UH fires defensive coordinator D’Onofrio; Texas Tech parts ways with Kingsbury.
LUBBOCK — Kliff Kingsbury was fired Sunday by Texas Tech after the former record-setting Red Raiders quarterback had a losing overall record in his six seasons as head coach.
The move came a day after Texas Tech finished its third consecutive losing season with a 35-24 loss to Baylor when it had a chance to win and become bowl eligible. That was the Red Raiders’ fifth consecutive loss after a 5-2 start.
“It’s not based on one game. This type of decision is not based on one season. This decision was made based on a threeyear pattern, a three-year pattern of inconsistency,” athletic director Kirby Hocutt said during a campus news conference. “We saw progress, but we also saw lapses of progress in key critical areas.”
Kingsbury finished with a 35-40 overall record, a .467 winning percentage that is better than only two of the other 14 coaches in the program’s history.
Texas Tech was 19-35 in Big 12 games under Kingsbury, including 3-6 in the conference each of the last three seasons even while consistently having one of the nation’s top offenses with quality quarterbacks. The Red Raiders have now gone nine consecutive seasons without a winning record in Big 12 play.
“We’ve had one of the most highly prolific offenses in the nation, and we still sit here today with a losing record over the past six years,” Hocutt said. “We cannot be one-dimensional and have success in this league.”
Tech averaged 520 total yards and 38 points a game under Kingsbury but gave up 487 yards and 37 points a game, even while showing periods of improvement in defensive coordinator David Gibbs’ four seasons.
After starting 7-0 in Kingsbury’s debut in 2013, the Red Raiders finished 8-5. They had a five-game losing streak before beating Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl to cap what ended up being his best season.
Kingsbury was only 33 when he took over as head coach of his alma mater after Tommy Tuberville’s unexpected resignation after the 2012 season. At the time, Kingsbury was coming off his only season as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M in 2012 when Aggies quarterback Johnny Manziel became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy. Kingsbury previously coached Case Keenum at Houston.
Odds and ends
North Carolina football coach Larry Fedora is out after seven seasons. Fedora won 11 games and an Atlantic Coast Conference division championship in 2015 but slipped to 8-5 the next season and then went 5-18 over the past two seasons, including 2-9 this year. … Clay Helton will remain Southern California’s head coach after the Trojans’ first losing season since 2000. USC athletic director Lynn Swann made the announcement a day after the Trojans finished 5-7 with a loss to Notre Dame. Helton is 32-17 in his first head-coaching job. … Illinois extended the contract of coach Lovie Smith for two years through 2023 after the Illini finished his third season with four victories. Smith is 9-27 in three seasons with the Illini and 4-23 in the Big Ten.