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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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LUBBOCK, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 07: Running back Ta’Zhawn Henry #26 and head coach Matt Wells prepare to enter the field before the college football game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the UTEP Miners on September 07, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 07: Running back Ta’Zhawn Henry #26 and head coach Matt Wells prepare to enter the field before the college football game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the UTEP Miners on September 07, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

He continues to struggle with in-game decisions

It’s tough to trust Wells as a head coach because he continually makes strange and downright unexplainable decisions during games.  While I don’t know if that was the case at Utah State being as I didn’t watch any of his games with the Aggies, I can point to numerous examples of befuddling calls during his Texas Tech football tenure.

To find two, we have to look no further in the past than this weekend.  Against Iowa State, not only did he simply sit on the football down 21-7 with 1:18 to go in the first half and two timeouts to work with, but he also refused to pull starting QB Alan Bowman until the middle of the fourth quarter despite the fact Bowman had played the worst game we’ve seen from a Red Raider QB in quite some time.

Two weeks before that, he had the idiotic decision to try a “sky kick” instead of kicking off in a normal manner when leading Texas by 15 points with just over three minutes to play in the fourth quarter.  Of course, we all know that when UT got the ball at their 41 after that indefensible coaching call, it sparked their eventual comeback victory.

In the season opener, Wells decided to go for it on 4th-and-1 inside the Houston Baptist ten instead of kicking the field goal to put his team up 11 points with just minutes left to play.  Of course, Tech didn’t pick up the first and the Huskies took over to begin a drive that would see them score a TD to cut the lead to just two points pending a two-point conversion (which they would not convert).

Last year, he made the call to twice attempt a fake FG in which the holder tried to run for the first down and both times, (against Arizona and Oklahoma State), the play was snuffed out.  Thus, his special teams blunders have been a problem for more than just this year.

Sure, there were times in 2019 when he made calls that worked like fake punts against Oklahoma and Kansas State and there was this year’s successful onside kick against Texas.  However, far more often than not, Wells’ in-game decision-making has been atrocious and that’s not what a program with such a small margin for error as Texas Tech has needs from the man in charge.

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