Texas Tech football: Why Matt Wells failed as head coach in Lubbock

He hired awful coordinators

Many people who know Wells say that he is loyal to a fault.  That trait proved to be problematic in the way he handled the two coordinators he brought to Lubbock with him from Utah State.

It turns out that neither defensive coordinator Keith Patterson, nor former offensive coordinator David Yost were the right men to help Wells win in the Big 12.  Yet he stuck with Patterson to the bitter end and gave Yost two years, during which time Wells lost the fan base due in large part because the Texas Tech football team lost its high-scoring identity.

Let’s begin with Patterson.  Since arriving in Lubbock, he has coordinated defenses that have ranked 127th, 99th, and currently 70th in total defense.  That’s not good enough to survive in the Big 12.  (And don’t forget that this year’s defense will almost certainly fall way below No. 70 given the upcoming schedule which features four ranked teams.)

Meanwhile, Yost’s two offenses ranked 11th and 38th respectively in 2019 and 2020.  While that’s not atrocious, it isn’t up to the standard that the Texas Tech football program is accustomed to on that side of the ball.

Both Patterson and Yost run (or ran) bland schemes that were far too predictable and which gave the team no schematic advantage.  And when you have marginal talent as Tech has had over the last two-plus seasons, you need a tactical edge from your coaching staff.

Yet Tech never had that with Patterson and Yost (the book is still out on current OC Sonny Cumbie).  But still, Wells stuck with each for at least two years (and he only fired Yost because he was essentially forced to by AD Kirby Hocutt as a condition of being retained last offseason).

Remember, as we stated earlier, Wells is not elite at coordinating an offense or defense.  Thus he needed elite play-callers to have his back and that didn’t happen which ultimately helped doom his time in Lubbock.