Why Texas Tech football is in better shape now than one year ago
40% of the Big 12 is breaking in new coaches
One of the most intriguing aspects of the 2019 season is that the Big 12 will be breaking in four new head coaches. That is an unprecendited number of programs in the midst of a transition and it may help Tech have a better season that some expect.
Last season saw no coaching changes among the conference’s 10 teams after three schools (Oklahoma, Texas, and Baylor) made changes in 2017. That was just the fourth time in the history of the Big 12 that three schools hired hew head coaches in the same season.
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Now, Matt Campbell, who is set for year-four at Iowa State, is the third-longest tenured coach in the league behind Gary Patterson at TCU and Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State. In other words, Tech is not all that far behind its rivals in regards to building its program.
What’s more, when you look at the situation at the four schools that are breaking in new leadership, there’s no doubt that Tech is in the most advantageous position. The QB situations at Kansas, Kansas State, and West Virginia are muddled at best while Tech brings back a player in Bowman who averaged over 400 yards passing per game in the five contests he started and finished.
When Kingsbury ascended the throne at his alma mater in 2013, the 34-year-old was the only coach in the Big 12 that was not at his school the previous season. What’s more, at that time the conference featured such legends of the profession as Bill Snyder at KSU, Bob Stoops at OU, and Mack Brown at Texas aong with rising stars Art Briles at Baylor and Dana Holgorsen at WVU.
Entering 2013, Tech was behind their Big 12 rivals in regards to building the culture of the program to fit the wants of the head coach. And asking a first-time head coach with only five years experience coaching at any level to compete with some of the most legendary figures in the hsitory of college football was unfair.
A year ago, Tech had arguably the second-worst head coaching situation in the Big 12 ahead of only Kansas’ lame duck head coach David Beaty. But in 2019, Tech will be on equal footing with a third of the Big 12 in that regard.
Next. The all-time Houston-area Red Raider team. dark
Were Wells to be the only new head coach in the conference this fall as his predecessor was six years ago, he would essentially be starting a 100-meter dash 20 yards behind his next-closest competitor. But because of the historic turnover in the Big 12, Tech will have a shot at making some decent noise in 2019.