IRVING, Texas — The first time Tommy Tuberville met his future team, he didn’t give a pep talk or layout the way things were going to change at Texas Tech. He’d just assumed a position that came open after the ugly firing of Mike Leach, and emotions were still running high.
Tuberville took a different tact.
“I apologized to them for what they went through because players are there to get an education and have fun playing college football,” he said Tuesday morning at Big 12 Football Media Days, “and they went through a season that was hectic and a coach leaves and the bowl game was a mess in terms of it wasn’t about them, it was about who’s going to be the coach. So we had to get our players back.”
Whether Tuberville has got them back is one of the biggest on-the-field questions heading into the season.
Mike Leach leaves huge shoes to fill in Lubbock, Texas. The former Oklahoma offensive coordinator went 83-44 from 2000-09 and guided them to bowl games in each season and cracked the nine-win plateau four times. Along the way Leach made himself a folk hero throughout college football for his quirky ways and raising the Red Raiders’ status in the college football world.
But his exit was ugly.
A messy firing came last December after allegations of the mistreatment of players. Leach filed a lawsuit against Texas Tech that is still being waged.
It wasn’t the ideal situation for Tuberville, who spent last season as a studio analyst for ESPN, to step into. On the other hand, Tuberville knows how to win at a high level. He went 85-40 in 14 seasons at Mississippi and Auburn.
Players, however, seem to have bought in.
Defensive tackle Colby Whitlock, a former Noble standout, said the changes Tuberville instituted have been positive.
“It’s a lot more structured. You know what’s going to happen with the way he runs things,” Whitlock said. “It’s a breath of fresh air.”
Leach’s pass-happy spread offense influenced the entire league. Tuberville said the Red Raiders won’t go away from it.
He still envisions Texas Tech throwing the ball at least 60 percent of the time.
“It depends how the defenses play,” he said. “If we get into a game and find a team that can’t cover anybody, we’re going to throw it 100. We’re going to throw it as many times as we can.”
But it’s going to be different.
Running backs will get more carries. Quarterbacks will take some snaps under center. The fourth-down gambles Leach loved to take will occur less often. Defense will be heavily emphasized.
Those will be the obvious changes on Saturdays this fall.
Quarterback Steven Sheffield said it’s the culture that’s shifted behind the scenes.
The offense belongs to offensive coordinator Neal Brown. Sheffield said the focus is more on the process where Leach was all about results.
“With coach Leach, if it worked, it worked. Throw it to the open receiver. If you threw into double coverage and he caught it, that was fine, too,” Sheffield said.
The results on the scoreboard will ultimately decide whether the coaching change was a positive thing for the Red Raiders. Tuberville has a track record of success, but Leach left big shoes to fill.
Tuesday, it was obvious he passed the first test by winning over the players.
Quarterback Taylor Potts said that initial meeting went a long way.
“He wanted us to realize he’s not in it for selfish reasons at all. He’s here to win ballgames, and he wants us to win,” he said about Tuberville. “He respected all of us. It was nice to hear him care about us.”
John Shinn 366-3536 jshinn@normantranscript.com
