One of the most embattled positions at Texas Tech has been the defensive line coach. Well, Tech might have found its man in coach Kevin Patrick.

Texas Tech hired former Hurricanes All-American, UM HOFer Kevin Patrick as its DL coach.

— Matt Porter (@mattyports) January 12, 2026

Kevin Patrick has had an illustrious career as both a coach and a player. Patrick played on the infamous Miami teams of 1990-1993, during the years of Miami's dominance. Patrick was a national champion under Dennis Erickson in 1991, and knows what it takes to take a defense to the championship level as a player.

As a coach, Patrick served on the USF staff for an extended period of time, and coached prolific sackers such as George Selvie and Jason Pierre Paul. Patrick recently coached at North Texas, which is where Kliff Kingsbury poached him from.

Kevin Patrick's experience as a player and a coach will help the Red Raiders significantly. As a player he was a national champion at the University of Miami, and he has coached several All-Americans at the typically football-deprived program USF, and has recently led a defensive line resurgence at UNT.

In what is becoming a regular occurrence for Kingsbury and co., I had never heard of Kevin Patrick until Kliff hired him. The more I heard about him, the more excited I am about this hire. Kliff has made a couple of low-key hires as of late, and this hire might be the best of them all. I'm definitely looking forward to Coach Patrick bringing his talents to the South Plains this fall.