Texas Tech football: Matt Wells gives interesting 2020 insights in radio interview

Jones AT&T Stadium (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)

Is it hard to recruit to Lubbock?

It wouldn’t be an interview with a non-Lubbock media member without Wells being asked about how hard it is to recruit to the South Plains. Mosely played into that stereotype by broaching that subject but he was quickly shut down by Wells in what was the best moment of the interview.

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"“You know, Matt, I appreciate you bringing that up because I totally disagree with that statement,” Wells said. “Absolutely. I don’t think it’s hard to recruit here. The people sell it. The facilities sell it. Texas Tech, you know when I got here, I’m seeing what we’re doing in other sports and I’m asking Tim Tadlock…I ask him how you recruit to Lubbock. Chris Beard certainly is not having any issues recruiting to Lubbock…And the thing that I’ve noticed and I’ve respected and grown to love is that when you get kids here, you get them to the town, in this community, in this Red Raider nation and they get a vibe at the U.S.A. basketball arena or by Jones AT&T Stadium on game day or they’re around town and all they see is the scarlet black Double T, the place starts to sell itself. Just get [recruits] on campus….and when you get ’em to Lubbock, Lubbock kinda loves on ’em and the vibe and the people, I think, start stats to sell itself.”"

The notion that you can’t recruit to Lubbock is tired and played out. It’s a lazy take by media members who don’t truly take the time to challenge the opinions of Lubbock that they’ve held for 20 years.

The truth is that recruiting to Lubbock is not akin to recruiting to the dark side of the moon as some people still believe. It’s a city nearing 300,000 people and that allows it to maintain the classic college town vibe while still providing residents the opportunity to have their creature comforts.

Say what you want about Wells but isn’t it refreshing to have a coach who isn’t a Tech alum but who still gets what makes The Hub City special? That wasn’t the case with the last non-alum who led the program, Tommy Tuberville.

Of course, recruiting to Lubbock also has to be easier than recruiting to Logan, Utah, which is where Wells was prior to coming to West Texas. Though the home of Utah State is scenic, that community is basically as isolated as Lubbock and there’s no way the facilities at Wells alma mater can come close to matching those at his current place of employment.

It was awesome to see Wells jump in and quickly shut Mosley down for his tired and useless insinuation about Lubbock. After all, it isn’t like Waco is the Wester hemisphere version of Shangri-La.