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game and offense and bring back excitement to a program that he grew up just down the road from in Shawnee.
“ It’ s been phenomenal. It’ s been a long time coming,” Cobbs said of his return to his home area.“ It was gonna take the right job, and this is definitely the right job, being close to home where I grew up.”
When Morris constructed his staff at North Texas, he brought in his own coaches and cleared out the old staff. All except for one.
The Mean Green was set to play in the 2022 Frisco Bowl right after Morris was hired, so he set up shop at the nearby Omni Hotel in an upstairs room he dubbed as the interview room. There, Morris held his first team meeting and interviewed the coaches.
Cobbs, the longtime running backs coach, stuck out to Morris, and after initial conversations, Cobbs became the only holdover from the previous staff. Cobbs then turned UNT into one of the most consistent rushing offenses in the country – an underrated aspect of Morris’ high-flying offense.
The UNT offense rushed for more than 5 yards per carry each season Cobbs coached with Morris, and the Mean Green ranked in the top 20 in total rushing in 2025. Cobbs discovered Caleb Hawkins, coincidentally also a Shawnee native, who was fifth in the nation in rushing as a freshman and followed Cobbs to OSU.
“ Patrick’ s the best running backs coach I’ ve ever been with, and it’ s not even close,” Morris said.
Cobbs was a four-year letterwinner at North Texas from 2001-05 and ended his college career as the program’ s all-time leading rusher, with 4,050 yards and 36 rushing touchdowns. He also led the country in rushing yards in 2003.
He understands the position as well as anyone, and that gave Hawkins confidence in choosing UNT out of high school.
“ Knowing his history there, he had a whole bunch of records there, so it was great to know that I was being coached by one of the best players that’ s ever been there,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins rushed for 1,434 yards and 25 touchdowns in his first year with Cobbs. The Cowboys haven’ t had a 1,000-yard rusher since 2023 but could soon have one, thanks to Cobbs. He’ s the reason Hawkins will be wearing an orange jersey this season.
“ It was really easy. I didn’ t really take much chance on where I was gonna go. I fully committed to following Coach Cobbs to Stillwater because he’ s the one that really gave me the chance on playing Division I football, so I feel like I owe my loyalty to him and everything he’ s done for me,” Hawkins said.
Morris said Cobbs understands their offensive concepts as well as anyone and understands the holistic view of the system. And, as evidence from Hawkins, Morris said Cobbs is a good communicator and gets the most out of his players.
“ I’ ve got the most confidence in the world in him,” Morris said.
That confidence had made Cobbs a mainstay on Morris’ staffs, and now it has him back in his home state, close to where his football story began. Cobbs is soaking it in.
“ Being a coach at such a great place, fantastic fans and you grew up coming to this place in high school. It’ s good to be back,” he said. SwOk
IT’ S BEEN PHENOMENAL. IT’ S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING,” COBBS SAID OF HIS RETURN TO HIS HOME AREA.“ IT WAS GONNA TAKE THE RIGHT JOB, AND THIS IS DEFINITELY THE RIGHT JOB, BEING CLOSE TO HOME
WHERE I GREW UP.”- Patrick Cobbs
STORY BY: BRADEN BUSH Stillwater Oklahoma Magazine
PHOTO by BRADEN BUSH
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