Red Raider Gridiron: Kliff Kingsbury's Salary; Breiden Fehoko Accepts UA Honor

Coaches Salaries. USA Today released their coaches salaries and Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury is the 36th highest paid coach and to me, this is about right where you would want Kingsbury in comparison to the rest of his peers. Sports on Earth's Matt Brown writes that Kingsbury is one of the five most overpaid coaches and Kingsbury is generally in the pretty company as Kevin Sumlin and Dana Holgorsen are right behind him.

And yes, Kingsbury has to win to justify the salary, but with the new television deal, it's not something that I really worry all that much about.  If the margin for profit and loss were much thinner and the stadium wasn't a sell-out each week, then I'd worry.  I've said it before, and it's just a thought, that Kingsbury has already paid for his salary with the sell-out and all of the merchandise and everything else associated with selling this program.  I don't think that Texas Tech would be in the position to announce all of the upgrades that they did early in the year if Tuberville were the head coach.  Those are significant things, at least to me, when I think about Kingsbury's salary and if he's overpaid or underpaid.

Of course, wins and losses will ultimately define Kingsbury as a coach but the amount of money Texas Tech is paying Kingsbury isn't a concern.

Fehoko Accepts Under Armour Invitation. Congrats to Breiden for the honor!

Tucker Retires. DT's Jeremy Krakosky writes that long time administrative assistant for the athletic department Sheila Tucker is retiring after 30 years:

After seeing many leaders and bosses come and go, Tucker said she believes the people Tech has in place now will have the school headed in the right direction for a long time.

"The biggest plus is we have such good leadership in Kirby (Hocutt) and his staff and Kliff (Kingsbury)," Tucker said. "I've known Kliff since he was 18 and it's so hard for me think of him as being a grown-up. My two most favorite people in the whole world are Spike Dykes and Kliff Kingsbury. They are so similar in how they think about life and how they treat people. Kirby realizes what Kliff can do being a returning hero. He's going to be and is such a good coach and a great person."

Will He Stay or Will He Go? LAJ's Don Williams writes about whether or not OT Le'Raven Clark should stay in school or declare for the NFL Draft and offensive line coach says that if Clark is going to be drafted high, then he should go:

Or, as offensive line coach Lee Hays put it in Clark's case, "We're going to give him a hug and kick him out the door."

"We've got to do what's best for Le'Raven," Hays said. "We all want him back, no question. But the good thing for me is my boss (Kingsbury) is the type of guy that he'll be the first one (to encourage a potential high pick to leave early).

"Just like with Jace last year. Everybody wanted Jace back, but we've got to do what's best for the kid and their future."

Absolutely agree.

Miscellaneous. Friend of VTM, Totally Texas Tech has some great new campus photos, make sure and check them out . . . Fox Sports' David Ubben has his Big 12 picks of the week and he predicts a big win . . . DMN's Tommy Magelssenhas his five things that you need to know about Iowa State . . . the Demoines Register writes that Texas Tech is marred in controversy . . .