Texas Tech football: Matt Wells was only candidate with a shot

It is becoming apparent that Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt had his sights set on Matt Wells all along and no other candidate had a legitimate shot.

The dust has settled in in Lubbock (figuratively at least) and the Texas Tech football program has a new head coach in Matt Wells.  As soon as his name began to circulate as the leading candidate, Texas Tech fans began to voice their displeasure but in the end, that could not have mattered less to Kirby Hocutt.

Now it is becoming clear that regardless how exciting it was for us to think about the possibility of bring back Mike Leach or Dana Holgorsen or landing one of the hottest up-and-coming candidates in the nation like Seth Littrell or Neal Brown, there was never any real candidate but Matt Wells.

"“As we worked through our process of the past number of days he became our focus and our candidate.” Hocutt said Thursday night."

But while Texas Tech fans have known of Matt Wells for only a handful of days, Hocutt’s remarks Thursday night make it seem as if he’s had a man-crush on Wells since all the way back to 1992 when the two were on opposing sidelines as Kansas State took on Utah State.

"“I have followed Coach Wells for years” Hocutt said.  “He’s one of the most respected men in this profession.  He’s impeccable the way he’s thought of by people around the country…I’ve followed his career, I’ve talked to people throughout the years about Coach Wells and who he is as a person, who he is as a coach.  And that first conversation we had on Sunday afternoon couldn’t have gone any better; set the bar really high.”"

On his weekly radio show Wednesday afternoon, Hocutt indicated that he keeps a working list of potential candidates for every job should the need arise in a given sport.  Though he did not go into specifics about candidates on the airwaves, he intimated that he’s had a list of options since at least last year.

We would have to assume that Wells was on Hocutt’s list last season and could have been hired a year ago if Kignsbury would not have beaten Texas in the regular season finale to get to six wins.  What makes that thought fascinating is the fact that in 2017, Utah State was in the midst of a third-consecutive losing season.  One must wonder if Wells would have been given serious consideration without the benefit of this year’s 10-2 season as that would have been a nearly impossible sell to the fans.

Speaking of the fans,  many are bothered by the feeling that Hocutt was almost solely focused on one candidate.  Perhaps the public reaction would have been more positive had he truly considered a wider variety of options.

If you believe in taking clues from non-verbal communication, Hocutt’s response when asked how many candidates he interviewed was telling.  After confidently gushing about Matt Wells throughout the press conference, Hocutt sheepishly stammered and tripped over his words when the question of other candidates came up.

"“Let me say this.” He said after a pregnant pause.  “We talked to a lot of people, there were numerous, numerous phone calls…We had three face-to-face meetings with candidates.  And again, we talked to numerous folks on the phone to some degree, to some level which were interested in this job.”"

Three face-to-face meetings seems like a rather small number given the magnitude of this job.  And we know about one potential face-to-face meeting that was set up only to be cancelled. Dana Holgorsen was willing to interview for the job and a meeting had been arranged by some outside the athletic department but the West Virginia head coach was not granted an audience with Hocutt.  Refusing to even meet with the most accomplished candidate to express interest in the position seems unwise and certainly frustrated the constituency.

One must wonder what Hocutt could have learned about the shortcomings of the Texas Tech football program and what insights he could have gained by meeting with a deeper pool of candidates.  Even if he would have still settled on Wells, going through a more exhaustive process could have been a valuable endeavor both in terms of public perception and due-diligence.

However, potential interest in Wells from other programs could have motivated Hocutt to act decisively.  It has been rumored that Colorado, Louisville and possibly Kansas State may have had Wells on their list of candidates and one must wonder if Hocutt was afraid of losing out on the apple of his eye.

"“It’s been my approach that when you find that right person,” Hocutt said, “and you know that person has the leadership skills to come and elevate this program and wants to be here and would be a good fit for this community and is going to be a positive influence on that locker room with this group of men, you expedite it as quickly as you can.”"

Hocutt has taken a calculated risk in hitching his wagon to a candidate that is as exciting to most Texas Tech football fans as a box of vanilla wafers.  Especially at a time when fan apathy, particularly among the student body, is a growing concern.   What’s more, next year brings a season that features a home schedule with Oklahoma State and TCU as the most interesting teams set to visit Lubbock.

But it seems that nothing could have taken Hocutt’s adoring gaze away from Matt Wells.  Multi-million dollar donors and head coaches with major conference championships were not enough to turn his head.  Now the question is whether Hocutt can convince the fan base to fall in love with Matt Wells like he did all the way back in 1992.