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Texas Tech Football: Five reasons for optimism in 2018

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 18: Fans of the Texas Tech Red Raiders cheer against the Texas Longhorns at Jones AT
LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 18: Fans of the Texas Tech Red Raiders cheer against the Texas Longhorns at Jones AT /
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LUBBOCK, TX – SEPTEMBER 17: Texas Tech Red Raiders defensive coordinator David Gibbs reacts to play on the field during the game Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on September 17, 2016 at AT
LUBBOCK, TX – SEPTEMBER 17: Texas Tech Red Raiders defensive coordinator David Gibbs reacts to play on the field during the game Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on September 17, 2016 at AT /

This is the best group of assistants Kingsbury has assembled

One of the more underrated aspects of college football is the importance of a program’s entire coaching staff.  Far too often, the head coach receives too much of the attention while the men who are working one-on-one with the players each day are overlooked.

One of the biggest issues Kingsbury has faced as a head coach has been trying to put together a quality coaching staff.  His repeated misses when hiring assistants, especially on defense, led to instability and chaos in his program and those traits bled over to the football field.

But the 2018 coaching staff is by far Kingsbury’s most experienced and most highly-regarded.

For starters, compare this year’s coordinators to those Kingsbury hired in his first season as head coach.  This year, David Gibbs enters year-four leading the Texas Tech defense.  This will be Gibbs’ eleventh season as a defensive coordinator and he has also spent time in the NFL as a defensive backs coach for the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans.

On the other side of the ball, new offensive coordinator Kevin Johns is the most respected offensive mind Kingsbury has hired.  Johns enters his eighth season as an offensive coordinator and he has led some of the most unique and productive offenses in this nation during his time at Indiana (where he had two 1,000-yard rushers and a 3,000-yard passer in the same season) and Western Michigan.

Compare that to Kingsbury’s first staff where he hired an offensive coordinator with no experience in that position (Sonny Cumbie) and a defensive coordinator in Matt Wallerstedt who we would later learn was unstable to say the least.

And the quality on the coaching staff extends beyond the coordinators to the position coaches where Tech has put together a nice mix of experience and innovation.  Additionally, the gains made in the weight room under third-year strength coach Rusty Whitt are easy to see.  Headed into such a pivotal season, it is reassuring to know that Texas Tech finally has the type of coaching staff Kingsbury has needed all along.

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