 | | Head football coach Guy Morriss stopped by for a live chat on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 11 a.m. |
Guy Morriss took the reins of the Baylor football program on Dec. 11, 2002, when he was introduced as the Bears' new head coach. Morriss just finished signing 20 new players for the 2004-05 academic year, looking to improve upon last season's 3-9 mark in his first season, which included a Big 12 victory over defending North division champion Colorado. Morriss came to Baylor with 14 years of experience as a coach at the high school, collegiate and professional levels. He spent 18 years in the National Football League, where he was an All-Pro player, played in two Super Bowls and coached for three seasons. Morriss arrived in Waco from Lexington, Ky., where he spent six seasons helping to turn around the Wildcat football program - the last two as head coach. In his 2002, Kentucky turned some heads with a 7-5 record, including wins over Mississippi State, eventual SEC West Division champion Arkansas and 17th-ranked Louisville. The seven-win season in 2002 was only the fifth since 1955 for Kentucky, which received votes in the AP Top 25 poll. UK's defeats included a four-point setback vs. South Carolina, a seven-point loss at then-No. 7 Florida and an unbelievable three-point defeat on the final play vs. then-No. 17 LSU. In Morriss' two seasons as head coach at Kentucky, 10 Wildcat players earned All-SEC recognition and two were named All-American. In his six seasons, four UK offensive linemen were selected first-team All-SEC and three earned freshman All-America honors. |
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 |  | Guy Morriss: Good morning, everyone. Let's get started. |
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| Trent (Waco): I really hope that with the departure of John Goodner you promote from within your staff. When you came to Baylor I thought the strength you brought was the cohesive staff. I fear bringing in an outsider would disrupt the cohesion of your staff. |
| | Guy Morriss: That certainly is a good possibility. We have a number of qualified people on our defensive staff to replace John with. We want to hire the best person available and the person who would be the best fit for our staff. Stay tuned for the results. |
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| John Clanton (Richardson): Why have we switched to 11 game seasons? |
| | Guy Morriss: The 11-game season is the NCAA norm. The NCAA allows you to play 12 games based on the number of Saturdays between August and November. We will go back to 12 games in '08, but there is a movement to make the 12-game schedule permanent. |
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| Chris (Lubbock): Coach, Thanks for bringing excitement to the football season once again. What do you say to those that argue that Baylor did not get as good as a recruiting class as expected?Thanks. |
| | Guy Morriss: It's every bit as good as we expected. We're going to recruit the blue-chip kids, but realistically we're not going to sign 25 a year for a while. Each class just has to be better than the one before it to establish the foundation and turn the program around. |
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| Austin (Waco): Last year some of our freshmen linemen played a significant role on the team; do expect to redshirt any of these freshmen that have already seen Big 12 action? |
| | Guy Morriss: Yes, probably John Mahafee and most likely Chad Smith. |
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| Rufus-San Francisco: How are you instilling confidence in the players that they can win in the Big 12? Is it working? Who are the leaders for next year's team? |
| | Guy Morriss: Coaches are very positive and we talk to and preach to our kids on a daily basis about winning, about working hard, about going to bowl games, etc. We always look forward and never look back. I believe it's working, come spend five minutes in the weight room. The leaders would have to be Justin Crooks, Montes Murphy, Mo Linquist, Jonathan Golden and we'll wait for the spring to see who steps up. |
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| Thomas (El Paso): What is your recommendation for a player that would like to walk on to your football program? |
| | Guy Morriss: Have them contact coach Mark Perry at (254) 710-3063. We need a tape and a transcript. |
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| Rick, Dallas: I was reading the article on the football banquet last night. How is it that your best pro prospect, and a great Baylor player for four years, Derrick Cash, is not mentioned or rewarded for all of the hard work he has done? Why do so many of the other players get recognized when they gave 1 or 2 good years and Derrick had 4 great ones? |
| | Guy Morriss: There were several players that had great years that didn't get rewarded. In this particular case, there just happened to be one player in the secondary who was a little bit better. |
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| Barry R., Greenville, SC: Greetings from out here in SEC/ACC country. I am proud of what you've been able to do with our Bears so far. We are fortunate to have you and your staff. My question concerns how successful you feel the off-season program has been in preparing the players for the rigors of next season. Since we are apparently taking the player development route to success (which is fine), it seems like it would be vital for the current players to be making big strides in getting stronger and faster perhaps even moreso than at other schools, given our record last year. Anyone you'd highlight at this point as having impressed you? |
| | Guy Morriss: I think we're making significant progress in the weight room and in the offseason. Kids have really bought in, unfortunately strength gains come very slowly. We're coming from way back in the pack, so it might take a while. Khari Long, Montes Murphy, Marcus Venus and Dane King have all been impressive. I'm really pleased with the progress of the whole team. |
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| Jeremy Johnson (Philadelphia): Coach Morriss, What is the current NCAA rule for visors mounted on players' face masks? I know that in the late ninties, Bobby Bowden required his entire o-line to wear tinted visors so that oponents couldn't see where they intended to block. Would you ever consider using this strategy? Thanks, and great recruiting... |
| | Guy Morriss: You can wear a visor, but it can only be tinted with medical approval. There are lots of hoops you have to go through to get medical approval. Before each game the officials always ask our trainer to see the written approval if we had any kids with tinted visors. |
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| Robert Long, Shreveport, LA: Which of the frshmen that have just signed their letters of intent do you anticipate will redshirt this fall and which ones do you feel could have an immediate impact? |
| | Guy Morriss: We don't make those kinds of decisions until the end of two-a-days. We prefer all of them to redshirt, but don't have the luxury. |
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| Baylor - Beaumont, Tx: Coach, Aside from attending the games, what else can we as Baylor fans do to help out the program? |
| | Guy Morriss: Stop all the bickering in the alumni groups. Let's be more positive, let's be supportive of Baylor as a whole and all the wonderful accomplishments that are going on both academically and athletically. There's a lot to be proud of here, but we've seemed to have lost track of that. If you're inclined or able, you can help us build our new practice facility. |
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| Rick Anderson, Houston: what are the strengths of the team going to be? Will our team be based on defense? is a bowl game in sight |
| | Guy Morriss: The strengths of the team - I feel good that our kids are going to play hard and with a lot of heart. We should be improved in all areas, because we are going into the second year working with them. QB spot should be better, O-Line should be better, therefore our whole offense should improve. Special teams should continue to rise, because we have better athletes covering kicks. Defensively, I want to play more aggressive, may have to take a few more risks, make things happen, do a couple of things differently in the secondary. Overall, just keep recruting better athletes each year. As far as going to a bowl game, I don't have crystal ball, but that's our goal. |
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| John Brockett: Coach, it appears to me that we have added some speed to the team with our recent recuits. However, the defensive line still appears to be lacking in terms of physical size and actual numbers of defensive lineman for the upcoming season. Are you concerned that this could be a potential problem for Baylor this year and in the years to come? Thank you for your dedication and best of luck. |
| | Guy Morriss: John, you're right. D-line is a concern. We feel real good about Dan Gay and we've got two defensive end signees that we like, so we're making progress. Really where we struck out was junior college ranks for immediate help, but we'll continue to recruit the top d-linemen in the state and the nation. |
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| goliad: First season is under your belt, new recruits are picked. Will the bears really be able to compete with the big boys in the tough Big 12 or do we have to begin to say wait till next year, again? |
| | Guy Morriss: We're rebuilding this program from the ground up and there's lots of work to be done. In our first Big 12 game last year, we beat the two-time defending North champion Colorado Buffaloes, so we know we can compete. We've got to get better in the weight and work harder in practice. The "big boys" you refer to are able to spend 3 or 4 times as much as we do, and that factors heavily into their success. Building a practice facility on campus is a step we have to make to be competitive with the teams you desire us to beat. |
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| Chris (Houston): What two players do you expect to really have a chance at starting at quarterback next year? What are your thoughts on Terrance Park's abilities? Can he be a major impact quarterback? What is his size, strength, 40 speed, and attitude? |
| | Guy Morriss: The way we see it, it's a 4-man race. Terrance has tremendous football skills, and he can absolutely be a major-impact QB. He's about 6-3, 210-215, runs a 4.6 40, is very athletic with quick feet, but he needs to mature. |
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| David - Austin: Coach, why don't we schedule an off week in the middle of the season, or is that just too compicated? |
| | Guy Morriss: The schedule is determined by the Big 12, they give us 3 scenarios to choose from. We don't get to pick when our open date falls and there are a lot of variables that the conference must consider when putting the schedule together. It would be ideal to have an open date right in the middle of the season, but it just doesn't work that way. |
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| Chris (Plano): Do you expect to open up the offense during the upcoming season? As I understand, the offensive package was scaled down to fit last year's roster. |
| | Guy Morriss: We would certainly like to, it just depends on what our talent level can handle. The key is the QB spot and an improved offensive line. |
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| seth (san antonio): What are you doing this off season to prevent the academic problems we had last year? Also, is Montez Murphy elgible for the fall? |
| | Guy Morriss: As a staff, we've emphasized importance of the classroom and taking care of business there. We're trying to hold them to the highest standard of accountability. Yes, Montes Murphy is eligible. |
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| Bill Whitmire (Cameron, Texas): Awesome Job this year Coach. What is the spring workout schedule and the date for the Spring game? |
| | Guy Morriss: Spring ball starts on March 23 and ends with the Green-Gold game on April 17. Everyone is welcome, all practices are open. |
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| Scott (Atlanta): Coach, there have been reports of adding the color black to the football uniforms. What is your opinion of this type of change or do you prefer the traditional uniforms? |
| | Guy Morriss: That's news to me. There won't be any black in our uniforms. |
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| Bill Whitmire (Cameron, Texas): How close are you to having a new practice facility being built and where on compus would your prefer to have it? |
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| Bill Whitmire (Cameron, Texas): How close are you to having a new practice facility being built and where on compus would your prefer to have it? |
| | Guy Morriss: Right now, it would be located somewhere on University Parks between the new museum and the outdoor pool. We're in the process of raising funds and all donations will be gladly accepted. If you are interested in making a donation, call Ian McCaw at (254) 710-1234. |
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| | Guy Morriss: That's all the time for today. Sorry I could not get to all of your questions. I'll be back before spring ball. Thanks and Sic 'Em Bears! |
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