Realizing offensive firepower alone won’t cut it any more in the Big 12, Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury fired three key defensive coaches on Tuesday.
As announced by the school, co-defensive coordinator/defensive line coach Mike Smith, cornerbacks coach Kevin Curtis and outside linebackers coach Trey Haverty were all dismissed from the program, which struggled to get through the highly competitive conference with a record of 4-5.
In the team’s statement online, Kingsbury expressed his thanks to the three men.
“We appreciate all that Mike, Kevin and Trey have done at Texas Tech over the last three seasons,” Kingsbury said. “All three are great Red Raiders and we wish them the very best.”
This was a move that simply had to be made, however.
Despite featuring one of the nation’s most explosive offenses — No. 2 in the nation scoring 46 points per game — the Red Raiders were soundly beaten by all four of the best teams in the Big 12 (TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State) by an average score of 63-42. On the season, Texas Tech allowed 42.6 points and 540 yards per game — the fourth- and third-worst totals in the FBS this season.
It will be interesting to see what Kingsbury does next as he attempts to bring the Red Raiders up to the top of the conference.