Kliff Kingsbury's Job Hinges On Fixing His Biggest Mistake

Kliff Kingsbury has been unable to find the right mix of assistant coaches while at Texas Tech. Now, his job could rest in the hands of new coaches at some of the most critical positions on the team.

Texas Tech football has become synonymous with outrageous offensive stats, woefully inadequate defenses and, under Kliff Kingsbury, offseason coaching turnover. As the 2017 team readies for fall camp and the start of a season that could be the most pivotal in program history, Kingsbury has once again shuffled his assistant coaches in hopes of finally finding a winning combination. But unlike in years past, this season’s new coaches have no margin for error.

With Kingsbury on the hot seat, it is natural for people to analyze how the program has failed to grow under the soon-to-be 38-year-old head coach. Some erronously theorize that Kingsbury has been too enamored of the idea of living a celebrity lifestyle while others point to his introvert tendencies which have frustrated a number of the good-old-boy west Texas boosters that still pine for the by-gone era of Spike Dykes when they could easily get Texas Tech’s head coach to join their foursome at Lakeridge Country Club.

However, Kingsbury’s biggest mistake, the one that has landed him at a crossroads in his young career, has been in the men he has hired as assistant coaches.

The 2013 coaching staff, Kingsbury’s first, set an unsuccessful precedent that has yet to be overcome. Of the eleven assistants on that staff, seven were former Texas Tech players with whom Kingsbury had a personal relationship. Even more damning was the fact that the staff was comprised entirely of coaches younger than 50-years-old.

The staff’s lack of experience showed in the second half of the season when the coaches could not find a way to pull the Red Raiders out of a 6-game losing streak to end the season. However, a victory in the Holiday Bowl seemed to right the ship. But that was fool’s gold.

The next season saw just two changes but the losses were significant. Defensive coordinator Matt Wallerstedt resigned just three games into the season for “personal reasons”. Meanwhile, offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie left to join the staff at rival TCU.

Wallerstedt’s departure meant that the Red Raiders would finish the season with their sixth different defensive coordinator in six seasons. That number would grow to seven in 2015 when Kingsbury hired David Gibbs to run his defense.

Now, Gibbs enters his third year, after finally putting an end to that dubious streak. However, the turnover among the rest of the coaching staff has only increased.

Kingsbury’s third season, 2015, saw him bring aboard six new coaches. Amazingly, only Morris, Hays and defensive line coach Mike Smith were retained from the previous season.

2016 saw yet more changes as Smith was replaced by Kevin Patrick and Rusty Whitt was hired as the strength and conditioning coach to replace Chad Dennis. Despite qualifying for a bowl birth that season, sweeping changes were in store for the offseason yet again.

This year’s staff features three new assistant coaches, and each one is tasked with leading position groups that vastly disappointed a season ago.

New defensive line coach Terrance Jamison must find a way to get his unit to surpass last season’s meager total of just four sacks. As a team, Tech recorded only 14 total sacks last year and ten came from linebackers or defensive backs. To make Jamison’s task even more daunting is the fact that he will have just three seniors in his defensive line rotation this year and none had a sack last season.

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Offensive line coach Brandon Jones is being charged with rebuilding an offensive line that struggled in the run game last season. Tech averaged just 3.2 yards per carry last season, worst in the Big 12.

Jones will likely have sophomores at both tackles (Terence Steele and Travis Bruffy) and may have to rely on as many as three true freshman as part of his rotation. The offensive line will not have the luxury of having an escape artist like 2016 quarterback Patrick Mahomes to bail them out of trouble. 2017 starter Nick Shimonek is a more traditional pocket passer who will need more time from his line than Mahomes received.

While the 2016 offensive line struggled in the ground game, the running backs were not faultless either. The Red Raiders were led in rushing by true freshman Da’Leon Ward (428 yards) and sophomore Demarcus Felton (353 yards). Both were inconsistent in their play and both missed time due to injuries throughout the season.

This year’s running attack will once again be led by Ward and Felton as no impact additions to the group were added in the offseason. That means new running backs coach Jabbar Juluke must find a way to help Ward and Felton develop into reliable and more productive weapons in the offense.

Once again, Kingsbury is asking new coaches to hit the ground running and fix problems that have been years in the making. This strategy is yet to pay off.

Whether true or not, public perception is that Kingsbury’s frequent coaching staff remodels have been born out of frustration. They look like desperate attempts to repair holes in a listing ship by using duct tape and bubble gum.

Having a strong staff from top to bottom is key to any program’s success. Assistant coaches are the heart of college football recruiting.

They are the ones constantly on the road forming the initial relationships with recruits. Every time Kingsbury has to replace numerous assistants, he is also taking a step back on the recruiting trail as new coaches try to recruit the kind of players they want while trying to shape the current players on the roster to fit their new schemes.

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Additionally, there is a natural period of adjustment in the film room and on the practice field as the new coaches try to carve their niche. Kingsbury has operated as if change is better than consistency. If that philosophy does not pay off this season, there will be change at every position on the coaching staff, including head coach.

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Kliff Kingsbury’s Job Hinges On Fixing His Biggest Mistake

By Matthew Conner | Jul 30, 2017

Kliff Kingsbury has been unable to find the right mix of assistant coaches while at Texas Tech. Now, his job could rest in the hands of new coaches at some of the most critical positions on the team.

More from Wreck'Em Red