Texas Tech football: Best debut seasons by a Red Raider head coach
David McWilliams 1986: 7-5
While current Texas Tech football fans despise Tommy Tuberville for the way he skipped town following the 2012 season, the previous generation of Red Raider fans felt the same animosity towards David McWilliams, who left the Red Raiders after just one season to take over as head coach of the Texas Longhorns.
In fairness, UT was McWilliams’ alma mater and he came to Lubbock after four seasons as the defensive coordinator in Austin so logically, it is understandable why he chose to return to his roots following the1986 season. But that did not help quell the rancor of the Red Raider faithful at the time.
Making matters worse was the fact that McWilliams put together a promising 7-5 debut season in Lubbock as he guided the Red Raiders to the Independence Bowl. His Red Raiders managed to go 5-3 in conference play, including a 31-23 win over the Longhorns in Lubbock, which had to have been satisfying for McWilliams.
As has been the case with the other coaches we have discussed thus far, the 1986 Red Raiders were able to take care of business against teams on their level but could not break through against the ranked teams. Three of the team’s losses that year came to ranked teams including losses at No. 2 Miami and No. 14 Texas A&M and a home loss to No. 17 Baylor.
Against those three teams, McWilliams’ Red Raiders lost by a combined score of 151-33 allowing at least 45 points in each game. Fortunately, Tech was able to knock off one ranked team when they took down No. 8 Arkansas 17-7 in Lubbock.
Ultimately, McWilliams left for UT prior to Tech’s 20-17 loss to Ole Miss in the Independence Bowl. Perhaps that is where Red Raider fans came to fear being used as a stepping-stone by coaches.
A significant portion of the fanbase was against hiring Wells because he has no ties to the university fearing that he would bolt for a more prestigious job at the first opportunity. Of course, that feeling was only intensified by Tuberville’s abrupt departure for Cincinnatti (which was at best a lateral move) nearly seven years ago.
But outside of McWilliams, Carlen, and Tuberville, Tech has not lost a head coach to another program in the last five decades. And even should Matt Wells eventually take a job at a higher-profile program, it would mean that he’d done a terrific job in getting Texas Tech football back on track. Hopefully, though, he sticks around longer than just one year.