Arkansas moved quickly to lure Houston AD Hunter Yurachek to Fayetteville, announcing his hire Monday. That move appears to have paid off already as Yurachek has managed to hire a football coach his first full day on the job at Arkansas. According to multiple reports, the Razorbacks have will soon be reaching an agreement with SMU head coach Chad Morris.

Arkansas has since confirmed the news and hired Morris.

News of the pending hire was first reported by Trey Biddy of HawgSports.com:

Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated is also reporting the deal will be completed soon:

Morris took over arguably the worst program in all of FBS three seasons ago, the Mustangs went 1-11 in 2014, and got the program to a bowl game in his third season. SMU improved its wins total each season under Morris, from 2 to 5 and finally to 7 this season. While his overall 14-22 record isn’t likely to impress many Razorback fans, the overall state of the program Morris inherited can’t be ignored.

The 2014 SMU team failed to score at least 10 points in seven of 12 games. The defense gave up at least 35 points per game in 10 of 12 games.

In three seasons, Morris turned the nation’s worst offense into a unit that averages over 40 points per game — which is good for No. 8 in the nation.

What should give Arkansas fans more encouragement was the work Chad Morris did as Clemson offensive coordinator before landing the SMU job. Not only did he discover Deshaun Watson, but he also helped Clemson completely turn around the program’s offense.

Here’s a graphic, done by SDS’s Dan Harralson, that shows what Chad Morris was able to accomplish at Clemson. The work here sparked the ACC juggernaut the program has become under Dabo Swinney — and arguably saved the head coach’s job:

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Perhaps more important than his offensive background is Morris’ recruiting ties to the state of Texas. Morris began his career in the Lone Star State as a state champion high school coach and should be able to mend the fences that former coach Bret Bielema damaged soon after coming to Fayetteville. It’s no secret that the Razorbacks’ overall talent has dipped in recent seasons to the point of being uncompetitive in the league. If that’s going to change, Arkansas has to get back into Texas.

Over the last two full recruiting cycles, Morris landed a total of 46 signees, 43 of them were from Texas.

Needless to say, Arkansas now has the ideal candidate to get the program back into Texas and help rebuild the roster moving forward.