Texas Tech Football Stock Report: Coaches Edition

Let me begin with a massive disclaimer: this is by no means a call for any of these Texas Tech football coaches to be fired, or, for that matter, be given raises. As a matter of fact, I would be enormously disappointed to see anyone on this staff lose their job, because continuity is the most important thing for this team right now.

This is simply a commentary on their work during the season and whether or not they got the job done, based primarily on how their players performed. Coaching comes down to one thing, really: getting 18-22 year old kids to play major college-level football for 60 minutes once a week. Everything else is just in support of that result.

So, with that in mind, here are the coaches I’m buying and selling after the 2014 season (again, this is NOT a call for anyone to be fired).

Buy. Smith took over command of the defense mid-September in the worst possible situation. <a title=. Interim DC/OLB Coach. 2nd year. MIKE SMITH

ERIC MORRIS. Sell. This won’t be very popular, I’m sure, but I’m selling coach Morris right now as anything but a recruiter, at which he is awesome. With the departure of co-offensive coordinator and outside receivers coach Sonny Cumbie to TCU this offseason, Morris took over as coach for all receivers and the offensive coordinator alongside Kingsbury, who is apparently still the primary play caller. Neither the receivers nor offense as a whole were very good this year, which leads me to believe Cumbie was a bigger part of 2013’s success than we originally thought. However, like Kingsbury, Morris is still young and figuring things out. He was catching passes himself just six years ago.. OC/WR Coach. 2nd year

Buy. I’ve been told he’s even cooler than Kingsbury, and coach Curtis certainly displayed some cool this year in his handling and development of several young corners. Without any juniors or seniors to call on to defend some of the best receivers in the country, Curtis rolled with two true freshmen and a true sophomore at cornerback all season long and got tremendous production from all three. Nigel Bethel, Tevin Madison and Justis Nelson, who came into the season with three combined starts and left with 27, worked together to post 141 tackles and 29 pass breakups. That’s textbook overachieving, especially in the Big 12.. CB Coach. 2nd year. KEVIN CURTIS

Sell. Remember: I am not saying he needs to be fired; not at all. I’m simply selling him after the results of 2014 based on the following. Texas Tech was supposed to be an offensive juggernaut under Kingsbury in year two of the young phenom’s coaching saga, especially considering his uncanny ability to develop young quarterbacks. And, with a tremendous talent like Davis Webb, everything should fall into place, right? Wrong. Not only was Webb a huge disappointment, but Kingsbury, who kept talking up the offense’s added explosiveness during the offseason, took a step back as a play caller as well. It was clear to everyone after the first month that quarterback and receiver were weaknesses of this team, and that running back and offensive line were pleasant surprises. So what does Kingsbury do? He continues to throw the ball more than 60 percent of the time, resulting in 18 turnovers and over 34 dropped passes, while giving less than 20 carries per game to an All-Conference caliber running back. All that contributed to just 30 points per game for the Red Raiders and 41 for their opponents. Some may point to a lack of talent and senior leadership on offense as the cause of Tech’s struggles, but I’m not buying that. You can’t convince me that Kenny Williams, Bradley Marquez, DeAndre Washington, Alfredo Morales and Le’Raven Clark aren’t enough to win six games. With the exception of the last three games, players were largely unprepared and undisciplined, even the veterans. Now, he’s still young and he will figure it all out, I’m sure of that, but 2014 was a down year for the Red Raiders because it was a down year for the head coach.. Head Coach/QB Coach. 2nd year. KLIFF KINGSBURY

Others: running backs coach Mike Jinks (buy), safeties coach Trey Haverty (buy), defensive line coach John Scott Jr. (sell), offensive line coach Lee Hays (buy).