FRISCO – When Texas Tech walked off the basketball court in Minneapolis, the Red Raiders had done more than merely finish a historic season, albeit one that ended in defeat.
The basketball team left a legacy that, it is hoped, will permeate and fill every crevice of the athletic department.
It can happen at Texas Tech in the revenue sports, even in football, which has been living seasons in hibernation.
“It motivates you even more,” said quarterback Alan Bowman. “Those dudes came from the same spot, eating the same food we do, same classes we go to, the same bus and they’re in the national championship game.
“They just love each other, they love the game and they’re selfless. I’m getting the chills right now just thinking about it. Those guys just went to the national championship and us seeing that I think is huge because it’s, like, ‘why not us?’”
Tech wrapped up its 15 spring practices on Saturday with an intrasquad game at the Ford Center, one of three the Red Raiders take part in this time of year. The program also holds spring games in Lubbock and Midland.
Dallas-Fort Worth is home to one of Tech’s largest alumni bases, if not the largest. It is also home to good high school football players.
The theme this spring has been change, a lot of change. A lot of needed change.
Tech’s athletic program has actually become a model to follow.
The basketball team, of course, was this season’s runner-up in the NCAA Tournament. The baseball team has become a perennial contender for Omaha. The men’s track and field team is currently top ranked in the country. The women are good, too. Golf and tennis teams are ranked.
And then there is football, a source of the type of pain and anguish that wring the brow.
Firing Kliff Kingsbury as the coach was probably the best thing that ever could have happened to him. If he had won more games he probably wouldn’t be in the NFL today with an oversized NFL paycheck.
It will likely be good for Texas Tech, too.
The alums weren’t thrilled with the unsexy hiring of Matt Wells as Kingsbury’s replacement. But it was immediately apparent that Kirby Hocutt, the athletic director, got the right guy in poaching Utah State’s coach. He commands a room, and he’s a leader of men who inspires and infuses vitality.
And, oh, yeah, he believes to win football games consistently, you have to be more than a novelty act that more often was an ox in the ditch.
When he was hired Wells said Tech wasn’t in need of rebuild, but rather he planned to reload. In reality, the culture of the program was in desperate need of a remake.
You have to run the football and you have to stop the run, he insisted on Saturday. Tech’s defense was better the past two years but still wanting. Under Kingsbury, Texas Tech was one of the sloppiest teams in the Big 12, undone far too often by mistakes and penalties. Year after year, the Red Raiders were among the most penalized teams in the conference.
“Everything is more disciplined,” said Bowman, a Grapevine High School graduate who planned to spend time with family afterward. “We worry about the little things. Everything is so structured. Everything has an itinerary. Our culture of accountability is huge. There is more intrasquad accountability.”
Said Jordyn Brooks, a linebacker: “He’s a tough coach. He wants us to be great. He’s going to be hard on us. Any little thing we do wrong in practice, he’s going to get on us.”
I’ve heard something like that somewhere before. And recently.
This rebuild or reload, whatever you want to call it, will take some time. The learning curve in the new schemes was apparent on Saturday, though both players and coach reiterated that progress has been made.
Asked what kind of team he envisioned in Lubbock, he had a ready-made answer:
Tough mentally and physically. Guys who are unfazed by adversity. Football junkies, who embrace work in the weight room and practice. Disciplined and accountable on and off the field. Guys who expect to play meaningful games in November.
“I want guys to embrace greatness.”
I’ve heard all of that, too, somewhere.
“I probably did just describe our basketball team,” he said. “I think [the basketball team’s success] does nothing but help you. It should inspire those guys.”
Texas Tech football is on the mend, starting with this ministering angel.
Texas Tech has got them a football coach.