Thursday, the Texas Tech football team lost its second assistant in as many weeks when special teams coordinator Joe Lorig left Lubbock for the same position with Penn State.
When Matt Wells was hired as Texas Tech football head coach, he talked often about the need for him to recruit the players already on his roster. It now appears as if he may have to start recruiting the assistant coaches in his program as well. Thursday, Wells lost his second assistant coach this month to another program when special teams coordinator Joe Lorig jumped ship for Penn State.
This news comes just days after Tech lost wide receivers coach Jovon Bouknight to Oregon. Lorig replaces Phil Galiano in Happy Valley after spending just weeks on the job in Lubbock.
Fortunately, in his brief tenure as a Red Raider, he helped secure the future of the program’s special teams. After joining a program with no punter or place kicker on the roster, Lorig helped bring three kickers to Lubbock.
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Earlier this month, Tech signed the nation’s top high school punter, Austin McNamara, out of Arizona as well as JUCO kicker Jon Garibay. Additionally, high school kicker Alan Orona from La Grange, TX also joined the program as a walk-on after he committed to Texas Tech during the Kingsbury era.
Last year, Tech saw a revitalization from its special teams under Adam Scheier in one of the few bright spots from 2018. Tech was the only school in the Big 12 to have both its kicker (Clayton Hatfield) and punter (Dominic Panazzolo) finish as semifinalists for the national award at their respective positions.
Now, some are angling for Scheier’s return. That includes senior defensive back Justus Parker who voiced his support for his former coach via Twitter on Thursday. Last fall, Scheier was nominated for the Broyles Award given annually to the top assistant coach in the nation.
Another name to keep an eye on is Purdue special teams coach Mark Tommerdahl. Prior to being hired at Purdue, he spent the 2017 season coaching under Wells at Utah State.
This move comes at a less than ideal time for the Red Raiders. With spring football practices set to start in just over a week, Tech has little time to identify a candidate and bring him to town so that he can implement his system in spring practice.
One must wonder if this move will force Wells to take a larger role with special teams early in spring practice. After all, he did say upon his arrival in Lubbock that he intends to have a large influence on the special teams as has been his tendency as a head coach.
It will be critical for Tech to make the right hire here. The new special teams coordinator has to mold a young group of specialists into Big 12 caliber players to ensure that special teams do not become a liability. We have already seen that play out in Lubbock and most of us are not emotionally ready for a repeat of the 2017 kicking disaster.