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

By Matthew Conner

Sep 12, 2020; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Matt Wells checks the score board in the second half against the Houston Baptist Huskies at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 12, 2020; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Matt Wells checks the score board in the second half against the Houston Baptist Huskies at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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LUBBOCK, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 12: Head coach Matt Wells of the Texas Tech Red Raiders leads his players toward the field before the college football game against the Houston Baptist Huskies on September 12, 2020 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 12: Head coach Matt Wells of the Texas Tech Red Raiders leads his players toward the field before the college football game against the Houston Baptist Huskies on September 12, 2020 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

Bad luck

Murphy’s Law says that “If it can go wrong, it will go wrong.”  Such was the case for the Matt Wells era of Texas Tech football.

Even if you were of the popular opinion that Wells was out of his league in the Big 12 and was an incompetent slug as a head coach, you do have to admit that the man was absolutely snake-bitten as well.  And that bad luck played a huge role in his demise.

First, let’s start with the fact that in all three seasons he was on the job, he lost his starting QB to injury.  While in 2020, Alan Bowman was only down for three quarters of the game against Kansas State, in both 2019 and 2021 Bowman and Tyler Shough suffered broken collar bones that cost them the majority of the season.

Thus, Wells spent the bulk of his games at Tech going to battle with a backup QB.  In fact, he had his starting QB from week one start and complete just ten of his 30 games has head coach.

Wells also had terrible luck during games.  Of course, the 2019 loss to Baylor rings the loudest in that regard.  That was the game when the officials blew a fumble call in OT that would have essentially handed Tech the win.

There was also the loss at Kansas that year that saw Wells victimized by one of the dumbest plays a Red Raider has ever made.  After Tech blocked KU’s game-winning FG attempt at the end of regulation, safety Douglas Coleman tried to lateral the ball to a teammate rather than just go down and live to fight on in OT.

Of course, KU would recover and make good on their second attempt at winning the game.  That play can’t be held against Wells as no coach in his right mind would instruct his players to take such a risk at such a critical juncture of the game.

Then, that same season, there was the McLane Mannix fumble on Tech’s final drive against TCU.  Trailing just 33-31 and with plenty of time left to go down and take the lead, the inside receiver fumbled on the first play of the drive allowing the Frogs to recover and seal the win.  Again, there was nothing Wells could have done differently in that situation as his players once again let him down.

So while we could point to a number of things Wells did poorly that justified his dismissal, we also have to acknowledge that the man had awful luck while in Lubbock.  But in the end, it wasn’t just bad luck that did him in.  Rather, it was a collection of mistakes and missteps that proved to be too much for him to overcome.

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