Texas Tech football: Kliff Kingsbury will not return in 2019

It is being reported that Texas Tech football head coach Kliff Kingsbury has been fired after compiling a 35-40 record in six seasons.

The Kliff Kingsbury era of Texas Tech football has come to an end.  Just one day after the Red Raiders’ 35-24 loss to Baylor guaranteed the team would not reach a bowl game for the third time in his six seasons on the job, it is being reported that the head coach will not return next year.

The news, which was prematurely reported just after Saturday’s game by a San Antonio television station, was broken Sunday morning by Don Williams of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. 

Kingsbury had been on the hot seat for at least the past two seasons as Tech languished near the bottom of the Big 12 standings and struggled to three-consecutive losing seasons for the first time since a seven-year run of futility from 1979-1985.  But half-way through the 2018 season, it appeared that Kingsbury had the program set up for a breakthrough.

After starting the year 5-2, Tech found itself 3-1 in Big 12 play with a legitimate shot to secure the program’s first winning conference record since 2009, the final year of the Mike Leach tenure.  But a five-game losing streak to finish the season would seal Kingsbury’s fate.

Coincidentally, it was the second time that the Red Raiders ended its schedule on a five-game losing streak under Kingsbury.  In his first season of 2013, Kingsbury got off to a 7-0 start in his first season resulting in a top-10 ranking.  But the good times did not last as Tech could not overcome injuries and a back-loaded schedule finishing 7-5.

But a win over No. 14 Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl salvaged the season and looked to set the Red Raiders up to be a contender in 2015.  Following the 2013 campaign, athletic director Kirby Hocutt rewarded Kingsbury with a three-year contract extension taking his deal through 2020 and increasing his annual salary to $3.5 million.

The most important aspect of that contract proved to be the increased buyout which at one time was believed to be in the neighborhood of $11 million.  Many suggested that the large buyout  eventually played a major role in Kingsbury’s ability to keep his job even as he struggled in subsequent seasons.

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The 2014 campaign fell flat as sophomore quarterback Davis Webb did not take the step forward that most expected after a strong finish to his freshman season.  Tech finished 4-8 and Webb found himself sidelined with an injury for the final four games of the year allowing true freshman Pat Mahomes to emerge as the starter.

But even with the best quarterback in program history in Mahomes, Kingsbury was unable to turn the corner.  2015 ended with a loss to LSU in the Texas Bowl for a 7-6 mark and a 5-7 record the next year ended the Pat Mahomes era with a thud.  Despite having a top-10 NFL draft pick leading the offense, Tech fielded the worst defense in the nation during those two seasons and was unable to finish higher than 5th in the Big 12.

Last year, Tech once-again struggled just to get to bowl eligibility having to win its final game in Austin to get to six wins.  Many believe that the 2017 comeback win against the Longhorns earned Kingsbury a stay of execution but a loss in the Birmingham Bowl resulted in another losing season and set the stage for a do-or-die 2018.

Unfortunately, 2018 would prove to be one of the most frustrating in recent program history.  At times, it appeared that the team was vastly improved and a case could be made that this was Kingsbury’s best team.

But once the injuries began to mount, especially at the quarterback position, the coaching staff was unable to find a way to get the ship righted.  And it all came crashing down around Kingsbury with two awful losses to end the season.

Needing just one win against a 4-6 Kansas State team or a 5-6 Baylor team to secure bowl eligibility, Texas Tech played its two worst games of the season in back-to-back weeks.  Tech managed just 180 total yards in a 21-6 loss to the Wildcats and scored only seven points in the final 42 minutes against Baylor to fall 35-24 and seal Kingsbury’s fate.

What makes today’s news especially difficult is the fact that Kingsbury is still universally liked by Red Raiders everywhere (unlike his predecessor).  He led the program with class and dignity and did nothing but represent his alma mater well.  In an era where coaching scandals have dominated the college football landscape, Kignsbury never came close to putting his university in the middle of the kind of embarrassing controversy that has befallen other programs.

But ultimately, Kingsbury was paid (rather handsomely) to win football games and he was not able to accomplish that task often enough.  Kingsbury finishes his run in Lubbock with the third-lowest winning percentage (.466) in Texas Tech football history.

In the end, Kingsbury’s legacy as a Red Raider will have two very distinct chapters.  He will forever be beloved as a player who helped take the program to a new level of national recognition by being the first quarterback of the “Air Raid” era.  Unfortunately, as a coach, he was unable to do the same.