Texas Tech Fires Basketball Staff, Except for Walker

According to LAJ's Nick Kosmider, the entire basketball staff other than head coach Chris Walker has been fired:

Hocutt, after briefly thanking the staff for its contributions this year, told them a search was still being conducted for a permanent head coach.

Though Walker was not relieved of duty Saturday, he has not yet been named to the permanent position, according to a source. Walker is a candidate for the job.

A call placed to Walker's cell phone was not immediately returned.

A source said members of the staff that was fired have been unable to reach Walker.

Blayne Beal, Tech's associate athletics director of communications, confirmed that the school has parted ways with the staff members, with the exception of Walker.

I'm not real sure what to make of this move and I have a handful of questions.

1. Does this mean that Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt intends on cleaning house entirely? That doesn't explain why he would retain Walker, even for a short period of time.

2. Is this an indication that Walker wants to hand-pick his own coaching staff, not who he inherited from former head coach, Billy Gillispie.

3. The part in there about the assistants not being able to get in touch with Walker is an odd addition, but obviously intentional. Does Walker not want to have to be the bad guy here and wants Hocutt to do the firing or does Hocutt acknowledge that part of his job description is to do the firing?

[Note by Seth C, 03/17/13 5:44 AM CDT ] I wanted to update this story as I believe the LAJ story was revised to list the coaches and staff that have been fired:

The staff members let go: Assistant coaches Jeremy Cox and Bubba Jennings, director of basketball operations Craig Wells, assistant director of operations Jim Shaw, director of video production Josh Mills and assistant director of video production Derrick Jasper.