3 things Matt Wells can do to elevate Texas Tech football in 2020

One of the first things Matt Wells said after he was hired to be Texas Tech’s head coach in 2018 was that he was excited to “get to work on building an elite program that Red Raider fans will enjoy every Saturday.”

After going 4-8 in an otherwise down year for the Big 12 Conference as a whole, it’s reasonable to expect the notoriously impatient Tech fan base to start to get a little bit antsy over athletic director Kirby Hocutt’s most recent hire.

Taking into account the underwhelming recruiting class Wells secured in the first year of his tenure, the departure of a flawed-yet-improving Jett Duffey, and the apparent return of offensive coordinator David Yost - whose play-calling was questionable at best for the majority of the year - and there’s not much reason to believe things will be dramatically better in 2020.

But there are things Wells can do to address the most detrimental qualities of this team and replace them with strengths before next fall comes around, and if he’s able to pull off these very unlikely but necessary moves, Tech can flip its record from 4-8 to 8-4 (or better) in a hurry.

1. Hire Chip Long as offensive coordinator

One of the things that hurt Tech the most this season was the decision-making from Yost. Not only did his play calls leave Tech fans irate on countless occasions this season, his personnel choices also left room for questioning. For starters, what was practical about starting Jackson Tyner over Jett Duffey?

In any case, for whatever reason, Miami fans are urging Manny Diaz to bring Yost on as the new OC for the Hurricanes. This would be a wonderful belated Christmas gift for Tech fans, who could move on to someone with more all-around competence. Someone like former Notre Dame offensive coordinator, Chip Long.

The Irish and Long parted ways before their demolishing of Iowa State in the Camping World Bowl, but it wasn’t for any performance related issues. Notre Dame’s offense under Long was among the top-10 in the country across a variety of vital categories and he was a standout recruiter, as well. It ultimately came down to a clashing of personalities and coaching styles between Long and head coach Brian Kelly. Long is an alpha-dog type of coach, and Kelly wanted someone more agreeable. Long also was a bit too pass-heavy for Kelly’s liking. Both of those are totally fine with Tech fans.

Long converted quarterback Ian Book from a three-star talent to a top-5 quarterback in the country and a potential Heisman candidate for next year. A former tight-ends coach, Long recruited the hell out of the position and turned Cole Kmet into the No. 1 TE draft prospect in the country. He’s an excellent play designer and while Kelly wanted to run the ball more than Long, he still places an immense emphasis on the running game. This is Notre Dame we’re talking about - their definition of running the ball and Tech’s are completely different. That’s why Long would actually be the perfect balance at offensive coordinator for the Red Raiders. And regarding the fiery nature of Long, Tech’s offense is in need of a stronger, more authoritative figure to get guys like T.J. Vasher to actually play with some heart for a change.

I’m not sure what Long’s prospects look like right now. I haven’t heard much, but certainly he’s a candidate for head coaching jobs at smaller schools or OC jobs at Power-5 schools. Either way, Wells needs to lock him down and get rid of Yost if he wants to take the first step toward his dream of an elite Texas Tech football program.

2. Sign K.J. Costello or Jamie Newman

I don’t want to hear anything else about how Alan Bowman or Maverick McIvor can get the job done for the Red Raiders. They are not elite quarterbacks. They’re not 10-win quarterbacks. They’re six-wins-and-an-irrelevant-bowl quarterbacks.

Stanford’s Costello and Wake Forest’s Newman aren’t air raid guys, but that’s not what Tech needs in 2020 - especially if Wells brings in an OC like Chip Long. They’re athletic, mobile, strong and accurate. They’re both very intelligent quarterbacks and display tremendous leadership qualities. These are guys that can turn a program around as quickly as Joe Burrow turned around LSU (though it was a much more manageable endeavor, to be fair).

Costello’s injury-plagued 2019 season isn’t representative of the talent he is at quarterback. You need to look at his 2018 stats to get an idea of what the kid is capable of, and that’s leading his team to a 9-4 record with a trip to the PAC-12 Championship game. He completed 65.1 percent of his passes that season for 3,540 yards, 29 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Absolutely a perfect candidate to run the Tech offense in 2020.

If you wondered at any point in the season why Wake Forest was good at football, Newman was the answer. There’s no reason the Demon Deacons should be winning eight games in a season or playing Michigan State close in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, but with the dynamic Newman under center, it all came to pass. Newman went 10-6 as a starter over the last two seasons, throwing for 3,959 yards with 35 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Again, no one should be doing that at Wake Forest.

Either of these two quarterbacks would be fantastic signings for a presently depleted and uninspired quarterback room in Lubbock. Wells absolutely must flex his recruiting skills to bring one of them to Tech.

In Lubbock, there’s little competition for things to do on Saturdays in the fall - at least, not in things that couldn’t be done at any other time in the year. So there’s no real reason Texas Tech shouldn’t sell out every home game, especially in a town that effectively centers its culture and economy around the university.

Tech is typically a top-30 program nationally in attendance, usually filling the stadium to about 95 percent capacity and bringing in 55-60,000 fans on a given Saturday. As the Kingsbury era came to a close, attendance started to drop. Tech experienced the largest dip in attendance year-over-year in the Big 12 from 2016-2017, losing 5.5 percent of its fans down to about 55,000 per game.

Usually, a new coach brings some air of excitement to the stadium and attendance jumps up. This year, things started out OK, drawing 54,183 for an FCS cupcake in Week 1, and nearly 57,000 for Week 2 against UTEP.

But by the time Iowa State came around, fans lost interest, which was kind of bewildering because Tech was 3-3 with an impressive win over Oklahoma State and a close loss to a talented Baylor squad on the road. The Iowa State game - also the homecoming game - was the turning point of the season and the Red Raiders needed all the help they could get. Instead, only 52,315 people showed up, and the lack of a convincing home-field advantage was evident. Not only that, but there were reports all over the place that fans were actually leaving in droves at halftime, when Tech was trailing 20-7.

Attendance continued to decline in the final two home games, from 50,459 for the 33-31 loss to TCU, and 50,117 for the 30-27 loss to Kansas State. That’s what’s so frustrating. These were such close games that could’ve used some third-down noise on defense, or an energizing roar after a big play to lift up the team in the game’s crucial moments. Who’s to say a crowd of 58,000 wouldn’t have flipped those last two scores and sent Tech to a bowl game?

Wells has got to do something to reinvigorate this sleeping fan base, because another year of unenthused, early-departing fans will not help this team win the close games it otherwise would’ve lost. I’m not entirely sure how to do that, but he needs to get it done.