Texas Tech football: Reacting to Hocutt press conference on Wells hiring

Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt met with the media last evening to officially announce the hiring of Matt Wells as head football coach. Let’s take a look at some of the more insightful remarks he made and what we can glean from them.

One thing that has become evident during the search for a new Texas Tech head football coach is that this process was all about Kirby Hocutt. After having to bow to pressures from school administrators, boosters, the media and fans when hiring Al Golden at Miami and Kliff Kignsbury in 2012, Hocutt appeared resolved to finally make a football hire that he wanted without the influence of anyone else.

That’s what made his comments to the Lubbock media last night so intriguing. Speaking for approximately 20 minutes to announce the hiring of Matt Wells as head football coach, Hocutt finally gave some insight about his thought process, which is something that every Red Raider has been craving.

"“You’ll see a head coach that has a ton of energy, that is going to be very consistent, that’s going to bring great discipline to this program.” Hocutt said."

That statement feels like an acknowledgement that he was looking to find a coach that would be stronger in some key areas outside of X’s and O’s than Kingsbury. In using the words “energy”, “consistent” and “discipline” Hocutt hit three of the most common criticisms of his previous coach.

Many were frustrated with Kingsbury’s easy-going demeanor, especially during games when he rarely lost his cool with an official or one of his own players. Some thought that was a mistake on his part because it did not help the Red Raiders get more calls from the referees and did not make players fearful of making mistakes. While Matt Wells is certainly not going to conduct himself like a raving lunatic, it sounds like his overall demeanor may be more in line with what Hocutt wants to see.

In addition, Hocutt’s focus on discipline suggests that he, like all of us, is tired of the constant penalty problems that have plagued the Texas Tech football program for years. Hocutt played under Bill Snyder at Kansas State, who’s teams are annually among the least penalized in the nation, so he was taught the value of discipline on the field in his formative years. But Wells’ team at Utah State this season ranked just 109th in the nation in penalty yardage, only 15 spots better than the Red Raiders.

Hocutt used the teams “energy” and “discipline” multiple times last night. While he has repeatedly said that he liked Kliff Kingsbury as a man, it is evident that he was looking for someone with a much different personality type in hopes that it will shake the program out of some of its most harmful habits.

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As it became clear that Wells was the leading candidate for the job, many fans were quick to point out that Utah State had a run of three-consecutive losing seasons from 2015-17 as a reason that they were not excited about this candidate. Hocutt addressed that fact with the media using the type of spin that would make every public relations major on campus take notes.

"“One of the things that impressed me the most about Coach Wells,” Hocutt said, “were the lessons that he learned during those times of adversity and what he learned about himself and his coaching style and his philosophy that has enabled him to rebuild that program. So six years sitting in the head coaching chair, two 10-win seasons, five bowl games in six seasons but yeah, there was a stretch in there where he learned some lessons that made him a stronger head coach.”"

This is another nod to a difference between Wells and Kignsbury. It is clear that Hocutt is banking on Wells having already gone through and overcome the growing pains that any first-time head coach will face. But whereas Kingsbury was having to learn on the fly how to be a head coach while competing in the Big 12, Wells has had an opportunity to get his feet wet in a lesser but still competitive conference. Now, Hocutt believes that Wells is better equipped to lead the Red Raiders after handling his own adversity at Utah State.

Finally, perhaps the biggest concern of many Texas Tech fans was brought up. When asked about the status of freshman QB Alan Bowman, Hocutt gave some reassuring remarks.

"“I had a chance to sit down with Alan Bowman this week and I couldn’t be more impressed with that young man” he said. “And his desire to be a Red Raider, to be one of the greats that have played that position here is strong. Alan’s going to be a leader at Texas Tech for a long time.”"

Kliff Kingsbury’s reputation for developing star quarterbacks certainly made Texas Tech a destination for top passers. Now that he is gone, many fans feared that Bowman would be tempted to transfer.

There has been no indication from Bowman that he is looking to leave Texas Tech but given his importance to this roster, it is easy to understand why fans are concerned about his feelings towards this change. The most important recruiting job Matt Wells and his offensive coordinator David Yost have to do will be on Alan Bowman. After all, we saw in 2018 what life is like without him and it was not a pretty sight.

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Ultimately, this press conference probably did not change anyone’s mind about Wells. If you were not on board with this hire yesterday afternoon, nothing Hocutt could have said would have changed your mind. But it was still interesting to finally get some insight from the man who single-handedly conducted a coaching search that may prove to be the most important in program history.

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