Five biggest Texas Tech athletics stories of 2018

No. 5: Marlene Stollings hired as Texas Tech Lady Raider basketball coach

On April 9th, the second-most high-profile Texas Tech coaching change of 2018 was completed when Marlene Stollings was hired to replace Candi Whitaker as head coach of the Lady Raider basketball program.  After guiding Minnesota to a record of 82-47 in four seasons, the Ohio native faces one of the biggest rebuilding tasks on campus.

Once the marquee program on campus after winning the 1993 national title, the Lady Raiders have fallen off the face of the planet.  Having not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2013, Tech was just 54-82 under Candi Whitaker who managed just 13 Big 12 wins in four-plus seasons.

It is sad to see what legendary head coach Marsha Sharp built in the 1990’s turn to rubble as the worst program in the Big 12 and arguably the worst Power 5 program in the country.  From 1990-2005, the Lady Raiders made it to 16-consecutive NCAA Tournaments while capturing eight conference titles.

But since Sharp’s last tournament appearance, Tech has been to the Big Dance just twice (2011, 2013) failing to advance past the first round both times.  Certainly, given the state of the program and the quality of the conference, Stollings’ job may be as tough as any coach on campus.

Thus far, the early returns have been encouraging.  Tech sits at 9-2 after a 105-54 win over Abilene Christian on Saturday.  Stollings has already surpassed last season’s win total and has the program off to its best start since the 2015-16 season.

It remains to be seen how well this rebuilt Lady Raider team can compete in a rugged Big 12.  The conference is not as strong as it has been in recent seasons with only Baylor (No. 7) and Texas (No. 13) currently ranked but the job of returning the program to its former glory remains the Texas Tech equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest.