Wreck'Em Red
Fansided

Texas Tech football: Best debut seasons by a Red Raider head coach

By Matthew Conner

SAN DIEGO, CA - DECEMBER 30: Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury of the Texas Tech Red Raiders gets the Gatorade dump after his teams' 37-23 win over the Arizona State Sun Devils during their National University Holiday Bowl Game on December 30, 2013 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - DECEMBER 30: Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury of the Texas Tech Red Raiders gets the Gatorade dump after his teams' 37-23 win over the Arizona State Sun Devils during their National University Holiday Bowl Game on December 30, 2013 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 8
Next
Mandatory Credit: Joe Patronite/ALLSPORT
Mandatory Credit: Joe Patronite/ALLSPORT /

Spike Dykes 1987: 6-4-1

Taking over for McWilliams the next season was Spike Dykes, the long-time West Texas high school football coach who had served as Texas Tech defensive coordinator from 1984-86 and who had been the interim head coach in the 1986 Independence Bowl.  In the first of his 14-year run as head coach in Lubbock, the eventual winningest head coach in Tech history got off to a solid start with a 6-4-1 record.

In a season that saw all but three games decided by ten points or more, Tech’s best win was a 27-21 upset of No. 15 Texas A&M in Lubbock.  The Red Raiders also beat Colorado State, Lamar, Rice, Tulsa, and TCU all in Lubbock as part of a schedule that featured seven home games.

The only loss at Jones Stadium in 1987 was a 31-0 humbling at the hands of No. 20 Arkansas.  Tech’s other losses were a 40-16 loss at No. 8 Florida State to open the season, a 36-22 loss at Baylor, and a 41-27 loss at Texas.  The Red Raiders then closed out the season with a 10-10 tie against Houston.

Though Matt Wells has only been on the job for a few months and has yet to coach a game, some are already comparing him to Dykes in personality.   Certainly, he is taking a page from Dykes’ playbook and engaging the Lubbock community better than any of the three previous head coaches to lead the Red Raiders.

Dykes was one of the most likable men to ever coach the Red Raiders and he used his down-home country charm to win over a fan base that was angry at being dumped by McWilliams.  Can Wells use his outgoing and self-assured personality to do the same for a program that just fired one of the most popular figures in Red Raider football history?

Like Dykes, Wells has been intentional in how he has gone about engaging with the fan base and boosters, something that Kliff Kingsbury struggled with.  At a time when Red Raider football fans are less engaged with the program than at any period in the last 20 years, Wells’ ability to connect with the greater Red Raider fandom will be key.

If he can continue to be the modern-day Spike Dykes in terms of becoming the pseudo mayor of Lubbock, it will be a welcome change following the way his two predecessors seemed to alienate the people of Lubbock and West Texas (though for different reasons and in very different ways).  We would all love for Matt Wells to become the next Spike Dykes both on and off the field.  He is already off to a good start in terms of connecting with his constituency, now he has to do his part on the field as well.

Home/Texas Tech Football