Ranking the Texas Tech football offensive coordinators for the past 15 years

No. 1: Sonny Cumbie (2021)

The best O.C. Tech has had in the last 15 years tops our list not only because of what he was able to coax out of his offense but more because of what he was able to guide the entire team to. That's because Sonny Cumbie was asked to step in as interim head coach when Matt Wells was fired mid-season and he managed to help salvage the season and unite and inspire the fan base.

When Cumbie took over as the interim head coach in October, Tech football was at a low point the likes of which the program hadn't experienced since the Jerry Moore era of the 1980s. The Kingsbury and Wells tenures back-to-back had sucked the life and joy out of Red Raider football and fan interest was at its lowest in decades.

However, Cumbie and the "pumpjack mentality" he brought into the football building as head coach was a breath of fresh air. Fans and players alike rallied around the former Red Raider QB and he was able to guide Tech to a 7-6 season including a bowl win over his former head coach while in Lubbock, Leach (who was at Mississippi State).

That was the first bowl game Tech had appeared in since the forgettable Birmingham Bowl in 2017 and it ended a run of six-straight losing seasons for the Red Raiders. For that, Cumbie became a hero once again in Lubbock.

The 2021 offense was nothing special. Remember that Shough was supposed to be QB1 that year as well but he was lost in game four with a broken collarbone. Then, Tech had to turn to Henry Colombi and redshirt freshman Donovan Smith to finish out the season.

As a result, Tech finished only 56th in total offense at 416.3 yards per game. Cumbie's offense also managed to score only 30.3 points per game, 50th-best in the nation.

However, the job Cumbie did as interim head coach puts him atop this list. He left after that season to take the permanent head coach position at Louisiana Tech but his efforts to stop the bleeding after the disastrous Wells tenure are what put him atop this list as the best Texas Tech offensive coordinator of the last 15 years.