Update: With Matt Wells out at Texas Tech, we're looking real closely at this list of head coach candidates.

18 Guys Who Could Coach Texas Tech Football in 2022

This list is by no means complete, it's just some names I've seen circulating on social media and message boards. Along with the usual suspects, I've added some wild cards to make it a little spicier.

This is a list I've come up with, but the first several names on this list have definitely been contacted and could be potential hires.

 

Original story: I would like to preface everything that follows here with this: I still think Texas Tech can make a bowl game, and that Matt Wells could retain his job and move into 2022 with a brand new outlook on the program.

I really do believe that. TCU, Iowa State, Kansas State and Oklahoma State are all beatable, and those four games are being played in Lubbock in front of some of the best fans in college football. Kansas on the road wasn't a win in 2019, but it had been every time before 2019 and should be this year too.

Is it a guarantee? No, but what is? Nothing.

If you can split the remaining home games, beat Kansas and surprise a team on the road you're looking at 7-5 and the best regular season in Lubbock since 2015. Now, just because I can see that as a possibility doesn't mean I don't see the fanbase's rabid reaction to that 70-35 beatdown of Texas Tech by the Longhorns after preaching and repeating the Now It's Personal mantra for a month. That didn't sit well. I understand that.

I also understand that Kansas State and Iowa State have been tough outs in the recent past for Texas Tech. Oklahoma is still Oklahoma. Baylor looks like it's improving under Dave Aranda, and there might not be four wins out there for Matt Wells with a backup quarterback and a defensive starter in Muddy Waters being out for the season.

I also look at the TCU game from 2020, the preplanned onside kick against Oklahoma State and the sky kick against Texas from 2020, and the Kansas debacle in 2019, and I see a pattern for unforced errors in judgment that have plagued Matt Wells early in his tenure.

All of those issues seem correctable, but if they aren't corrected, the Red Raiders will be looking at this list even more intently than today.

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