Not if you make it a 2-3 year commitment and an even larger buy out to recover the cost should he decide to leave for any position. There are ways around all of it if you think Morris is your guy. TBH $5 mil is a drop in the bucket for Texas. The real quesiton is, who does CS want to be the OC?
Texas doesn't really do buyouts. And even if we were to do a buyout for Morris, we wouldn't see a dime as he'd be leaving Texas for a Head Coaching Job not another Coordinator position. Schools don't get the buyout if their Coordinator is leaving for an elevated position. Not to mention, we'd be paying a HIGHER buyout for our Offensive Coordinator than we did our Head Coach. That wouldn't look good. On top of all of that, Morris isn't going to agree to any non-compete clause if he's smart.
The no buyout for a HC position is Morris' current deal, but you can structure these things any way you want. We could make his buyout completely unconditional so it needs to be paid regardless of why he's leaving. Realistically though, I doubt he'd agree to that. Leaving the door open to a HC job was important enough to him that he had that in his Clemson agmt and I don't see why he'd change his mind for us.
Structuring a contract for a Coordinator in which a buyout would be demanded of a school interested in using said Coordinator as Head Coach is largely considered immoral. Neither Patterson or Strong would ever want to construct a deal like that and add a black mark to their records. Not to mention, as you said, Morris wouldn't put himself in a position like that.
Except when it wants a coach. If Strong wants Morris badly enough, Patterson can do the contract so CM can't bolt next year or year after regardless. That is, if CM wants to be back in Texas enough that he'd go for that. I'm not jumping up and down for Morris that much (or even think he's coming) just saying where there's enough will, there's a way.
Again...Morris would be out of his mind to sign a non-compete clause. And Texas isn't going to offer him anything enticing enough to put himself in a non-compete position. All of these schools could have openings next year: Florida, Michigan, West Virginia, Kansas, Arkansas, California, Georgia Tech and Nebraska. And all of those schools would be very quick to pick up the phone and give Morris a call. I find it incredibly hard to believe that Morris would walk away from those opportunities in favor of being locked in at Texas as a Coordinator.
Allow me to expand on my previous comment. Texas doesn't do buyouts that don't rule in their favor. Buying Morris without a non-compete rules against Texas. Buying Morris with a non-compete would be pulling off a miracle hire that seems as likely as Aggie winning the SEC next year.
Yes, but if true, that means three things:
