The Texas Tech Red Raiders have a new defensive coordinator, a bunch of new talent on the defensive side of the ball, and a bunch of football fans who would love to see their favorite team compete at a high level on that side of the ball.
Texas Tech fans have been longing for a competent, solid defense for years. And they just haven’t had it. This year, with the hiring of Shiel Wood (who was previously with Willie Fritz and the Houston Cougars), that could certainly change.
Wood is looking for a few different things from his team’s defense in his first season. And as the new coordinator for the Red Raiders, he’s working on installing a defense and setting expectations that can be easily translated and understood. He’s not looking specifically for a certain statline. Rather, he’s focused on a few other things.
Texas Tech defensive coordinator Shiel Wood notes what he wants from his defense as the Red Raiders host Arkansas-Pine Bluff
During a press conference, Wood made it clear specifically what he’s looking for from his players.
“The thing that's going to make me happy is do we come out and give phenomenal effort and run to the ball better than any team in America on Saturday,” Wood explained. That’s going to make me the most proud.”
That’s fair. It’s also a very coach sort of answer. It makes sense that he would want that from his Red Raiders and that he’d expect that from the players on his side of the ball. Don’t focus on numbers. Focus on the process. I can get on board with some of that.
“I think that if we’re doing those things, then there’s a lot of other stuff that’s going right for us,” Wood said.
Yeah, I’d agree with that one. Do the small things the right way and the big things the right way and more than likely everything will go right. Seems simple.
“The results will take care of themselves if we play really, really hard with great attention to detail and sense of urgency,” Wood said.
I suspect he’s right. I can’t totally get on board with his philosophy of ignoring stats, but I do get on board with all of this here. That seems fair and reasonable to expect.