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Texas Tech football: Concerning trends regarding Matt Wells’ career

By Matthew Conner

Jul 15, 2019; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Matt Wells speaks to the media during Big 12 media days at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 15, 2019; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Matt Wells speaks to the media during Big 12 media days at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 29, 2019; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Matt Wells in the second half of the game against the Texas Longhorns at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 29, 2019; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Matt Wells in the second half of the game against the Texas Longhorns at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports /

His career has been regressing

When a program like Texas Tech hires a relatively unknown head coach from a Group of 5 program, the hope is that you are catching that coach as he ascends towards the top of his profession.  That’s what Iowa State got when they hired Matt Wells away from Toldeo and what Kansas State appears to have found in Chris Klieman (who was coaching in the FCS).

But what’s concerning about Wells is that he is trending the opposite way.  In fact, since the start of his third season as a head coach, he’s undergone a significant regression in terms of overall success.

Using the success of the Andersen years to propel him to a nice start, Wells went 9-5 and 10-4 respectively in 2013 and 2014,  What’s more, in his first year in charge, he was able to guide his team to the Mountain West Conference title game.

But since then, he’s produced just one winning season, a 10-1 regular season campaign in 2018 that he parlayed into the Texas Tech job.  What’s more, if he doesn’t somehow manage to finish 2020 going 4-2, he will end this season with his fifth losing season in the last six years.  That’s not a coach on the rise.

Overall, he’s just 49-45 meaning that there’s a real possibility that by the end of this year, he could be a below .500 head coach.  And since the start of the 2015 season, he’s got a record of just 30-36 and that includes his 10-win season two years ago.

Wells is not a coach whose star is on the rise.  Rather, he’s in danger of completely flaming out as he has been unable to sustain the momentum that he had in his first two years as a head coach.  Now, he’s got more losing seasons (4) than winning seasons (3) and he is barreling towards another losing year.  That’s certainly a reason that Texas Tech fans are starting to believe that he isn’t going to get it figured out on the South Plains.

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