After Matt Wells was let go, talking-head Joel Klatt went on the radio on Dallas and he really had issues with Texas Tech terminating Matt Wells and Klatt’s really all over the place, but he focuses on the fact that Kirby Hocutt didn’t hire the right guy with Kliff Kingsbury and Matt Wells, but it’s the last part that he really keys on at a later point, “who are you going to get?”

“I don’t understand how Kirby Hocutt is getting left off the hook here. He’s been there since 2011. That’s basically the start of when they started to be more uncompetitive, or virtually uncompetitive on the stage in which they feel they should be competitive on. He hires Kliff [Kingsbury], fires him, because he didn’t have the experience. Now he hires a guy in Matt Wells and has to fire him, and this was an outright admission that the hiring was not right from the start, because apparently, it was cultural and apparently it had something to do with recruiting, and he didn’t have the relationships in the state with the high school coaches, and that’s fine. That’s all well and good, but I’m sorry, that’s an admission that you made a mistake. So, it’s more that Kirby Hocutt should be under the microscope than anything else, and now, moving forward, who are you going to get?

This absolutely presumes that you can’t get anyone better than Matt Wells and that’s the expectation. I know that lots of people have written about the expectation and I’m absolutely not accepting anything other than winning? I certainly don’t get that. I also think it is disingenuous to think that Hocutt doesn’t get heat because he does. He absolutely knows he got the job wrong, so there’s a bit of Captain Obvious with those comments. Hocutt owned the Wells hire and that’s on him.

I tweeted this on Sunday night.

I expect Joel Klatt to have the same rant about TCU as he did about Texas Tech. Will not be holding my breath.

— Seth Jungman (@SethC_J) November 1, 2021

Klatt didn’t stop and he actually had a rant about TCU not treating Patterson

1of2: Gary Patterson is the main reason TCU is a relevant football program, athletic department, and university…Since his arrival they have moved up conferences, played in the Rose Bowl and now have a much stronger admissions standard and ratio…The University owes him respect. If Jeremiah Donati (a career fund raiser) wanted to make a change then he should have quietly watched the legend coach this last month and then asked him to retire…Forcing the issue now is disrespectful and symptomatic of the problems with administrators

Amazingly, Klatt simply doesn’t get it because administrators aren’t just answering to the coaches, they are answering to the fans who are shareholders in this venture. Ticket sales and fan engagement and the anger are all part of the job, but at some point athletic directors have to act and if they don’t act quickly then the market can be incredibly difficult to navigate. We’re finding that out as Texas Tech fans right now. I’d rather know about Jeff Traylor staying at UTSA now rather than 6 weeks from now.

This all goes to say that coaches have had the upper hand for decades. Literal decades, coaches would come and go, not honor contracts, leave players high-and-dry for greener pastures. Even though Wells was terminated, he’s getting every penny from his contract as did Kliff Kingsbury. Patterson was asked to finish out the year and then step-aside. Honoring the money that they are to pay him, but not wanting him to lead the program. I don’t have a problem with that in any way shape or form. Coaches have made a ton of money from being terrible head coaches or moving onward and signing a new contract for as long as I can remember. Kliff may have still been paid for being a terrible college head coach up until this year. The grift is a good thing. Most of us don’t get paid for not excelling at our jobs.

In fact, I thought this tweet was a bit funny as I’m a fan of English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspurs and they literally fired their manager after 4 months on the job.

The ability of an EPL team to sack a manager after less than a year (4 months or so) is the envy of college sports bloggers and message boards everywhere. #COYS

— Seth Jungman (@SethC_J) November 1, 2021

So yeah, in other sports, no one is owed anything other than the money in the contract and that’s about it. And in the English Premiere League, which is not an apples-to-apples comparison with college football, but it is a similar idea. That’s also a private business where the money probably flows a lot more freely and easily than in a college football program.

I don’t know of any additional coaching news this morning. With Jeff Traylor taking his name out of the mix for Texas Tech and TCU, I think you can maybe see the search widen a bit. I think there will be other coaches considered, probably including up-and-coming type of coaches and also additional coordinators.

Remember, Texas-ties and head coaching experience are at the top of the list, which is why Sonny Dykes is likely at the top, but again, I’m not certain that Sonny really wants the job. I don’t know why he doesn’t, but as stated yesterday, there’s enough smoke for that to be true. Maybe someone rubbed him the wrong way? Maybe he thought he should have been considered as an option when Wells was hired? Not sure, but I think there’s something there.

I think there’s also something to be said for the idea that your very own Kyle Jacobson has started the “HireMcGuire” movement and he’s all in on Baylor assistant head coach Joey McGuire and I do think that there’s something to hiring a guy who hasn’t been given a head coaching opportunity and having that sort of loyalty. His daughter went to or has graduated from Texas Tech.

And the best news really should be that Texas Tech is willing to open up their pocketbooks to pay for a good staff. Not to have a head coach that’s paid well, but to pay well for staff. It’s been something that I’ve harped on for darn near a decade and am finally glad that the administration understands that you get what you pay for regarding coaches (usually). You still have to hire the right coaches, but there are reasons why the highly paid guys are, well, highly paid.