For UNT coach Eric Morris, facing alma mater Texas Tech football can't be centered on him

[Ross Hodgeson]

It's a little bit of déjà vu for the Texas Tech football coaching staff to start the 2024 season.

The first two games of the campaign have seen Joey McGuire and staff going against former Red Raiders, colleagues and close friends. That will once again be the case on Saturday when North Texas pays a visit to Jones AT&T Stadium.

The Mean Green are led by head coach Eric Morris, a former player under the late Mike Leach who later served as offensive coordinator during Kliff Kingsbury's tenure heading the Red Raiders.

Morris said Monday he gets back to his native Shallowater plenty, but hasn't had much chance to get to Lubbock since leaving in 2018 to become the head coach at Incarnate Word. A return to Washington State before heading off to Denton later, Morris is ready to make his return to the Hub City.

read more:  https://www.amarillo.com/story/sports/college/red-raiders/2024/09/11/texas-tech-football-unt-eric-morris-red-raiders-return-shallowater/75097919007/

 

[aztecskin]

Back when he was at Incarnate Word he mentioned his thoughts on guys coming back home:

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This Saturday, a good number of UIW will be making a return to their home town. “Overrated in my opinion.”

“I think that turns into a distraction. They want to play different than how they did in practice because their family is there. Naturally, adrenaline is flowing, we are playing an FBS School. That's going to be all there. That stuff should be there. If it isn't you shouldn't be playing football.”

“Everyone wants to represent their city -- lalala. Just because I think it causes them to focus on something besides what their task is. And so we've been big on tasks this week -- focusing on their tasks -- just because that's what we did bad last week. For a sustained amount of time. Haven’t played it up. Played up the fact that A) we are going to play a team that just basically stomped a mud hole in SMU in the first game of the year. That's a great opportunity for us to go out on national TV and prove that you do belong.”

https://www.meangreennation.com/p/mgn-interview-with-uiw-head-coach-eric-morris?utm_source=publication-search