Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt did the university a disservice by not doing his due diligence and interviewing West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen who was reportedly interested in coming back to Lubbock.
As if Texas Tech football fans were not unhappy enough with the possibility of hiring Matt Wells, a new report that has surfaced is certain to anger the masses even further. KMAC sports director David Collier is reporting that West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen was interested in interviewing for the Texas Tech job but was not granted an opportunity to meet with Hocutt.
If this is true, it is unacceptable on Hocutt’s part. By choosing to ignore one of the most qualified and accomplished candidates for this position, Hocutt has done a disservice to Texas Tech by not exploring every option before making the biggest hire of his career and one that will impact the entire athletic department for years to come.
We can confirm that Dana Holgorsen was interested in the Texas Tech opening but Kirby Hocutt declines to interview him morning. @RedRaiderNation @KAMCNews
— David Collier (@CollieronTV) November 29, 2018
Holgorsen has more skins on the wall than every realistic candidate the Red Raiders could have hoped to land. In eight years at West Virginia, he has a 61-40 record, two 10-win seasons and a conference title on his resume.
Including 2018, he has guided the Mountaineers to a bowl game in all but one season of his tenure. But after failing to reach the Big 12 title game this year, despite having arguably his most talented team, his relationship with the powers-that-be in Morgantown seemed to take a bit of a downturn.
That opened the door for Texas Tech to possibly bring Holgorsen back to Lubbock. From 2000-07, he was an assistant under Mike Leach being named offensive coordinator in his final season before leaving for Houston where he was OC from 2008-09.
Many fans felt like Holgorsen would be a perfect candidate to replace Kliff Kignsbury. He is familiar with Lubbock and Texas Tech and still maintains ties in the state that would make him a solid recruiter.
Additionally, we know that he is an accomplished offensive coach who would keep the offensive identity of the program in tact. What’s more, his intense personality and fiery sideline demeanor appeal to a number of fans who were often frustrated with Kingsbury’s more reserved temperament.
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In Sunday’s press conference, Hocutt said that Texas Tech football would regain its “edge” and many believed that Holgorsen would have been the best candidate to bring that attitude back to Lubbock. But the most important person in the process apparently does not agree.
Hocutt appears to be all-in on Matt Wells from Utah State. So much so, that he does not see the need to even speak with Holgorsen.
This is a mistake on Hocutt’s part. There are a number of highly-influential boosters that support Holgorsen as a candidate and though boosters should not control an athletic director’s hiring process, it would still be wise for Hocutt to appease them by at least doing his due-diligence to meet with a candidate of this regard who is expressing interest in the Texas Tech job.
Sure, interviewing Holgorsen does not mean that Hocutt is obligated to offer him the job. He could have still decided to go in a different direction. But the optics of thumbing his nose at a well-respected Big 12 coach who is also a fan favorite do not paint Hocutt in the best light.
Being an athletic director is not an elected position but it can have a similar feel because fan engagement and interest plays such a huge role in the overall health of a football program. And now that Texas Tech fans know that their AD did not even take the opportunity to meet with Dana Holgorsen, it could turn public sentiment against Hocutt and especially against Matt Wells (or whomever is eventually hired as head coach).
Hocutt is not setting Wells up for a smooth transition at Texas Tech. Wells will now be compared to Holgorsen at every step of the way which puts an extra burden on a coach who faces a difficult enough task in turning around a Red Raider program coming off three-consecutive losing seasons.
What would it have hurt for Kirby Hocutt to simply meet with Dana Holgorsen? Sometimes, people in positions such as his must take extra steps to appease people that support them financially whether they want to or not.
Hocutt is able to hire any coach he wants so long as he has the support of Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec and the university board of regents. He certainly does not answer to the common fan and does not technically answer to the big money boosters.
But he does owe it to everyone that is emotionally invested in Texas Tech football to leave no stone unturned when trying to find the best possible coach to lead the program. But now that he has declined to interview the most accomplished and well-liked candidate available, he is not only alienating a huge portion of the fan base, he is also doing a disservice to Texas Tech.