Texas Tech football: Sonny Cumbie deserves place among all-time Red Raider greats

Often, a person’s true greatness is revealed in those moments when unexpected adversity comes knocking.  And those who are able to rise to the challenge in such instances are the ones we remember most fondly.  That’s certainly the category Sonny Cumbie now finds himself in after leading the Texas Tech football program to the 2021 Auto Zone Liberty Bowl championship.  In fact, that accomplishment should cement his place among the list of all-time Red Raider football greats.

It wasn’t that the 34-7 victory over Mississippi State was as prestigious and weighty as a win in a New Year’s Six bowl or a college football playoff would be.  In fact, in the greater landscape of college football, this game was nothing more than a mid-level exhibition contest.

However, its significance for the Texas Tech football program can’t be overlooked.  The bowl win was Tech’s first since 2013 and it secured the program’s first winning season since 2015, something that was desperately needed for a Tech football program that has seen its share of fan apathy in recent years.

What’s more, by beating former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach, the winningest head coach in Texas Tech football history, the Red Raiders finally brought some closure to the debate and consternation about how Leach’s tenure in Lubbock ended.

Sure, there will always be those that lament his firing and those that will forever wonder what would have been if he had remained head coach past the 2009 season.  But by putting an absolute beating on the Pirate, Tech essentially closed the book on the Mike Leach fantasy, a book that should have been put on the shelf a decade ago.  And the man who led his alma mater those this much-needed catharsis was none other than one of Leach’s greatest success stories.

The legend of Sonny Cumbie seemed improbable when he walked on to the Texas Tech football program in 2000 when the Snyder, Texas native would start out as the scout team QB before working his way up the depth chart.  But to earn the starting QB job as a senior in 2004, he first had to beat out five-star JUCO signee Robert Johnson, who was the popular choice among the fan base.

But Cumbie did earn that QB1 job and in his lone season as a starter, he would pass for 4,742 yards with 38 TDs and 18 picks.  And of course, he led his team to an upset victory over No. 4 California and their future Hall of Fame QB Aaron Rodgers.

Now though, those accomplishments are likely to take a back seat to what Cumbie did in 2021 as a coach in Lubbock.  That’s because he may have very well been the man at the helm of the beginning stages of this program’s rebirth.

Coming back to West Texas to be the offensive coordinator for the 2021 season after several years in the same role for TCU, Cumbie was already being asked to help save the program and the job of Matt Wells.  But when Wells was fired in late October, Cumbie was thrust into an even greater role as interim head coach.

Running a program for the first time in his college career, Cumbie was in a unique position.  Normally, when a program makes an in-season firing of its head coach, all hope for a successful season has already been lost.  But in the case of the 2021 Red Raiders, there were still expectations of success as Tech sat at 5-3 when Cumbie took command.

Therefore, more was placed on his shoulders than what is asked of most interim head coaches.  Cumbie was asked not only to help his team get through the end of the season but he was also burdened with the expectation of getting Tech to a bowl game by winning one more game, which wasn’t going to be easy with Oklahoma, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, and Baylor remaining on the schedule.

Of course, he managed to do that thanks to a Jonathan Garibay 62-yard last-second field goal to down the Cyclones.  Then, he managed to find a way to propel Tech to this week’s win over Leach and the Bulldogs to bring Tech back to the land of the winning.

In other words, Cumbie was able to bridge the gap between the failed Wells era and the start of the Joey McGuire era and he did so while helping the Red Raiders start to turn the tide.  Certainly, no one can say that Texas Tech football is back after one mid-level bowl win and a 7-6 season.  But for the first time in nearly a decade, the Red Raiders have a pulse and the fan base has something to look forward to and much of that is thanks to Cumbie’s efforts.

Meanwhile, moving forward, Cumbie’s fingerprints are likely to remain on this program.  The “pumpjack mentality”, a phrase that Cumbie coined and an attitude that he instilled in the football building, has caught fire in West Texas and is almost certain to be part of the program’s future meaning that, although Cumbie will be coaching at Louisiana Tech next year, he will still be part of what’s happening with his former program.

There are different types of legends within a football program.  Most are known for doing never-before-seen things on the field a la Michael Crabtree, Zach Thomas, or Gabe Rivera.  Others are known for coming up with something that becomes an enduring part of the program’s legacy as is the case with Joe Kirk Fulton, who came up with the concept of the Masked Rider.

There there are those who are celebrated for coming through in times of need.  They are people who give of themselves to ensure the program’s success and health in moments when it could all fall apart.

That’s what Sonny Cumbie did in 2021 and for that, he deserves a place in the pantheon of Red Raider greats.