Defensive Backs: Kerry Cooks/Julius Brown vs. Kevin Curtis
Another challenging job at Texas Tech, as well across the Big 12, is that of coaching the secondary. In the nation’s most passing-obsessed conference, defensive backfields are under assault every week.
That’s why it might be beneficial for the 2019 staff to have two coaches in the secondary. Long-time assistant Kerry Cooks is assigned to the safeties while Julius Brown is tutoring the corners. And given that Tech finished last year second-to-last in the nation against the pass, those two positions could use all the guidance they receive.
Cooks arrives with an impressive resume that includes stops at Oklahoma from 2015-18 and Notre Dame from 2010-14. What’s more, in 2012-13, he was the co-defensive coordinator for the Fighting Irish.
Meanwhile, Brown has coached at Boise State, Arkansas State, Troy and Utah State in his eleven-year coaching career. Last year, he was part of a Utah State secondary that led the nation with 22 interceptions, returning six for touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Kingsbury’s first DBs coach, Curtis, had only five years of experience as a college coach when he came back to Tech where he was a fantastic DB in his own right. But having just coached at Navarro J.C. and Louisiana Tech, he was not the caliber of coach that Cooks and even Brown are at this point in their careers.
The good news for the Red Raiders in 2019 is that the secondary is chalked full of experience and talent. But with two new safeties who are playing the position for the first time in their careers, they will need to be mentored by a coach that has been around the block a few times in the college game. Fortunately, that is what they will have in Cooks.