Big hat-tip to Rock Chalk Talk's Owen Kemp for the idea, thought it might be interesting for you guys and gals to give your thoughts on how Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville has done in his first few months on the job. These aren't really questions, but there's five criteria to judge Tubs on his performance, please give your own thoughts in the comments based on the criteria set out below. As an aside, a "C" is average. I'm a tough grader.
1. Staff: I'm incredibly optimistic about the staff that Tubs has put together. Offensively, there were two young up-and-coming offensive coordinators that knew the spread backwards and forwards, the first being Lincoln Riley and the second being Neal Brown. Tubs' hands were tied a bit re. Riley, but there's few people as qualified to runt the spread as Brown is. His drawback is that he's young, very young, and the offense will be completely on his shoulders, but he's qualified to run the thing. I'm also not worried in the least about James Willis, despite having a really nice pedigree as this will be Tuberville's defense. The rest of the cast seems like Tubs took the A-Team approach, which is find a guy that's really good at one thing. Sam McElroy is the guy that has connections throughout every part of Texas. Robert Prunty is the guy that knows how to deal with wayward youths and make them into good football players and productive citizens. Chad Scott and Travaris Robinson are young and energetic coaches. Matt Moore is the grizzled veteran that has built an pretty good reputation as being a guy that can get players into the NFL along the offensive line. You get where I'm going with this, but I do think that Tubs has done a pretty good job of getting some people in the right spots to do their jobs. Grade: A
2. Player Morale: This one's tough to judge. If I had to guess, Leach was probably never going to be anyone's best friend, and I'm not so sure that Tubs will be either. I get the impression that maybe the players liked Leach because they liked winning and up until December, they didn't know any other way. Change can be tough, and I guess that there were / are some players that aren't happy with the transition, but there was no going back once the decision was made. I really haven't sensed much, if anything in the press and I wouldn't expect to see anything either that would tell me that the players dislike the move. We haven't seen a major exodus in terms of transfers or dropping of scholarships. I still think that this has been a pretty tough process, but 18 to 22 year old dudes are pretty forgiving and forgetting. If the winning continues, expect morale to improve. Grade: C
More, after the jump.
3. Recruiting: Again, tough to judge based on the fact that he had to secure a class that was tenuous. Tubs was able to hold onto the top recruits, QB Scotty Young, WR Shawn Corker, DB Tre'Vante Porter, DE Scott Smith, DE Jackson Richards, etc. Sure, Tubs has lost some recruits along the way (WR Kadron Boone and WR Javares McRoy), and I tend to think that the expectation to keep every recruit that Leach & Co. had recruited was unrealistic. This year, Tubs & Co. have been on a tear. Nothing's final until February of next year, but he's already got a handful of highly rated commits and to even sniff the best defensive player in the state for the 2012 class isn't something that Leach typically did. Tubs was highly criticized when he left Auburn because he didn't focus on recruiting like he did earlier in his career. I'm hoping that those final years at Auburn was a valuable learning experience, which is that recruiting is the life-blood of any program and you can't afford to be asleep at the wheel. Grade: A
4. Coaching: Again, pretty tough to grade considering he hasn't coached a game. Tubs was apparently pretty quiet during the spring practices, letting his assistant coaches and coordinators handle the heaving lifting. I expect Tubs to take complete control over the defense during summer / fall practices, but for the spring practices, he let his coaches coach. If there's one thing that he's done, and I'm not sure that this is a coaching move, but I suppose that you could argue that it is, is that he apparently really wants to change the culture at Texas Tech. If I'm in his shoes I do the same thing, everything from changing the weight-room and how players train in the offseason to the attitude while practicing, etc. It's a part of his process and I get the feeling that Tubs wanted his coordinators and assistants to have some immediate authority with this group. Grade: B
5. Fan Morale: If there's one place there Tuberville has hit it out of the park, I think it's with fan morale. You have one group of fans that won't accept Tubs, another group that wants to take a wait and see approach, while you have another group of fans that are welcoming Tubs with arms wide open. If Tubs has done anything, he has put himself out there, traveling all over the state of Texas and visiting as many Red Raider Clubs as possible. You may doubt his sincerity or get tired of him talking about winning championships (I would be disappointed if he didn't want to win a championship, but I understand the other side this argument), but I can't doubt his effort. Grade: A