Bo’s Bowl Bits: Vol. 2

Home-Grown Head Coaches AND Talent TO BE ON DISPLAY

By Bo Carter, National Football Foundation Correspondent

Why do many football fans head for the “Home-Grown” section of groceries when they seek their weekly allotment of family food?

The answer lies in a certain pride for products planted and raised in Texas and also can apply for the two head coaches in the 15th annual SERVPRO First Responder Bowl on Jan. 3 at Ford Stadium in Dallas.

There are two home-grown head coaches in North Texas’ Eric Morris and Texas State’s GJ Kinne at the helm of the competing squads, and an estimated (depending on transfer portal movement) 171 student-athletes from the Lone Star State on their bowl rosters (82 for UNT and 89 for TXST).

There is little wonder that the two head coaches can recruit the best of young football talent in Texas.

Kinne, who was born in Mesquite, Texas, while his father and famed All-Southwest Conference Baylor linebacker Gary Joe Kinne was in the high school coaching ranks (Gary Joe has remained active with 35-plus years of guiding players at Baylor and on the Texas high school scheme). GJ starred as a quarterback at Tulsa (bordering the Lone Star State) and had some of his best passing games against Texas teams while starring with the Golden Hurricane from 2008-11 and then tried his hand in the NFL and CFL professional ranks from 2012-16.

Ironically, he was a graduate assistant for then-SMU head coach Chad Morris during the 2017 season and served as emergency offensive coordinator for new head coach Sonny Dykes’ depleted assistant coach staff in the 2017 Frisco Bowl in nearby Frisco, Texas, against Louisiana Tech.

GJ Kinne’s career later took him to Arkansas with Morris as head coach in 2018, to the NFL Philadelphia Eagles in 2019, and back, as a matter of interesting fact, to the 2020 Aloha Bowl played at Toyota Stadium in Frisco due to COVID-19 restrictions while Kinne was offensive coordinator with the Rainbow Warriors. A quick trek to UCF as co-offensive coordinator with head coach Gus Malzahn led to the current Texas State head coach’s first college top post at Incarnate Word in 2022.

That hiring produced a 12-2 overall mark for the Cardinal, Southland Conference title and trip to the NCAA FCS semifinals. Later that fall Texas State made its offer, and Kinne has taken the Bobcats to 15 total wins, their first bowl triumph in history in the December 2023 SERVPRO First Responder Bowl against Rice and historic back-to-back bowl appearances in Dallas. 

Morris, nicknamed The Elf for his diminutive size while playing wide receiver at Texas Tech from 2004-08 with a redshirt year, was born in Littlefield, and as the saying goes, “got to Shallowater as soon as he could” to star in football and in basketball for his SHS head coach father.

Coincidentally, after a brief fling in the pro football ranks as a gutty wideout and assistant coaching positions at Houston, Washington State and Texas Tech from 2010-17, Morris laid the groundwork for Kinne’s success at UIW with a four-year head coaching mark of 24-18 and two appearances in the NCAA FCS playoffs from 2018-21. He then ventured back to Washington State as offensive coordinator in ’22.

After a massive rebuilding program almost produced a 2023 bowl appearance with one win short of qualification at 5-7, Morris generated another scoring and passing machine offense for the ’24 Mean Green Eagles who passed for 3,974 yards (No. 6 in NCAA FBS team statistics) and scored 34 points per game.

What this all adds up to is some Texas tough and home-grown pitch and catch football with two teams capable of putting up 40-plus points on any given day. Fans for this all-Texas showdown should be treated to nothing less.

For ticketing and additional information, please access Firstresponderbowl.com.

-Firstresponderbowl.com-