LUBBOCK, Texas—Tommy Tuberville is mad and he hopes Texas Tech fans are, too.
The first-year coach is 3-3. The last time Texas Tech had that record was 2001, the second year under Tuberville’s pass-happy predecessor, Mike Leach, who led the program to 10 straight bowl appearances.
“I hope everybody’s angry,” Tuberville said. “I’m angry. Our players are angry and disappointed. That’s what you want to feel, you want people that care about what you do and how you do it.”
Fans are restless and are letting Tuberville, his coaches and the players hear it. Last Saturday, as a crowd of more than 60,000 began to realize the Red Raiders were going to lose to then-No. 20 Oklahoma State, they booed.
“We’ve got three conferences losses already, and it’s not going to get much better,” said Ron Baker, a 1969 graduate who’s held season tickets since 1984. “So consequently this is pretty much a lost season.”
A team needs six wins to be bowl eligible and the road ahead for Texas Tech is not paved with easy games.
After a game at Colorado this week, the Red Raiders play at Texas A&M. They return home Nov. 6 to take on No. 18 Missouri before going to No. 3 Oklahoma.
Their last two games are at home but against nonconference teams—Weber State and Houston. A win over Weber State would not count toward bowl eligibility because they are in the Football Championship Series.
Running back Baron Batch said he believes the team can turn things around but conceded that getting six wins might be difficult.
“I think at this point you have to think about that,” he said. “That’s the sense of urgency, that right now we’re 3 and 3. We’re not close to being bowl eligible. We have a lot of work to do.”
Since his hiring, Tuberville has said he would keep the aerial offense that Leach brought to West Texas in 2000. Tuberville predicted the pass-run split would be 65 percent to 35 percent, though passing could be as much as 70 percent.
So far this season, Tuberville’s been close to making good on his word: 61.5 percent of Texas Tech’s 478 offensive plays have been passes. In their 34-17 loss to Oklahoma State last weekend, it was more balanced: 43 pass attempts to 38 rushes.
His first seasons at Mississippi and Auburn, Tuberville said, were “very similar” to what is happening this season at Tech.
“Transition is hard,” he said. “It’s harder on the players than you would think. The visual things are the minor things. It’s the behind the scenes things, which I think it will take for us to get to the next level. We want to win it all. We want to win a championship, and to get there it has to be built from within.”
Baker, the fan, said he has nothing against Tuberville but doesn’t think the coach understands the spread offense well enough.
“You can change things but you don’t have to do a fruit-basket turnover, change everything you’re doing immediately,” he said. “The people here in Lubbock have been used to winning ball games. We’re used to something more than 6-6 and 7-5, and that’s expected of him.”
Some fans still miss Leach, who became Texas Tech’s winningest football coach before he was fired last year amid allegations that he mistreated a player with a concussion. Those fans think Leach should have stayed and are basically saying “I told you so,” said Bill Dean, head of the school’s alumni association.
Batch, however, said the players “love” the coaches in place now.
“The coaches are amazing, amazing coaches and that’s what hurts,” he said. “The work we put in over the offseason and the stuff that we did to become a good football team. That’s why it’s so frustrating because we are not a 3-3 team, but that’s what the record shows and we can’t change that.”
Dean and Kent Hance, the university chancellor, are encouraging fans to be patient.
“We have upgraded with a better coach and we’re going through some tough times right now,” Hance said. “But we have the utmost confidence in him. He’s a proven winner, and I think we just have to have patience to build the program the way we want it to be.”
