By Ed McGranahan.

By Ed McGranahan

Contrary to speculation, Chad Morris said he had not abandoned Clemson.

“I’m back. I’m telling you, I’m back,” said Morris, dismayed by speculation that he was headed to Texas Tech after an interview Tuesday with athletic director Kirby Hocutt, who flew to the Upstate to meet him.

“I told these players. I never left.”

After two weeks of speculation that Clemson would need a new offensive coordinator, Morris returned to practice Saturday without a cloud hovering above him. Linked to openings at several schools, Morris said he believes he may get one shot at college head coaching job so he wants to assure all the pieces are in place for success.

“If I’m going to get a shot, I’m going to feel like it’s on my terms and this is the way we’re going to do it,” he said. “That way, if it doesn’t work out I did it and I had every resource to make it happen.”

Morris was linked to openings at N.C. State, Auburn, Arkansas, Texas Tech and others.

“There’s people had me going all over the place. Y’all had me leaving,” he told a gaggle of reporters. “Everybody had me leaving but me.

“Even our players, they had me leaving.”

Morris revealed he had several other inquiries.

“A phone call asking interest and talking over the telephone isn’t considered an interview by some standards,” he said. “I have been flattered. We have been extremely successful, and I think it says a lot about Clemson and what we are trying to do.”

The process has been exhausting and stressful on his family and his players. Yet, ultimately, none of the potential destinations was “a good fit.”

“It wasn’t the right time. It wasn’t the right fit,” he said of the Texas Tech job. “A lot of things come into play.

“You’ve got to make sure it’s the right fit, and is there a commitment to winning,” he said. “The one thing I know about this business is that you get one shot at it. If I’m going to get a shot, I’m going to feel like it’s on my terms and this is the way we’re going to do it, and that way if it doesn’t work out I did it and I had every resource to make it happen.”

Resources, he said, go far beyond a head coach’s salary. Morris is the highest paid assistant coach in the game making $1.3 million annually. A new coach needs to be able to offer competitive salaries to his staff, to layer support personnel and to receive an assurance that facilities will be competitive to attract the best players.

“It has nothing to do with money, from a head coaching salary that’s not it,” he said. “It’s about whether they have won in the past, the commitment level to winning. There are so many variables that play into a decision.”

Three years removed from a successful career as a Texas high school coach, Morris agreed his experience at Clemson opened his eyes to what a championship program required.

“There is a huge commitment to winning in Clemson, from my deal, my contract,” he said. “It’s got to be the right fit before it happens, before it needs to happen. Just to say you’re a head coach that does nothing for me.

“I have no desire to do that. I think we have a great situation here and we’re building something special and a great commitment to winning.”

Those things may have contributed to Morris missing out on a few other opportunities, though there are other factors which make a “fit” difficult. At Texas Tech he was competing with former hometown hero Kliff Kingsbury.

“I think it’s a very good program and going to wish them the best of luck and Kliff’s going to do a great job,” Morris said. “That’s what that fan base wanted and that’s what the fan base needed.

“I have no ill will. I wish them the best of luck.”

Morris said he tried to keep several key players in the loop during the process – particularly quarterback Tajh Boyd – as well as Coach Dabo Swinney.

“We are extremely happy here in Clemson,” he said. “I’m not going to judge being successful by being a head coach. That’s not something I’m going to do as I look at my career, the career we’ve tried to establish. If it happens it happens. It has to be the right fit.

“We’ve got a great thing going here. Not a good, we’ve got a great thing,” he said. “Until then we are extremely excited about what we have here and what we have coming back and the direction of this program.”

“I’m having the time of life coaching football.”

Morris said he doesn’t discount listening for opportunities, whether they surface next week or next year.

“I don’t know if you limit yourself,” he said. “You have to listen.”