As the summer starts to heat up, it is a great time to self-reflect. The overall goal of every athletics program is to move in a positive direction until you are one of the elite in every sport. It is important to always strive for this feat just like we strive for honor (see what I did there). With this in mind, we look at how each sport is trending.
Football
Trending Down ↓
There’s no denying this when it comes to wins and losses. Tech has had 21 losses in the past three seasons which is the most since 1983-85. Jerry Moore was fired immediately after those three seasons which explains Kingsbury’s firm position on the hot seat. The biggest reason for these failures has undoubtedly been the defense. Tech has never been known for defensive prowess, but this side of the ball has become exponentially worse in the past few seasons. During the spring the defense did seem to be more imposing however that could be a worse omen for the offense who is getting used to life without Mahomes. Fact of the matter is, if Kingsbury can’t produce a winning season this year, he’s most likely on his way out.
Volleyball
Trending Even ↔
Yes, we do have a volleyball team, however wins have always been nonexistent for the program. Tech has not finished above 9th in conference since the new Big 12 came together, and hasn’t had a winning record in 15 years. With that being said, the only place for Coach Tony Graystone to go is up for this young volleyball team as they have been at the bottom for so long.
Soccer
Trending Up ↑
Soccer has been the most successful women’s team sport at the university, which is the complete opposite of how the program was before Tom Stone got there, and now Stone has put together six straight winning seasons. To top it all off the soccer program won the Big 12 tournament for the first time in its history and has made the NCAA tournament four years running, which the team had never been beforehand.
Men’s basketball
Trending Up ↑
This program was a dumpster fire just five years ago coming off of the disappointing Pat Knight tenure and disgraceful Billy Gillispie tenure. However, with the help of three different coaches this program has really turned around. Not enough has been made of the job Chris Walker did of taking a terrible situation and not letting the program dive further, Tubby then came in and brought the program back to respectable heights to where Beard seems to be the man of the future and has the ability to at least bring the program back to the Bob Knight days. With the current talent on this team and incoming recruits, this program has an exciting future.
Women’s basketball
Trending Down ↓
This has probably been the most disappointing sport in the athletics department as of late. Candace Whitaker has been the Lady Raiders head coach for four seasons now and has produced four losing seasons. The women’s basketball team had only one losing season since 1983 before that. I am not sure how coach Whitaker is going to turn this around but it must happen and happen quickly for Texas Tech’s once most proud program.
Golf
Trending Even ↔
Hard to critique a program that is consistently ranked like the Men’s golf team is. Men’s Golf is one of the few Tech programs that compete for a conference title every year. The Men’s team has made the NCAA regional tournament 16 years in a row, As for the women, the team has also earned success as they also made regionals for the seventh time in eight years. For this program the only way for them to go up is to start winning championships.
Tennis
Trending Up ↑
Speaking of championships. This team has been downright dominant lately as a whole with the Women winning the Big 12 and the men going to the championship game. The women have ended the season as the No. 7 team in the country and both team had players advance to the Round of 16. Tech Tennis also has Gabriela Taleba who is the first Lady Raider to ever be named an All-American. A national championship could be in the near future for this program.
Track & Field
Trending Even ↔
Once again this is a program that is trending even simply because they remain to be very good. Throughout his time at Texas Tech, Wes Kittley has possibly been the second best coach in Tech athletics history (behind Marsha Sharp). The only thing eluding him is a team national championship. This could possibly be the year for Kittley, however, because the men match the highest ranking in program history this month being ranked 3rd nationally and the women are sending 12 athletes to the NCAA preliminaries.
Baseball
Trending Up ↑
Unless you’ve been living under a rock in Fort Worth (In which case I feel terribly for you), you’ve heard of the success this program has brewed. Tech Baseball currently provides the university with the best chance at an upcoming National Championship. After winning the Big 12 for the second year in a row (That’s right TCU, we won #21to3), this Basbeall team was granted a National seed for the upcoming NCAA tournament which means Lubbock will host the Regional and Super Regional if we make it. With the firepower in the lineup, the may be the best chance we’ve ever had to win the whole thing. Which is really saying something considering we had a chance to beat eventual National Champion Coastal Carolina last year in the College World Series. That dream is alive and hopefully will continue to be.
Softball
Trending Down ↓
Unfortunately this seems to be a theme with the Lady Raider team sports (minus Soccer). Tech Softball however has a different stench to it, considering the negative way Shanon Hays was shoved out in 2014. For reasons still unknown the winningest coach in Texas Tech history resigned in response to what seemed to be his inevitable firing. Since Hays left the program, the Lady Raiders have only produced one winning season and has failed to reach the NCAA tournament after making it three times under Hays. I am not sure what lies in store for the current coach Adrian Gregory, but she is going to need to turn the program around.
Tech Athletics
Trending Even ↔
Kirby Hocutt is now entering his seventh season as athletic director and even though he has done a tremendous job of increasing our brand nationally, there is still much work to be done across the board. Baseball and Men’s Basketball make Hocutt look really good, however there’s no denying that the once proud women’s team sports have gone downhill at the university with the exception of soccer, and that needs to change. Also it will be almost impossible to trend upwards as a university without the football team being successful. That needs to improve for the rest of the athletics department to reap the financial benefits.
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