Mustangs finished tied for third in the AAC's West Division this season. Morris has guided SMU to bowl eligibility for the first time, but he isn't chasing championships like UCF's Scott Frost, Memphis' Mike Norvell, Boise State's Bryan Harsin, Arkansas State's Blake Anderson, Troy's Neal Brown or Toledo's Jason Candle.

All of those coaches have much better FBS records than Morris. Some, like Morris, also enjoyed success as former Power 5 offensive coordinators. Yet Morris just landed an SEC job at Arkansas, while the others listed above, outside of Frost, have not moved up yet.

The reason? A unique profile with national connections in the college game, and, more important, virtually unparalleled local connections in a state that produces more FBS talent than any other.

Morris was the first college coach to work with Deshaun Watson, Clemson's generational quarterback, who stayed at Morris' house earlier this fall when Hurricane Harvey displaced the Houston Texans to Dallas. Morris' success as Clemson's offensive coordinator laid the groundwork for the Tigers' remarkable run the past few years. He's also a Texas legend after spending 16 years as a high school head coach in the state, taking six teams to state title games and winning three, including back-to-back undefeated championships during his final two years at Austin powerhouse Lake Travis. He was named coach of the year 11 times before entering the college ranks as an assistant for Todd Graham at Tulsa, where he spent a year before heading to Clemson.

He also has won big everywhere but SMU. Should it excuse his 14-22 record with the Mustangs? Not completely. But Morris might be the rare candidate who simply needed to lead a college program before leading a bigger college program, rather than a coach who needed to flourish at the former to leapfrog to the latter.

"Knute Rockne could go to SMU and probably have the same record that he's got right now," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney told ESPN.com. "Chad's done a phenomenal job at SMU. You can't just look at a win-loss record. You can't. You've got to look past that. You've got to pull the curtain back and see the bigger picture."

Those taking a wider view of Morris might see SMU as the place he won the least but grew the most. It started with learning how to fail. Not losing-championship-games-in-heartbreaking-fashion failing. Like, real failing.

The Mustangs went 1-11 the year before he arrived after a brief renaissance under June Jones. SMU's local ties had frayed as Morris inherited a roster with 64 non-Texans. The facilities were outdated. The Mustangs went 2-10 in his first year with six losses by 20 points or more. The season culminated with a 63-0 loss at Memphis.

Morris and his staff were forced to "surrender the outcome."

"We were coaching harder than we ever coached, and we weren't getting the results on the scoreboard like we wanted," he said. "It was frustrating for our staff, for our coaches, for the players. We had to say, 'We just might be good enough, so we've got to focus on the daily wins.' It was just daily, a best-you-can-be day.

"I learned a lot about myself that way."

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