CBS Sports Ranks Eric Morris Ahead of Belichick, Deion & Several Big 12 Coaches

New Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris is already turning heads before he’s even coached his first snap for the Cowboys.

CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli just dropped his annual ranking of all 68 active FBS head coaches, and Morris checked in at No. 46.

For a guy walking into his first season at a Power conference school, that’s a pretty darn good spot, especially when you see who he’s already ranked ahead of.

Here’s what Fornelli had to say: “There was not as much variance in Morris’ results as anticipated, and that lack of variance compared to coaches below him in the rankings worked to his benefit, as he begins his Oklahoma State tenure at 46th. Morris has been a head coach for seven seasons at Incarnate Word and North Texas. He won 10 or more games in 2021 and 2025, but has finished somewhere between 5-7 and 6-5 in his other five seasons. Who is Oklahoma State getting?”

46th out of 68 doesn’t sound sexy on the surface, but the context is what matters. Morris is ranked higher than a bunch of big names and several fellow Big 12 coaches.

He sits ahead of Kansas State’s Colin Klein (66th), Utah’s Morgan Scalley (65th), Iowa State’s Jimmy Rogers (59th), UCF’s Scott Frost (62nd), Colorado’s Deion Sanders (60th), West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez (54th), Cincinnati’s Scott Satterfield (53rd), and even Baylor’s Dave Aranda (47th), a guy who’s already won a Big 12 title.

Morris has been a winner everywhere he’s been. He knows how to build a program and get results quickly.

Now he’s bringing that same formula to Oklahoma State, along with several of his trusted guys from North Texas like Drew Mestemaker, Caleb Hawkins, and Wyatt Young.

Those familiar faces should help this thing hit the ground running instead of dragging through a long, painful rebuild.

Realistically, the expectations this year should start with getting to a bowl game. But if the pieces fall into place and this offense starts clicking with the talent already on the roster, a run to the Big 12 Championship Game isn’t crazy talk.

Morris has shown he can develop players, squeeze the most out of his teams, and keep things steady without huge swings.

He’s not riding in here with a ton of national hype, but he’s bringing a proven track record and a clear plan.

At No. 46, Tom Fornelli is basically telling us Morris is a safe, above-average hire who should stabilize this program and start pushing it back in the right direction.

There’s work to do, no doubt about it. But everything we’ve seen so far suggests Eric Morris is more than capable of cleaning up the mess and getting the Cowboys back to being a consistent winner in this league.