Despite a 5-3 record, Texas Tech saw the writing on the wall after blowing a fourteen-point in the second half to lose by a point to visiting Kansas State, and with their final four games against ranked opponents, Texas Tech seemed ready for yet another season that sees a fast start and a slow finish that just misses a bowl for another season.
Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt decided not to prolong speculation by releasing Matt Wells after the loss to Kansas State, which felt like a gut punch for the Red Raiders bowl chances considering that winning any of the four remaining games would be a major upset and Texas Tech needing one more win to be bowl eligible.
Matt Wells was somewhat of a surprise choice when Wells was hired to replace Kliff Kingsbury after the 2018 season from Utah State without any Texas connections.
Wells's Aggies had finished 10-2 in 2018 but had posted losing seasons in each of the previous three seasons and the hire had the feel to it of Wells knowing the iron was hot after a season that he was unable to sustain in the future.
Wells finished his two-plus years in Lubbock with a losing record of 13-17 overall and an awful 7-16 in Big 12 play.
Offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie will serve as the interim coach for the final four games and the former Tech quarterback is expected to be one of the favorites to be the head coach for 2022.
Finding a way to win one of the four games and allow Texas Tech to go to a minor bowl would go a long way towards Cumbie being given the full-time position.
Two other names that are considered to be strong possibilities are SMU head coach Sonny Dykes, the son of former Tech head coach Spike Dykes, and UTSA headman Jeff Traylor, both of who have their group of five teams in the top 25 and undefeated.
Dykes served as a Tech assistant under his dad and would likely be given a longer leash considering the popularity of his late father at Tech.
Traylor has plenty of Texas connections, if not Tech, and would be a popular choice.
The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal is reported that there are several influential boosters pushing for Art Briles, the disgraced former Baylor head coach that took the Bears from the worst program in the league to 65 wins in eight years before being fired for a lack of control of the program off the field with various scandals.
I would think that Texas Tech would take a brief P.R. hit from a Briles hire but I have little doubt that should Tech take the chance to hire Briles, who spent three seasons as a Red Raider assistant from 2000-02 that Briles would give Tech the best chance to improve the fastest.
I'm not proposing that Briles be the choice by Texas Tech but he would be the pick if the fastest improvement was the highest priority.
Under Matt Wells, Texas Tech football has lacked an identity.
They weren't really an Air Raid team or a physical team and certainly couldn't establish themselves as the defensive-oriented standout in the league.
I'm not like many that think that Texas Tech is a tough place to win.
You can win there and while maybe Tech isn't a perennial title contender in a league with Texas and Oklahoma (and formerly Texas A&M) their history and background indicate that the right coach can be good enough to be very competitive in the new Big 12.
There is no reason that Texas Tech cannot be just as good if not better than Baylor, Houston, TCU, or any of the other schools currently in the conference.
Tech's someone remote location in West Texas makes hiring the right coach imperative as recruiting Texas is a must and someone that has relationships with Texas high school coaches is a major league plus.
Still, West Texas produces plenty of good players and many might be willing to stay home- if Tech gave them a reason to stay and began to give itself an identity as a program again.
If your expectations are ten and eleven wins a season then that is unrealistic for Texas Tech but it isn't ridiculous to expect seven or eight wins a year with an occasional special season every decade or so.
Texas Tech football has been down for over a decade now, one more bad hire, and Tech may find themselves in a hole that they may not be able to dig out of...
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