Morris finishes his staff
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas Razorbacks football Coach Chad Morris announced his defensive assistants Wednesday, completing his first staff on the Hill.
Joining defensive coordinator and linebackers coach John Chavis, who was officially announced Tuesday, are defensive line coaches Steve Caldwell and John Scott Jr., and defensive backs coaches Ron Cooper and Mark Smith.
Caldwell, who coached with Chavis for 14 seasons at Tennessee (1995-2008), is starting his second stint with the Razorbacks after serving as defensive ends coach from 2010-2012. He’s an Arkansas State University alumnus from Thayer, Mo., who spent the past four seasons with Coach Bryan Harsin at Boise State.
Scott, a native of Greer, S.C., and a four-year letterman at Western Carolina, joined the Arkansas staff as defensive line coach in 2016 after spending two years with the New York Jets as a quality control defensive coach and then a defensive line assistant.
Cooper will coach the safeties and Smith, who served as recruiting coordinator and a defensive analyst for Morris at SMU, will handle the cornerbacks.
Cooper worked with Chavis last year at
Texas A&M. The native of Huntsville, Ala., has 30 years of coaching experience, including 10 as a head coach at Eastern Michigan, Louisville and Alabama A&M. Cooper was a four-year letterman at Jacksonville (Ala.) State, where he earned an undergraduate degree in 1983.
Smith, who is a native of Abilene, Texas, has degrees from Hardin-Simmons and Texas-Arlington. He has served as defensive quality control coach at Oklahoma, worked in the Texas high school ranks for six years and has served as president of the North Texas Football Coaches Association.