Guy Morriss, a longtime NFL offensive lineman who went on to lead the football programs at Kentucky and Baylor, died Monday. He was 71 years old.
Morriss, who led the Wildcats program from 2001–02 after a stint as assistant head coach and offensive line coach, died in Danville, Ky. Although no cause of death has been disclosed, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2017.
After playing college football at TCU, Morriss was selected in the second round of the 1973 NFL draft by the Eagles, with whom he played until ’83. The following year, he joined the Patriots, finishing his playing career in ’87.
Morriss quickly turned his attention to coaching, remaining with New England in ’88 as offensive line coach. He became the head coach of the Washington Marauders of the extremely short-lived Professional Spring Football League in ’92, before stints as offensive line coach with Valdosta State, the Arizona Cardinals, the CFL’s San Antonio Texans, and Mississippi State, before joining Hal Mumme’s Kentucky staff in 1997, where he coached alongside Mike Leach. He would succeed Mumme after the father of the air raid offense was ousted ahead of the ’01 season due to a recruiting scandal.
After two seasons and a 9–14 record in Lexington, including a 7–5 2002 campaign, Morriss moved on to Baylor, where he posted an 18–40 record, including a 7–33 Big 12 mark, over five seasons.
In 2009, he began a four-year stint as coach of Texas A&M–Commerce at the Division II level, going 10–31. Morriss then served as an assistant coach at a pair of Kentucky high schools in the mid-2010s before officially retiring from football.
Kentucky and Baylor each shared their condolences to Morriss’s family and friends, as did one of his most notable NFL teammates, former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski.
“So sad to hear my great center Guy Moriss [sic] has passed away,” Jaworski tweeted early Tuesday. “Guy was a true leader on our Super Bowl team. RIP my friend!”
