Texas Tech football: Matt Wells will be measured against Holgorsen; Brown

As the college football coaching carousel continues to spin, two coaches that Texas Tech football fans were high on, Dana Holgorsen and Neal Brown, have landed new jobs that will put them in competition with the Red Raiders.  That almost guarantees fans will compare their success with that of Matt Wells.

For Matt Wells’ sake, let’s hope he has thick skin.  That’s because his every move as Texas Tech football head coach is going to be even more heavily scrutinized than normal now that two candidates that were popular with Red Raider fans have found new jobs, with both coming closer to Texas Tech.

Thursday, Houston introduced former West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen as the Cougars’ new head coach.  After compiling a 61-41 record at West Virginia in eight seasons, the former Texas Tech receivers coach and offensive coordinator wore out his welcome after being unable to get what many considered his most talented team to the Big 12 title game.

If Texas Tech fans would have had any say in who replaced Kliff Kingsbury, Holgorsen would have been the man to get the job.  And it was reported by David Collier of news station KMAC that Holgorsen was looking to interview for the Red Raider job but was not given the opportunity by athletic director Kirby Hocutt who may have been turned off by Holgorsen’s edgy personality.

Bringing Holgorsen back to Texas Tech would have been as close as the program could have come to returning to the Mike Leach era.  Instead, Hocutt made a clean break from that period in program history by hiring a coach with no ties to the school’s all-time winningest head coach.

But those supporting Holgorsen’s candidacy point out that his 59.8% winning percentage at a Big 12 school is far more impressive than Wells’ 56.1% winning percentage in the Mountain West.  What’s more, Holgorsen has won a conference title (although in the Big East) which is something Wells has yet to accomplish.

Meanwhile, another portion of the Texas Tech fan base wanted to see Neal Brown come back to Lubbock.   But Friday, the former Troy head coach and Texas Tech offensive coordinator from 2010-2012 was named Holgorsen’s successor at West Virginia.

The job Brown did at Troy was nothing short of remarkable.  In his first head coaching opportunity, the 38-year-old led the Trojans to a 35-16 record in four years while winning three bowl games.

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What helped elevate his status around the nation was Troy’s propensity for knocking off Power 5 teams.  In 2017, the Trojans beat LSU in Baton Rogue and this year, they knocked off Nebraska in Lincoln.

There were certainly mixed feelings about Brown when he left Texas Tech.  At the time, just about anything related to the Tommy Tuberville regime was considered toxic.  And some did not like Brown’s offensive scheme but he was frequently handcuffed by Tuberville who often usurped his offensive coordinator’s play-calling authority.

Brown was one of the hottest names in the coaching industry this year and was considered a candidate for the Louisville opening in his home state of Kentucky.  But he was never reportedly a serious candidate at Texas Tech and it is not believed that he was granted a face-to-face interview with Hocutt.

Now that two of the Texas Tech fan base’s preferred candidates are at jobs where they will regularly come in contact with the Red Raiders, there is no doubt that fans will compare every success and failure of the Wells era with what is happening in Houston and Morgantown.  Tech will face Brown every year in Big 12 play and is set to see Holgorsen’s Cougars in 2021-22.  What’s more, Well’s and Holgorsen will go head-to-head on the recruiting trail as Houston is one of Texas Tech’s primary recruiting areas.

Though Wells likely relishes any challenge that lays in front of him, it would have been better for him if Holgorsen and Brown had landed far enough away from Texas Tech that the fans would have forgotten about them.  But now, it will be impossible for Red Raider fans to keep from knowing about every success that happens with either of the coaches they hoped would replace Kingsbury.

Many Red Raider fans are still not sold on their new head coach.  Now, they will have two opportunities to measure him against coaches that would have been far more popular hires.  That only puts even more pressure on Wells to make sure he gets off to a strong start with the Red Raiders.