@C. Level is still on the road back from the Metroplex, so he talked me through all this on the phone and I put it all together. I apologize in advance for any typos - any such mistakes are mine, as was typing as fast as I could.
1. Kirby Hocutt isn’t beginning this coaching search from scratch. He surveyed the landscape quite a bit last year when Kingsbury’s job status was up in the air, and most of the candidates he looked at in 2017 are still available.
2. I think Hocutt is going to put an emphasis on head coaching experience in this coaching search. He may ultimately end up hiring a high-profile coordinator, but I expect the vast, overwhelming majority of legitimate candidates for this job to be active/former head coaches.
3. Watch out for the Opposite Theory in this search. College coaches are usually replaced by someone who is in some way their opposite. Every Texas Tech football change in the last 30 years has followed this – Spike Dykes to Mike Leach, Leach to Tommy Tuberville, Tuberville to Kliff Kingsbury – and it wouldn’t surprise us at all if this transition follows that pattern.
Specifically, I think one of the things that Hocutt will look for is a coach that displays more visible, fiery emotion with his team and on the sidelines – kind of like how Chris Beard handles himself around the Texas Tech basketball team.
4. I will be interested to see what kind of resources Texas Tech makes available to the next head coach from a staffing standpoint. The Red Raiders are toward the bottom of the Big 12 in that department and some of the more high-profile candidates or potential candidates may demand an increased commitment in that area. The Football Training Facility is woefully behind compared to Texas Tech’s Big 12 peers and updating that, more so than the South Endzone, is going to be a big quality-of-life issue for the next head coach – much like the Womble will be for Beard.
5. Don’t be surprised if players like Alan Bowman, Antoine Wesley, Jordyn Brooks, Broderick Washington and others explore their options and entertain the possibility of either transferring or forgoing their senior season of eligibility depending on the hire. They will understandably be asking themselves whether they want to start over with a brand new head coach, brand new staff and run the risk of hurting their NFL stock? It’s a business decision for them, just like it was for Hocutt and Texas Tech when they moved on from Kingsbury.
6. Now that the football season is over, Dalton Rigdon and KeSean Carter will transition over to the track and field and compete there for the upcoming track season.
7. Jett Duffey tore his meniscus late in the Texas game, hobbled through that week of practice and then injured his foot – we think he broke a bone, but aren’t quite sure – in the third or fourth series against Kansas State. He tried, as you all saw, to play through it but was obviously quite limited.
8. Tre King was not with the team this week, did not travel to Arlington and would not have played in a bowl game had the Red Raiders won against Baylor. I don’t know how exactly either party would characterize the situation, but he essentially quit.
9. Brayden Stringer did not play yesterday, so his redshirt remained intact. SaRodorick Thompson finished the season with his redshirt intact as well.
10. If Texas Tech isn’t any better in the trenches next year and moving forward, then it won’t really matter who the head coach is to some degree. If you look back to the Texas and Oklahoma losses, those games ultimately came down to the trenches – the Longhorns and Sooners were able to run the ball, and the Red Raiders weren’t.
11. Kingsbury’s 2014 contract with Texas Tech entitles him to 50 percent of his unpaid salary/rights fees for the 2019 and 2020 seasons, which adds up to $4 million. Per the agreement, the university can pay that out in two yearly installments and – if we are reading the contract right – is not obligated to make those two payments until Jan. 5, 2020 and Jan. 5, 2021.
The Red Raiders have at least six assistant coaches – David Gibbs, Kevin Johns, Brandon Jones, Adam Scheier, Clay McGuire and Zac Spavital – still under contract for the 2019 season. Per the terms of those agreements, the university is on the hook for the remaining unpaid compensations – paid out in monthly installments beginning one month after their termination dates. Finally, Texas Tech’s financial obligation will be reduced when/if those assistants take other coaching jobs during the remaining life of their deals.
12. Now that this job vacant, you’re going to see all sorts of names tossed out there as potential candidates. For the most part, these coaches have direct ties to Texas Tech, Hocutt or both and, as a result, are obvious people to include in any list of candidates.
I don’t know at this point how many, if any, of these coaches are going to be legitimately considered by Hocutt, but I wanted to offer some thoughts on each as this process begins.
Note: These candidates are separated by tiers and then listed alphabetically.
IN THE MIX
Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia head coach – He would be the closest Texas Tech could get to hiring Mike Leach short of actually hiring Mike Leach. He would have a better recruiting base at Texas Tech than he does at West Virginia and the Red Raiders could pay him. There would be many that would look at this as a lateral move for him, but Holgorsen almost got ran out of Morgantown a few years ago and I don’t know if the Mountaineer fanbase has ever fully bought in with him. Holgorsen’s best Big 12 team just finished 8-3 and a lot of those players will exhaust their eligibility after the bowl game. Does Holgorsen want to stay at West Virginia and start building back up to that? From Texas Tech’s standpoint, he’s a harder-edge guy and all of his team are plenty tough – which seem to fit the pattern of what Hocutt is looking for. This does seem far-fetched, but I believe there is mutual interest at this point.
Jim Leavitt, Oregon defensive coordinator – Leavitt was Hocutt’s position coach at Kansas State in the early 1990s. He clearly has some baggage from his time at USF but he will be considered for multiple openings this offseason and is originally from Texas. The optics of this hire would be odd because of said baggage, but perhaps Hocutt’s personal experience with him would ease the way for this hire, much like Gerald Myers’ personal experience with Bob Knight. The biggest question about a Leavitt hire would be about who he would bring in to call offensive plays.
Brent Venables, Clemson defensive coordinator – Venables is one of the top defensive minds in college football and played alongside Hocutt at Kansas State. He won’t leave Clemson for just any head coaching job and I’m not sure he’d leave for this one. Venables also doesn’t have any head coaching experience, which may be a knock against him in this search. His personal relationship with Hocutt may lessen that concern on Texas Tech’s side. Much like with Leavitt, Venables’ offensive coordinator hire would be a major focus. There’s also the question of timing, as Clemson will play for an ACC title this weekend and then potentially compete in the CFB Playoff in late-December. When would he be available to join the Red Raiders?
Matt Wells, Utah State head coach – Wells is an under-the-radar candidate in that he has no direct ties to Hocutt or Texas Tech but I believe there is mutual interest there. He has taken Utah State to four bowl games and has won nine or more games three times.
ON THE RADAR
Blake Anderson, Arkansas State head coach – Anderson has led the Red Wolves to a bowl game and a winning record in each of his five seasons at head coach. He grew up in Hubbard, Texas – between Waco and Dallas – and played collegiately at Baylor and Sam Houston State.
Neal Brown, Troy head coach – Brown seems like a no-brainer candidate because of his previous experience in Lubbock and his tremendous success at Troy. Maybe Brown is holding out for something bigger and better, though. His name will likely come up with several searches this offseason – North Carolina and, if it opens, Purdue. I know Brown loved his time in Texas and he’s won 30 games in three seasons with the Trojans.
Seth Littrell, North Texas head coach – Littrell is going to be linked to this job for many of the same reasons as Brown. He’s an active, successful head coach and has a lot of Texas Tech ties on his staff, too. Even a recent loss to Old Dominion doesn’t diminish what Littrell has quickly built in Denton. His relative lack of head coaching experience doesn’t work in his favor and while he seems to be a favorite among RRS subscribers, we aren’t hearing his name much.
Mike Norvell, Memphis head coach – Norvell, an Irving native, is 25-12 in three seasons at Memphis. He is an offensive-minded head coach that came up as a part of Todd Graham’s staffs at Tulsa, Pitt and Arizona State from 2007-15.
UNREALISTIC BUT MAY GET LINKED TO THE JOB BY MEDIA
Sonny Cumbie, TCU offensive coordinator – Cumbie will probably be linked to this job by some media types due to his success with the Horned Frogs and playing/coaching experience at Texas Tech. I don’t know that he makes sense for this position right now because of how similar he is as a candidate to what Kingsbury was in 2012.
Sonny Dykes, SMU head coach – I’m not sure that Dykes would take this job or that Texas Tech would even talk to him, but he may be linked to this position on some level because of his ties to the program and experience as a head coach.
Mike Leach, Washington State head coach – Leach tried to get involved last year when Kingsbury’s job was in the balance and he has again talked to people about this job in recent days and weeks. Even if the parties involved got beyond the 2009 compensation issue, it’s extremely difficult to believe that Leach could co-exist with Hocutt from a day-to-day working relationship standpoint. At the end of the day, do I think he would realistically come back here? No. Do I think Hocutt would want to go that route? I doubt it very seriously.
1. Kirby Hocutt isn’t beginning this coaching search from scratch. He surveyed the landscape quite a bit last year when Kingsbury’s job status was up in the air, and most of the candidates he looked at in 2017 are still available.
2. I think Hocutt is going to put an emphasis on head coaching experience in this coaching search. He may ultimately end up hiring a high-profile coordinator, but I expect the vast, overwhelming majority of legitimate candidates for this job to be active/former head coaches.
3. Watch out for the Opposite Theory in this search. College coaches are usually replaced by someone who is in some way their opposite. Every Texas Tech football change in the last 30 years has followed this – Spike Dykes to Mike Leach, Leach to Tommy Tuberville, Tuberville to Kliff Kingsbury – and it wouldn’t surprise us at all if this transition follows that pattern.
Specifically, I think one of the things that Hocutt will look for is a coach that displays more visible, fiery emotion with his team and on the sidelines – kind of like how Chris Beard handles himself around the Texas Tech basketball team.
4. I will be interested to see what kind of resources Texas Tech makes available to the next head coach from a staffing standpoint. The Red Raiders are toward the bottom of the Big 12 in that department and some of the more high-profile candidates or potential candidates may demand an increased commitment in that area. The Football Training Facility is woefully behind compared to Texas Tech’s Big 12 peers and updating that, more so than the South Endzone, is going to be a big quality-of-life issue for the next head coach – much like the Womble will be for Beard.
5. Don’t be surprised if players like Alan Bowman, Antoine Wesley, Jordyn Brooks, Broderick Washington and others explore their options and entertain the possibility of either transferring or forgoing their senior season of eligibility depending on the hire. They will understandably be asking themselves whether they want to start over with a brand new head coach, brand new staff and run the risk of hurting their NFL stock? It’s a business decision for them, just like it was for Hocutt and Texas Tech when they moved on from Kingsbury.
6. Now that the football season is over, Dalton Rigdon and KeSean Carter will transition over to the track and field and compete there for the upcoming track season.
7. Jett Duffey tore his meniscus late in the Texas game, hobbled through that week of practice and then injured his foot – we think he broke a bone, but aren’t quite sure – in the third or fourth series against Kansas State. He tried, as you all saw, to play through it but was obviously quite limited.
8. Tre King was not with the team this week, did not travel to Arlington and would not have played in a bowl game had the Red Raiders won against Baylor. I don’t know how exactly either party would characterize the situation, but he essentially quit.
9. Brayden Stringer did not play yesterday, so his redshirt remained intact. SaRodorick Thompson finished the season with his redshirt intact as well.
10. If Texas Tech isn’t any better in the trenches next year and moving forward, then it won’t really matter who the head coach is to some degree. If you look back to the Texas and Oklahoma losses, those games ultimately came down to the trenches – the Longhorns and Sooners were able to run the ball, and the Red Raiders weren’t.
11. Kingsbury’s 2014 contract with Texas Tech entitles him to 50 percent of his unpaid salary/rights fees for the 2019 and 2020 seasons, which adds up to $4 million. Per the agreement, the university can pay that out in two yearly installments and – if we are reading the contract right – is not obligated to make those two payments until Jan. 5, 2020 and Jan. 5, 2021.
The Red Raiders have at least six assistant coaches – David Gibbs, Kevin Johns, Brandon Jones, Adam Scheier, Clay McGuire and Zac Spavital – still under contract for the 2019 season. Per the terms of those agreements, the university is on the hook for the remaining unpaid compensations – paid out in monthly installments beginning one month after their termination dates. Finally, Texas Tech’s financial obligation will be reduced when/if those assistants take other coaching jobs during the remaining life of their deals.
12. Now that this job vacant, you’re going to see all sorts of names tossed out there as potential candidates. For the most part, these coaches have direct ties to Texas Tech, Hocutt or both and, as a result, are obvious people to include in any list of candidates.
I don’t know at this point how many, if any, of these coaches are going to be legitimately considered by Hocutt, but I wanted to offer some thoughts on each as this process begins.
Note: These candidates are separated by tiers and then listed alphabetically.
IN THE MIX
Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia head coach – He would be the closest Texas Tech could get to hiring Mike Leach short of actually hiring Mike Leach. He would have a better recruiting base at Texas Tech than he does at West Virginia and the Red Raiders could pay him. There would be many that would look at this as a lateral move for him, but Holgorsen almost got ran out of Morgantown a few years ago and I don’t know if the Mountaineer fanbase has ever fully bought in with him. Holgorsen’s best Big 12 team just finished 8-3 and a lot of those players will exhaust their eligibility after the bowl game. Does Holgorsen want to stay at West Virginia and start building back up to that? From Texas Tech’s standpoint, he’s a harder-edge guy and all of his team are plenty tough – which seem to fit the pattern of what Hocutt is looking for. This does seem far-fetched, but I believe there is mutual interest at this point.
Jim Leavitt, Oregon defensive coordinator – Leavitt was Hocutt’s position coach at Kansas State in the early 1990s. He clearly has some baggage from his time at USF but he will be considered for multiple openings this offseason and is originally from Texas. The optics of this hire would be odd because of said baggage, but perhaps Hocutt’s personal experience with him would ease the way for this hire, much like Gerald Myers’ personal experience with Bob Knight. The biggest question about a Leavitt hire would be about who he would bring in to call offensive plays.
Brent Venables, Clemson defensive coordinator – Venables is one of the top defensive minds in college football and played alongside Hocutt at Kansas State. He won’t leave Clemson for just any head coaching job and I’m not sure he’d leave for this one. Venables also doesn’t have any head coaching experience, which may be a knock against him in this search. His personal relationship with Hocutt may lessen that concern on Texas Tech’s side. Much like with Leavitt, Venables’ offensive coordinator hire would be a major focus. There’s also the question of timing, as Clemson will play for an ACC title this weekend and then potentially compete in the CFB Playoff in late-December. When would he be available to join the Red Raiders?
Matt Wells, Utah State head coach – Wells is an under-the-radar candidate in that he has no direct ties to Hocutt or Texas Tech but I believe there is mutual interest there. He has taken Utah State to four bowl games and has won nine or more games three times.
ON THE RADAR
Blake Anderson, Arkansas State head coach – Anderson has led the Red Wolves to a bowl game and a winning record in each of his five seasons at head coach. He grew up in Hubbard, Texas – between Waco and Dallas – and played collegiately at Baylor and Sam Houston State.
Neal Brown, Troy head coach – Brown seems like a no-brainer candidate because of his previous experience in Lubbock and his tremendous success at Troy. Maybe Brown is holding out for something bigger and better, though. His name will likely come up with several searches this offseason – North Carolina and, if it opens, Purdue. I know Brown loved his time in Texas and he’s won 30 games in three seasons with the Trojans.
Seth Littrell, North Texas head coach – Littrell is going to be linked to this job for many of the same reasons as Brown. He’s an active, successful head coach and has a lot of Texas Tech ties on his staff, too. Even a recent loss to Old Dominion doesn’t diminish what Littrell has quickly built in Denton. His relative lack of head coaching experience doesn’t work in his favor and while he seems to be a favorite among RRS subscribers, we aren’t hearing his name much.
Mike Norvell, Memphis head coach – Norvell, an Irving native, is 25-12 in three seasons at Memphis. He is an offensive-minded head coach that came up as a part of Todd Graham’s staffs at Tulsa, Pitt and Arizona State from 2007-15.
UNREALISTIC BUT MAY GET LINKED TO THE JOB BY MEDIA
Sonny Cumbie, TCU offensive coordinator – Cumbie will probably be linked to this job by some media types due to his success with the Horned Frogs and playing/coaching experience at Texas Tech. I don’t know that he makes sense for this position right now because of how similar he is as a candidate to what Kingsbury was in 2012.
Sonny Dykes, SMU head coach – I’m not sure that Dykes would take this job or that Texas Tech would even talk to him, but he may be linked to this position on some level because of his ties to the program and experience as a head coach.
Mike Leach, Washington State head coach – Leach tried to get involved last year when Kingsbury’s job was in the balance and he has again talked to people about this job in recent days and weeks. Even if the parties involved got beyond the 2009 compensation issue, it’s extremely difficult to believe that Leach could co-exist with Hocutt from a day-to-day working relationship standpoint. At the end of the day, do I think he would realistically come back here? No. Do I think Hocutt would want to go that route? I doubt it very seriously.
