Texas Tech football: OU coaching staff has significant Lubbock roots

When the Texas Tech football team squares off with Oklahoma on Saturday in Lubbock, there will be tons of familiar faces on the OU sideline including the head coach and defensive coordinator.

In recent years, the Mike Leach coaching tree has begun to see its influence spread across the landscape of college football. Though many around the nation used to look down upon Leach and his system as a gimmick that would never be successful at the highest levels of the game, the roots of numerous college football (and even some NFL) coaches can be traced back to the first decade of the century when Lubbock Texas was ground-zero for offensive innovation.

Head coaches such as Dana Holgorsen at West Virginia, Seth Littrell and North Texas and the disgraced Art Briles all spent time at Texas Tech when Leach had the entire nation believing that pirate ships actually floated through the cotton fields of the Llano Estacado.

What’s more, a number of former players from the Mike Leach Texas Tech teams are now part of the new wave of 30-something coaching fraternity that is changing the face of college football. Of course, Kliff Kingsbury is the most well-known coach to have played under Leach but other mid-2000’s Red Raiders such as Graham Harrell (North Texas OC) and Sonny Cumbie (TCU OC) may soon be the next branches of the Leach tree to be given opportunities to run programs. (Former Red Raider Eric Morris is already a head coach at Incarnate Word of the FCS).

But nowhere is there more of a Mike Leach and Texas Tech influence than in, ironically, Norman, Oklahoma. When the Sooners come to Lubbock this weekend for Saturday night’s primetime contest, there will be five members of the OU staff returning to the field they once called home.

Of course, that list begins with head coach Lincoln Riley. Born in Lubbock and raised in Muleshoe, Texas, Riley was a walk-on QB under Mike Leach in 2002.

The next season, he began his coaching career as a Texas Tech student assistant. He would spend seven seasons on the Leach staff, the last three as a receivers coach.

And ironically, it may have been Leach’s unexpected firing before the 2009 Alamo Bowl that set Riley’s career on the fast-track. At just 26, Riley was tasked with calling plays for the first time in his career in Texas Tech’s 41-31 win over Michigan State.

Riley used that experience as a vault to a job as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at East Carolina from 2010-2014 under another former Texas Tech assistant coach, Ruffin McNeil. Arguably the most beloved assistant coach of the Mike Leach era, McNeil and Riley have always had a special bond that was solidified in the tumultuous final days of the Leach tenure in Lubbock.

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As the defensive coordinator under Leach from 2007-2009, McNeil, who was an original member of the Leach staff in 2000, was one of two candidates to replace Leach. But Tech would hire Tommy Tuberville over the fan-favorite McNeil in a decision that had long-reading ramifications.

However, McNeil would land a head coaching job at his alma mater, East Carolina, that offseason and he would bring Riley with him to coordinate the offense. So it was no surprise in 2017 when Riley brought McNeil to Norman as assistant head coach and defensive tackles coach.

And following this year’s loss to Texas, McNeil was elevated to defensive coordinator when Mike Stoops was fired. The situation directly mirrored the way he was promoted to defensive coordinator in Lubbock in 2007 when Mike Leach fired DC Lyle Setencich following a loss at Oklahoma State.

Another OU assistant whose coaching journey took him through Lubbock is offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh. Part of Mike Leach’s original staff as a graduate assistant at Texas Tech in 2000, Bedenbaugh would eventually coach running backs and the offensive line in his seven seasons with the Red Raiders.

Also part of the original Leach staff at Texas Tech was Dennis Simmons, currently the Sooners wide receivers coach . He was the position coach for some of the greatest wide receivers in Texas Tech history, most notably, Michael Crabtree who won back-to-back Biletnikoff awards in 2007-08.

Finally, who can forget former Texas Tech strength coach Bennie Wylie? Known for his intense demeanor and for wearing his sunglasses during night games, the current OU strength and conditioning coach spent seven seasons in the same position in Lubbock.

Perhaps Wylie’s most memorable moment at Texas Tech came in 2004 when he served as Mike Leach’s personal body guard in a post-game confrontation with SUM head coach Phil Bennett. Upset about Leach trying to score a last-minute touchdown in a game that had already been decided, Bennett charged across the field in anger to confront Leach but Wylie stepped in to protect Leach like Kevin Costner protected Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard.

For some Red Raider fans, it is difficult to see these former Texas Tech coaches have such success with a conference rival. While Kingsbury has struggled to a losing record in six seasons in Lubbock, Riley has become one of the hottest names in coaching even being linked to NFL head coaching opportunities.

But keep in mind, Riley was set up for success in Norman. Whereas Kingsbury was asked to clean up a mess left by Tommy Tuberville as he snuck out of Lubbock under the cover of darkness, Riley’s ascension to the throne was carefully planned by his predecessor Bob Stoops who left Riley with a Heisman Trophy quarterback and a roster set up perfectly for a Big 12 title run.

It is doubtful that Riley would have become the immediate darling of college football coaching had he begun his head coaching career at Texas Tech. But as it stands, he has recreated the mid-2000’s Texas Tech staff in Norman with fantastic results.

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It is a testament to the quality of the Mike Leach coaching tree and a reminder of how amazing that decade of Texas Tech football was. And if Texas Tech and Kliff Kingsbury ever want to get back to that level, they are going to have to start winning some games against those familiar faces in crimson and cream.

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