Texas Tech basketball: Mark Adams interviews with Chicago Bulls

It is being reported that top Texas Tech basketball assistant Mark Adams is being heavily courted by the Chicago Bulls.

For the second-straight offseason, Texas Tech basketball head coach Chris Beard may lose a key piece of his coaching staff. It is being reported that assistant coach Mark Adams, Tech’ pseudo defensive coordinator, has received an offer to join the staff of Chicago Bulls’ head coach Jim Boylen.

Credited with being the architect of the nation’s best defense, Adams earned tons of recognition for his role with the Red Raiders as the NCAA Tournament unfolded. In fact, he was a finalist for the Southern Mississippi head coaching job before that position was given to Jay Ladner in April.

Now it is being reported that the NBA is a realistic option for the long-time JUCO and D-IIhead coach. In fact, Ryan Hyatt of Talk 1340 in Lubbock is reporting that Adams could make as much as $600,000 with the Bulls. Despite the fact that the Texas Tech assistant coach salary pool was recently increased to $1.1 million, it seems unlikely that Tech could match such a number to keep its top assistant.

Fact. Can confirm with high confidence Boylen met with Adams last week in Lubbock. The interest is mutual and real. A deal for Adams would be around 600K. Up to Adams at this point, just like last week. #TexasTech has made good-faith effort. Business. #4To1 #WreckEm https://t.co/iCGvkedTnV
— Ryan Hyatt (@RyanHyattMedia) May 9, 2019

But one factor that might be working in Tech’s favor is that at his core, Adams is a college coach. In the ever-changing NBA landscape, defense is something that most players enjoy about as much as the average American enjoys paying taxes.

Adams, may not want to trade in his daily one-one-one defensive file sessions over a bowl of candy with his college players for a life of trying to convince a roster full of multi-millionaires to take a charge and move their feet. Plus, Boylan is less than on stable footing in Chicago despite only recently having the interim tag removed from his job title.

In December, there was an open rebellion by many of Boylen’s players who were disgruntled with the intensity of their new head coach after he took over for the fired Fred Hoiberg. Thus, it just doesn’t seem like one of the most demanding assistant coaches in the college game would be as effective in a league where the overall attitude of the average player is diverging more and more from the type of culture that Adams has instilled in his teams at the collegiate level. Defense is the culture at Teas Tech. In the NBA it is an inconvenience.

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But one would not be able to fault Adams for taking a significant pay raise. And should he leave, it would be yet another offseason in which Beard had to replace a top assistant.

Last year, Chris Odgen left Beard’s staff to become the head coach at Texas-Arlington. In his first season with the Mavericks, he won Sun Belt Conference coach of the year honors after leading his team to a 12-6 mark in conference play and an appearance in the Sun Belt tournament title game.

Additionally, Beard saw top recruiter Al Pinkins (who was responsible for brining Tariq Owens to Lubbock) leave last summer for a job at Florida. Now, the Red Raider head coach could be losing one of the brightest minds in college basketball and the architect of the most unique and confounding defense in the nation.

A D-II and JUCO head coach from 1981-2013, Adams has coached at only one major college program. And there he quickly became one of the most respected assistants in the nation as the Texas Tech defense finished this season second in the nation in field goal percentage allowed and third in scoring defense while leading all teams in defensive efficiency.

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Unfortunately for the Red Raiders, Mark Adams is no longer a secret weapon. Rather, he has become a highly coveted commodity in both the collegiate and professional game. And losing him would be as big of a loss for the Texas Tech basketball program as any other departure this offseason.

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