Joe Morrison

Head coach, South Carolina, 1983 to 1988
Before: New Mexico

College career101-72-7

Program liftNo. 555tied · of 1,290 tenures since 1937

Now

Career arc

Bowls and playoffs: 0-3

South Carolina

1984Gator BowlL 14-21

1987Gator BowlL 13-30

1988Liberty BowlL 10-34

Stats

Big games

Pick a job to see its years on their own.

Chattanooga1973–79 · 44-29-4New Mexico1980–82 · 18-15-1South Carolina1983–88 · 39-28-2All jobs101-72-7

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

Just 1-2 against Maxie Lambright.

One-score games

17-11-4

53.1% · margin ≤8

The toughest matchup

vs. Maxie Lambright1-2

3 meetings, 1975–1978

’75 L’76 L’78 W

33% win rate across a real, 3-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Power Program

0-2 0.0%

National Program

4-6 40.0%

Regional Program

19-11 63.3%

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

3-0 against his rivals at New Mexico. Just 1-2 against Dick Tomey.

Rivalry record

3-0

100.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

7-6-1

50.0% · margin ≤8

Rivalry ledger

New Mexico State3-0100%

The toughest matchup

vs. Dick Tomey1-2

3 meetings, 1980–1982

’80 L’81 L’82 W

33% win rate across a real, 3-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Power Program

1-4 20.0%

National Program

2-6 25.0%

Regional Program

15-5 75.0%

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

4-7 against his rivals at South Carolina. Just 1-4 against Bobby Bowden.

Rivalry record

4-7-1

33.3% · 2 rivals

One-score games

9-8-2

47.4% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

4-5

44.4%

Rivalry ledger

Georgia2-433%

Clemson2-3-133%

The toughest matchup

vs. Bobby Bowden1-4

5 meetings, 1983–1988

’83 L’84 W’85 L’86 L’88 L

20% win rate across a real, 5-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Blue Blood

4-5 44.4%

Power Program

4-16 20.0%

National Program

10-4 71.4%

Regional Program

13-3 81.2%

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

7-7 against his rivals. Just 1-4 against Bobby Bowden.

Rivalry record

7-7-1

46.7% · 3 rivals

One-score games

33-25-7

50.8% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

4-5

44.4%

Rivalry ledger

Georgia2-433%

Clemson2-3-133%

New Mexico State3-0100%

The toughest matchup

vs. Bobby Bowden1-4

5 meetings, 1983–1988

’83 L’84 W’85 L’86 L’88 L

20% win rate across a real, 5-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Blue Blood

4-5 44.4%

Power Program

5-22 18.5%

National Program

16-16 50.0%

Regional Program

47-19 71.2%

Building the roster

Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.

1Who followed him
2Roster ownership
3The NFL pipeline

Followed him here

Chattanooga→

New Mexico1980

No confirmed followers on this move. This move predates this database’s 2021 transfer-portal tracking floor, so real followers may be undercounted here.

New Mexico→

South Carolina1983

No confirmed followers on this move. This move predates this database’s 2021 transfer-portal tracking floor, so real followers may be undercounted here.

Players who transferred from his old program to his new one through the portal in the same year he made the move. Name-matching across data sources misses some, so every count is a floor, not an exact number.

Roster ownership

This coach's entire tenure (1983-1988) predates 2021, when transfer-portal tracking begins in this database. Portal usage cannot be measured for this tenure at all -- this is not the same as '0% portal'.

“His own” means the player arrived while he was head coach; “inherited” means a predecessor brought him in.

The NFL pipeline

at least6Drafted

players drafted into the NFL off his teams here (a floor — see the note below). None can be traced to who brought them in — there’s no roster record for these players here.

At least 6 — the draft class following his 1987 season is missing from this table entirely; and his 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988 seasons predate the modern 7-round draft, so this table’s pre-1994 pick counts are a floor, not a full count, for those seasons.

0 roster-verified · 6 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Player	Pos	NFL team	Note
1989	R6.15	Derrick Little	Linebacker	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Estimated
1989	R7.12	Kevin Hendrix	Linebacker	Washington Redskins	Estimated
1986	R3.22	Leonard Burton	Center	Buffalo Bills	Estimated
1986	R6.03	Kent Hagood	Running Back	Kansas City Chiefs	Estimated
1984	R3.04	Rusty Russell	Offensive Tackle	Philadelphia Eagles	Estimated
1984	R4.02	Rickey Hagood	Defensive Tackle	Seattle Seahawks	Estimated

A pick counts toward his tenure when the player’s final college season was one he coached, a checkable rule rather than a claim about who developed the player. A blank note means the player is on a verified roster and arrived on his watch. “Estimated” means no roster record, so the final season is assumed to be the year before the draft.

Career

Coaching career

See South Carolina’s full coaching history →

The arc of his career is on Now.

Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder

1983–1988

South Carolina Steady

National Program II → National Program II

Closest comparable run: Bob Davie’s New Mexico run (2012–2019)

Joe Morrison held South Carolina at National Program II for 6 seasons.

+1.9 pts over 6 seasons · bottom 48% of 6-9-season tenures (368 in sample)

6th-best South Carolina tenure of 19 by the numbers.

Followed Richard Bell (1982) · succeeded by Sparky Woods (1989–1993).

Season	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988
Record & result
Record	5-6	10-2	5-6	3-6-2	8-4	8-4
Postseason	—	L bowl	—	—	L bowl	L bowl
Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile
Offense	—	—	—	—	—	—
Defense	—	—	—	—	—	—
Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script
1st-down pass%	—	—	—	—	—	—
Red-zone pass%	—	—	—	—	—	—
4th-down go%opp. territory	—	—	—	—	—	—

Postseason detail1984: Lost to Oklahoma State 14-21 Bowl1987: Lost to LSU 13-30 Bowl1988: Lost to Indiana 10-34 Bowl

39-28-2

1980–1982

New Mexico Steady

Regional Program I → Regional Program II

Closest comparable run: Ted Roof’s Duke run (2003–2007)

Joe Morrison slid New Mexico from Regional Program I to Regional Program II in 3 seasons.

−1.9 pts over 3 seasons · top 43% of 3-5-season tenures (717 in sample)

6th-best New Mexico tenure of 22 by the numbers.

Followed Bill Mondt (1974–1979) · succeeded by Joe Lee Dunn (1983–1986).

2 NFL Draft picks: Brad Wright (1981), Ricky Martin (1981)

18-15-1

1973–1979

Chattanooga Steady≈

Regional Program IV → Regional Program I

Closest comparable run: Mark Hudspeth’s Louisiana run (2011–2017)

Joe Morrison moved Chattanooga from Regional Program IV to Regional Program I in 7 seasons.

+11.3 pts over 7 seasons · top 14% of 6-9-season tenures (368 in sample)

2nd-best Chattanooga tenure of 2 by the numbers.

Succeeded by Bill Oliver (1980–1981).

2 NFL Draft picks: Darnell Powell (1976), Pete Pullara (1978)

44-29-4

Was he good?

Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.

Raised the program

+11.3 pts at Chattanooga · #187 of 1290 · top quarter

Also coached: New Mexico (-1.9), South Carolina (+1.9).