Mark Adams should be the next Texas Tech coach

The roster is in turmoil, and the prestige of the program took an immediate and devastating hit after this morning. Chris Beard is taking the vast majority of his staff to Austin, all but one very notable exception. Mark Adams is not confirmed to be heading with Beard and there is good reason to believe he has no intention of going to Austin.

Mark Adams, as everyone knows, is the actual brains behind the No Middle philosophy that has revolutionized college basketball defense. Mark Adams is the guy Hocutt can turn to that can save this program from a horrible fate. The facilities are there and the fan support is there. The program just needs Adams to lead us past this dark time.

Mark Adams checks every box you could possibly be using to evaluate a candidate. For one, he has a ton of head coaching experience with the most recent stint being at Howard College from 2004-2013. He knows how to get young men to respond to him as a head coach, and he is familiar with the grind of building a college roster.

He has the support of former players, who are already vocally calling for him to take the lead. Guys like Norense Odiase and Matt Mooney are just two that have done so and they were not the only ones. More and more former players are rallying behind Adams, which means he can use their names to help recruiting and that he wins over his players.

From an X’s and O’s perspective he is a top tier mind. Like I said, he built the No Middle defense. We don’t know how Adams would run his offense, but that is maybe not a bad thing. The one knock on Beard is people were sick of the motion offense. Adams can run a new offense if he chooses, but keep the defense that has foiled many a team. I don’t want to imply he did everything for Tech, but Adams is what made Tech’s defense truly elite.

The roster is also about to take a beating because these kids came to play for Beard and his staff. The only coach who could even have a shot of stopping that bleeding is Adams. We know players love him, and he helped build this team. He also is very familiar with how Beard recruited, and can mirror the transfer strategy to patch the holes he couldn’t stop from forming.

Most importantly, everyone knows that he was critical to how Beard succeeded. ESPN talked about Adams every Tech game, and his name has been floated around for head coaching jobs regularly. Tech needs a WOW name, and while I love this university, there just are not a ton of WOW names looking at Lubbock. Adams has the notoriety and the support of the national media as a basketball mind which is huge to keep Tech in the national picture. Perhaps most critically with this notion is that I guarantee fans will get excited again.

Mark Adams has all the makings of an absolute grand slam. He checks the boxes that matter and I have little that will lead to wins sooner rather than later. All of this and Mark Adams is a STREET DOG who holds a grudge. The games against Texas next year will already be must watch TV, but Adams is certain to be one of the few guys who will understand and embrace the hate. Sign me up for some of that next season, because Tech could use a street dog looking for vengance.