I am really disappointed in the outcome of last night’s game. Probably safe to say that there is nobody more disappointed than I am. So much time, effort, energy, and money invested in the last 2 years to change the long-term direction and momentum of our program.
We will soon have the best football facilities in the conference, we built one of the top 10 NIL collectives in the country, and we made the commitment to a football budget that is nationally competitive. We’ve even addressed things as seemingly insignificant as the student tailgate, LED lights in the stadium, sound system and Wi-Fi for better fan engagement…the list goes on and on...
I feel like we’ve done everything we possibly can, we’ve done it the right way, and everybody in leadership positions at Tech has been absolutely amazing. We are deadly serious about being nationally competitive...And, of course, we all want to see results NOW!
Here is the reality though: The nature of college football is that sometimes you have games like we had last night. It was the definition of a “trap” game, and we fell right into it. Wyoming is a salty, tough, well-coached team, and we played them at their place (at 7,200 feet) the first game of the season.
Here is another fact: Even though (for some reason) it feels like Joey has been our coach for many years, he just coached his 14th game at Tech. And even though we had more pre-season excitement than we’ve had in over a decade, we still have a ton of work to do. We aren’t yet good enough to have a bad night (even great teams have bad nights sometimes) and still win against a solid team.
I expect that we will bounce back and have a good season. My senior year (2004) we lost a very similar game to New Mexico in Albuquerque, but we ended the season with a win over Cal (and Aaron Rogers) in the Holiday Bowl and finished in the top 20. This team can absolutely still finish even better than we did back then.
Joey and his staff are doing a good job. He is the perfect fit for Texas Tech, and he is building this program the right way for the long run. He’s the same guy that he was 24 hours ago, and we really need him to stick with his plan and approach. Obviously, some adjustments need to be made – and he will make them – but I am 100% sure that the overall direction he’s taking the program is the right one.
My biggest (and maybe my only) concern today is that our fans and alumni get discouraged and/or disengaged. This “60 Minutes of Us” thing is real, and we all need to keep doing our part. If we are going to build the program to a point where we don’t have nights like last night, we need butts in the seats at the stadium, we need NIL money so we can continue building and re-working the roster, and we need our fans to be engaged.
I hope that we can collectively gather some perspective and see how much opportunity we have in front of us. Better days are ahead, and this season is far from lost. Let’s accept this adversity as an opportunity to show who we really are as Red Raider Nation: Tough, Gritty, Passionate. Let’s love on this team and coaches and lift them up. This is a critical moment in the progression of our program, and they need our help and support now more than ever!
LONG LIVE THE MATADORS!!!!!
We will soon have the best football facilities in the conference, we built one of the top 10 NIL collectives in the country, and we made the commitment to a football budget that is nationally competitive. We’ve even addressed things as seemingly insignificant as the student tailgate, LED lights in the stadium, sound system and Wi-Fi for better fan engagement…the list goes on and on...
I feel like we’ve done everything we possibly can, we’ve done it the right way, and everybody in leadership positions at Tech has been absolutely amazing. We are deadly serious about being nationally competitive...And, of course, we all want to see results NOW!
Here is the reality though: The nature of college football is that sometimes you have games like we had last night. It was the definition of a “trap” game, and we fell right into it. Wyoming is a salty, tough, well-coached team, and we played them at their place (at 7,200 feet) the first game of the season.
Here is another fact: Even though (for some reason) it feels like Joey has been our coach for many years, he just coached his 14th game at Tech. And even though we had more pre-season excitement than we’ve had in over a decade, we still have a ton of work to do. We aren’t yet good enough to have a bad night (even great teams have bad nights sometimes) and still win against a solid team.
I expect that we will bounce back and have a good season. My senior year (2004) we lost a very similar game to New Mexico in Albuquerque, but we ended the season with a win over Cal (and Aaron Rogers) in the Holiday Bowl and finished in the top 20. This team can absolutely still finish even better than we did back then.
Joey and his staff are doing a good job. He is the perfect fit for Texas Tech, and he is building this program the right way for the long run. He’s the same guy that he was 24 hours ago, and we really need him to stick with his plan and approach. Obviously, some adjustments need to be made – and he will make them – but I am 100% sure that the overall direction he’s taking the program is the right one.
My biggest (and maybe my only) concern today is that our fans and alumni get discouraged and/or disengaged. This “60 Minutes of Us” thing is real, and we all need to keep doing our part. If we are going to build the program to a point where we don’t have nights like last night, we need butts in the seats at the stadium, we need NIL money so we can continue building and re-working the roster, and we need our fans to be engaged.
I hope that we can collectively gather some perspective and see how much opportunity we have in front of us. Better days are ahead, and this season is far from lost. Let’s accept this adversity as an opportunity to show who we really are as Red Raider Nation: Tough, Gritty, Passionate. Let’s love on this team and coaches and lift them up. This is a critical moment in the progression of our program, and they need our help and support now more than ever!
LONG LIVE THE MATADORS!!!!!
