Sonny Cumbie Is Officially Gone… For Now. Who Will Replace Him?
Texas Tech interim head coach Sonny Cumbie endeared himself to the fanbase over the final three games with his pumpjack mentality, a thrilling win over Iowa State, and a couple of tough battles over the two best teams in the Big 12.
Heading into the final game of the season, new head coach Joey McGuire endorsed Cumbie as the offensive coordinator of the future. Afterwards, Texas Tech Athletics Director Kirby Hocutt was quoted as saying how great of a head coaching candidate he was. Louisiana Tech took notice of Cumbie flipping the mentality of the Texas Tech program and hired him as their head coach on November 30th.
Cumbie will officially be announced as the LaTech head coach Wednesday, December 1st at noon.
Cumbie will spend two weeks in Ruston, Louisiana recruiting until the early signing day, then will return to Texas Tech to coach in the bowl game.
Running Backs Coach DeAndre Smith will be the interim's interim while Cumbie steps away. Sure, it's unorthodox, but assuming Cumbie can get a staff together and recruit, there's not much else he can do for Louisiana Tech in the dead period that follows the early signing period.
The big question is, who will replace the departing coaching staff at Texas Tech? The Red Raiders staff the full allotment of 11 coaches, including McGuire, but with only three assistants on staff so far, the McGuire Era is starting slowly.
Granted, McGuire has said that he's got his eye on some guys coaching in championship weekend, and Dave Aranda alluded to the fact that several Baylor coaches would be joining McGuire at Texas Tech. That could mean a lot of things, and I'll try to cover a few of those scenarios below.