Morriss was the first person with coaching experience in a BCS conference to go to work in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (a division II league consisting of historically black colleges and universities). Texas A&M–Commerce In December 2008, Scott Conley was removed as head coach of the Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football program after a 24–27 record in five seasons. On January 7, 2009, Morriss was offered the job to succeed Conley by athletic director Carlton Cooper and university president Daniel Jones. Morriss's tenure at Texas A&M–Commerce began with five losses, before the Lions reeled off five straight wins, finishing 5–5 overall with a 5–0 record in their division, winning the North Division of the Lone Star Conference outright. Texas A&M–Commerce had its first division title since 2007 and its first outright title since 1990. Morriss also introduced the idea of wearing throwback jerseys that had the moniker "EAST TEXAS" on the front, as homage to the schools previous name, East Texas State University. After Morriss's first season, players from his football team coordinated an effort to illegally remove all copies of a student newspaper from campus because it contained an unfavorable article about a teammate who had been arrested on drug charges. Morriss said that he was "proud" of his players for taking the newspapers. He also referred to the theft as "the best team building exercise we have ever done." Morriss was subsequently disciplined by the school administration over the incident. The 2010 season started with much excitement as a massive renovation to Memorial Stadium in Commerce was completed that added 3,500 seats to the east side of the stadium, a second press box, a new scoreboard with a video jumbotron, and new locker rooms. The Lions christened their newly renovated stadium by routing Upper Iowa, 33–10, giving Morriss six straight wins as head coach. However, the Lions only won two more games the rest of the season and finished with a disappointing 3–8 season. The 2011 season only produced one win, a 60–28 win over Eastern New Mexico, and the Lions finished 1–9. 2012 produced an identical record of 1–9, the lone victory coming over long time rival Texas A&M–Kingsville, 21–14 in overtime. On November 12, 2012, after leading the A&M–Commerce football program for four seasons, Morriss stepped down as head football coach. He stayed on at A&M–Commerce as special assistant to the athletic director. His duties included