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Texas Tech football: David Gibbs; Brandon Jones join Houston staff

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 17: Texas Tech Red Raiders defensive coordinator David Gibbs reacts to play on the field during the game Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on September 17, 2016 at AT
LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 17: Texas Tech Red Raiders defensive coordinator David Gibbs reacts to play on the field during the game Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on September 17, 2016 at AT /
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Two members of Kliff Kingsbury’s 2018 Texas Tech football coaching staff, David Gibbs and Brandon Jones, have landed jobs at Houston under new Cougar head coach Dana Holgorsen.

Texas Tech football fans are certainly going to be keeping a close eye on the Houston Cougars in 2019 despite the fact that they are not on the Red Raiders’ schedule.  That’s because a number of familiar faces will be on the sidelines in Houston next season.

We have already discussed how Red Raider fans will be measuring new head coach Matt Wells against new Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen, who was most fans’ preferred candidate to replace Kliff Kingsbury.  And now, the former Texas Tech offensive coordinator and West Virginia head coach has brought in two members of the 2018 Red Raider coaching staff adding even more intrigue for Tech fans.

Numerous outlets, including Mark Berman of Fox 26 in Houston, are reporting that former Red Raider defensive coordinator David Gibbs is returning to the Cougars for his second stint running the UH defense.  Prior to Joining Texas Tech’s staff as defensive coordinator in 2015, Gibbs coordinated the Cougar defense in 2013-14 where his reputation for forcing turnovers was born.

In 2013, his Houston defense forced a stunning 43 turnovers and in 2014, the Cougars allowed just 19.5 points per game while creating 30 more takeaways.  But he never figured out how to recreate those results at Texas Tech.

His first two seasons in Lubbock saw him field the second worst defense in the nation in 2015 and the worst defense in the nation in 2016 which was disappointing considering that during that time, Tech had a guy named Pat Mahomes running the offense.  But not even the best quarterback in the history of Red Raider football could overcompensate for Gibbs’ inept defenses as Tech went just 12-13 in those two seasons.

His defenses improved a bit in the past two seasons ranking 104th and 110th respectively in 2017-18.  But Tech fans expected more from a coordinator who arrived with the type of resume that Gibbs had.  And when his offseason bravado (he continually tweeted out the hashtag #thingshavechanged prior to this season) was not backed up by results on the field, many began to grow frustrated with the program’s overall lack of progress on that side of the ball.

This season, Tech was the second-worst team in the nation against the pass allowing 288 yards per game through the air.  Certainly, more was expected when he was given a significant raise prior to the 2018 season.

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As for, Jones, he too produced a unit that was a tremendous disappointment in 2018.  In fact, it could be argued that the failure of his offensive line (especially in the running game) was one of the biggest factors leading to Kingsbury’s firing.

The former Texas Tech offensive lineman joined the Red Raider staff in 2017 after three seasons coaching the o-line at Cal.  Entering the 2018 season with over 90 combined starts, the offensive line was supposed to be the steadying force for an offense replacing its starting quarterback, starting running back and three starting receivers.

But as the season progressed, the line got worse despite being blessed by good fortune on the injury front.  The same five players that started the season opener were in the starting lineup in the final two weeks of the season when the offensive line completely let the team down in losses to Kansas State and Baylor being unable to run the ball when Tech had to rely on backup quarterbacks Jett Duffey and McLane Carter.

Far too often, Tech’s line was dominated by opposing defenses.  The Red Raiders managed to rush for just 30 yards against Iowa State and just 31 yards against Kansas State.  Jones’ group lacked physicality and did not look to be well-prepared when facing teams that brought multiple looks at them.

Tech finished tied for last in the Big 12 in yards per rush at just 3.6 while running for 100 yards fewer than any team in the league.  On the flip side, Jones’ offensive line was good in protecting the quarterback allowing the third fewest sacks in the Big 12 despite being the only team to attempt over 500 passes.

Interestingly, on December 11th, Jones agreed to join the staff of new North Carolina head coach Mack Brown but long-time college football reporter Bruce Feldman is reporting that he will leave Chapel Hill to return to the Lone Star State.  It seems as if he could not pass up an opportunity to coach for Holgorsen who was on the Texas Tech coaching staff when Jones was a player from 2003-2006.

This year, Texas Tech’s defense will be led by veteran defensive coordinator Keith Patterson who has coordinated defenses at Arizona State, West Virginia and Pitt.  Likewise, veteran o-line coach Steve Farmer is in place to lead the Red Raiders front five after doing the same for Matt Wells at Utah State for the past three seasons.

Fair or not, Wells will be measured against Holgorsen and Brown this year. dark. Next

Red Raider fans expect better results from these two position groups than they received in 2018.  But regardless of the fact that most fans were not happy with the job Gibbs and Jones did this year, they will be keeping a close eye on what the new Houston staff does because if most would have had their way, many of the Cougars’ coaches may have been plying their craft in Lubbock next fall.

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