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Texas Tech football: Kirby Hocutt says “We will be elite at football again”

By Matthew Conner

STILLWATER, OK - SEPTEMBER 25: The Texas Tech Red Raiders flag flies outside the stadium before the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys September 25, 2014 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Cowboys defeated the Red Raiders 45-35. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
STILLWATER, OK - SEPTEMBER 25: The Texas Tech Red Raiders flag flies outside the stadium before the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys September 25, 2014 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Cowboys defeated the Red Raiders 45-35. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
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Sunday afternoon, Kirby Hocutt met with the media to discuss the firing of Texas Tech football head coach Kliff Kingsbury and the upcoming search for his replacement in what was one of the most important press conferences of his career.

Texas Tech Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt went through a range of emotions during his Sunday afternoon press conference in which he discussed the firing of Kliff Kingsbury and the state of the football program.  It was as transparent as we have seen Hocutt who seemed heavyhearted when discussing Kingsbury as a person but also passionately declared that “we will be elite in football again”.

"“Let me say ‘Thank you’ to Kliff Kingsbury.” Hocutt said as he paused to chose his words and possibly gather his emotions.  “He is a good man who’s worked very hard and has represented us in a first-class manner over the past six years.  He’s exhibited class and he is a Red Raider.  I truly wish him the best in all of his future endeavors.”"

The most inspiring moment of the press conference came when Hocutt spoke to the Texas Tech fan base.  Certainly, the toll that the past month has taken on the morale of the Red Raider faithful is not lost on Hocutt.

He had a front-row seat for the civil war that was waged within the ranks of the Texas Tech alumni  and fandom during the Tommy Tuberville era.  And hiring Kingsbury was as much about finding the one man that could have healed the painfully fractured base as anything else.

So it was important for Hocutt to acknowledge the difficult place that the Kingsbury conundrum has led the fans back to.  No one wanted Kingsbury to fail and many remained steadfast in supporting him even when the results on the field did not come.  But Hocutt was forced to make a difficult decision that was certain not to sit well with every fan.  Therefore, he made certain to speak to the Texas Tech faithful in an attempt to begin the healing process.

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"“To the Red Raider nation, let me reiterate by saying that at Texas Tech athletics, we aspire every day to be elite at everything that we do.” Hocutt said.  “And we will find the right individual to come in and provide the leadership to get this football program to a higher level.“We will be elite in football again.  I guarantee you, we will be elite in football again.  This program has been there before and we’ll get there again.  We will bring back our edge.  The spirit that has lived right here at Jones AT&T Stadium before, it’s still there.  You can hear it at times, it just needs to be rekindled and we will light it.  Red Raider nation, we will light it and we will be elite.”"

That felt like Hocutt’s version of a William Wallace speech aimed at trying to revive a fan base that has grown cynical and apathetic during a decade-longe descent into national irrelevance.  The vast majority of Texas Tech football fans are old enough to remember the golden age of the program at the end of the last decade and Hocutt’s allusion to that time served as a reminder of the possibilities that exist when Red Raider football is at its best.

As an alum and a season-ticket holder who has lived no closer to Lubbock than 3 hours since I graduated, those comments made me ready to run through a wall.  It was a side of Hocutt that we have not seen but that we needed to see at a time like this.  It reminded me of a time when the sacrifices that so many of us make to get to games and support the program were rewarded so bountifully that there was never a second though about not being part of what was happening in Lubbock.

Hocutt was not part of the Texas Tech family when the football program was at its apex in 2008.  But obviously, he knows what that scene was like and by harkening back to the passion that existed in that magical run ten years ago, he took the first step towards, as he said, rekindling that spirit.

The shift now moves, obviously, to the search for a new head coach, which is critical given the impending early signing period for high school recruits that begins on December 19th.  Hocutt acknowledged the complications that the it creates and said that he will spend “every waking second” on the search process.

"“We’re going to move as quickly as we can but at the same time, we’re going to take as much time as we need until we are confident that we’ve got the right individual” he said. “That process will begin in full force when we walk out of this room today.”"

The importance of this press conference for Hocutt could not be understated.  He is now the face of the Texas Tech football program.  And it is a program that has come to a fork in the road.

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This is a pivotal moment for the Texas Tech football program.  During the next coach’s tenure, Tech will either revert back to the irrelevance that defined Red Raider football during the 1980’s and for most of the 1990’s or take the first steps towards recapturing the magic of the 2000’s.  According to Kirby Hocutt, there is no question what path Texas Tech will take.

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