Leading Off

It’s December 1st. Can’t believe that.

Anyway, I’ve got the basketball preview and game day thread going up at 7:00 a.m. and a CFOT open thread going up at 11:00 a.m. Please let this CFOT serve as your open thread for the Matt Wells press conference and your football thread for the day. I’m not going to be around, I’m taking a kid to soccer practice and a long-promised trip to the comic book store for the other. Plus, my wife is busy on her own and so we’re having Whataburger for dinner. It’s going to be a boys day.

Texas Tech Basketball

A #TexasTech legend stopped by practice this morning!

See what Tony Battie thinks about the year so far, and where Red Raider Basketball is headed. #4To1

🔴#WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/0w8ZyIy2OL

— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) December 1, 2018

Get a preview of tomorrow’s game against Memphis in this week’s edition of Bench Talk With @CoachBeardTTU hosted by @TheMattMika. #4To1 pic.twitter.com/FsVywRuci0

— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) November 30, 2018

Texas Tech Football

There’s so much news that I can’t really get to it all, I got in late so I’m running behind, but the biggest news is that Texas Tech quarterback commit Maverick McIvor has decommitted from Texas Tech. I’d just say that the new buzzword for recruiting is that we’re in “year 0” for Matt Wells and the consensus is that this year doesn’t count really for or against Wells and his recruiting resume. I think that this is probably the reason why Hocutt pulled the trigger as quickly as he did, especially if he knew who he was going to hire, to basically help keep together whatever he can of the current recruiting class. With the December signing date, a December signing date is tough.

Here is Matt Wells first interaction with the team from last night. “I choose you.” That’s pretty powerful, I hope it sticks.

A-J Media’s Don Williams writes about how Wells has done more with less and that makes him a good hire for Texas Tech:

Not to forecast Leach-level success for Matt Wells, but Texas Tech’s new coach makes sense for Texas Tech in the way Leach made sense at the time. Wells shouldn’t be disillusioned going into Norman and Austin next year, because he’s spent the past six years forced to do more with less — way less than coaches here do.

Texas Tech’s resources must look like an oasis to the Red Raiders’ new coach. Much like Tech playing third fiddle historically to UT and Texas A&M, Utah State historically is no better than third option in its state against BYU, with its strong and decades-old tradition, and Utah, which got a boost eight years ago from Pac-12 membership.

Like Lubbock, Logan is kinda “out there” and, when it comes to recruiting, faces stereotypes and logistics issues.

I have no idea whether, five years from now, we’ll be calling Wells a shrewd hire or “a bad choice that should have been obvious at the time”. However, Tech fans opposed to his coming aboard — and there are many — are picking him apart with no context.

FootballScoop reported the following:

Texas Tech: Source tells FootballScoop Matt Wells has offered positions at Texas Tech to his entire offensive staff. On the defensive side of the ball Keith Patterson will serve as defensive coordinator and we are told defensive backs coach Julius Brown is coming as well. For special teams, sources tell FootballScoop Wells has targeted Purdue special teams coordinator Mark Tommerdahl. Tommerdahl coached with Wells at Utah State for the 2017 season. Tommerdahl has 34 seasons coaching experience including at Cal, LA Tech, ULM, Texas A&M, Alabama, TCU & more. Source tells us Wells is awaiting a decision from Tommerdahl.

the Herald Journal’s Jason Turner tweeted that strength and conditioning coach Dave Scholz will be joining Wells at Texas Tech. I know there’s a ton of hand-wringing about keeping Rusty Whitt and that entire strength staff and I really grew to really appreciate those guys, but the S&C staff is usually someone that the head coach already knows and trusts because he spends so much time with the team. Whitt and Salwasser left the program in a much better position than where they found it and I’ll be eternally grateful for that, but I get why Wells wants his own guys. That’s the nature of the business.

Miscellaneous . . . I thought this Q&A that Inside the Red Raiders’ Jarret Johnson had with UStateAggies was really informative . . . RedRaiderSports’ Matt Clare has anonymous quotes from high school coaches on Matt Wells and his staff . . . also from Clare is what different Rivals writers had to say about offensive coordinator David Yost and defensive coordinator Keith Patterson . . .