Texas Tech fans can either pout about Matt Wells or support the program

Matt Wells is the new Texas Tech football head coach. Many Red Raider fans are now faced the decision to continue to pout about not getting the coach we wanted or supporting the program.

When the Texas Tech football team began its search for a new head coach on Sunday, virtually no one would have listed Utah State head coach Matt Wells as their preferred candidate. But less than a week later, Wells is the new Red Raider head coach and fans have two choices, pout because we did not get what we wanted or support the program we love moving forward.

In making this wildly unpopular hire, Kirby Hocutt showed that fan and booster opinion does not matter to him; at least not enough to influence his decision. And our complaints and outcries are not going to make any impact in the near future. Even if Texas Tech averages 30,000 fans per home game next season, Wells will likely have at least three seasons to prove himself.

In the mean time, fans must make a decision about whether it is more important for us to act like petulant children or grow up and do the only thing most of us can do, show up and support the football team.

Hocutt was right when he said on his weekly radio show Wednesday that everyone associated with Texas Tech wants the same thing. We want to win and if Matt Wells proves to have the type of impact that Matt Campbell has had in his three seasons at Iowa State, we will all be singing a different tune.

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And what this program needs more than anything else is for its fan base to start to give it the type of loyal support that winning programs receive. This year, fan engagement was worrisome issue as it became commonplace for fans to exit Jones Stadium in droves at halftime to go tailgate leaving the team to play in front of a half-empty stadium.

Certainly, the team must do its part and start giving fans a reason to stay, but in the same breath, the fans must make the decision that we are going to do our part as well. And Wells has done nothing to warrant fan angst.

This is not a controversial hire like Art Briles would have been. In fact, Wells is less controversial that another candidate, Oregon defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt who allegedly punched one of his own players at halftime of a game when he was head coach at South Florida.

Wells has run a clean program at Utah State while becoming the schools all-time winningest coach. His only crime is that he isn’t named Mike Leach, Bob Stoops or Dana Holgorsen.

Yes, Wells has no ties to Texas Tech which bothers many fans. But there is a possibility that the program could use a clean break from the Mike Leach era once and for all.

But unlike in the painful Leach/Tech divorce of 2009, Texas Tech fans have no reason to become divided. Wells deserves the benefit of a united and supporting fan base because without fan support, this program will not ever get back to where we all want it to be.

Matt Wells is our new head coach. I’m not particularly excited about that fact but I’m willing to keep an open mind. Until he starts to complain about the wind, compare Lubbock to Iraq or slap an assistant on the sidelines, I have no reason to wish him anything but success.

At every sporting event, we sing The Matador Song which implores us to “strive for honor”. One definition of the word “honor” is to “regard with great respect” and that should guide how we view our beloved Double-T.

While we may not like the decision to hire Matt Wells, we must continue to regard with respect our school by being fans that are deserving of an elite program. Like it or not, Matt Wells will be leading our football program so let’s support him. He will be wearing the Scarlet and Black next fall and that should be only requirement for our loyalty. If we don’t get on board with Matt Wells, we will only hurt ourselves by failing to do everything we can to help this football program become elite.