Texas Tech coach knows it’s time to be little more defensive

LUBBOCK, Texas—The question posed to Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury was blunt and to the point. The answer could very likely determine how much longer he will be at his alma mater.

While Kingsbury was on the podium during Big 12 football media days last month, someone took the microphone and asked why the Red Raiders defense has been so bad and how he was going to fix it.

Just like when Kingsbury was throwing touchdowns for the Red Raiders as their senior quarterback 15 years ago, they have no problem scoring points with him as their 38-year-old coach. Except they also keep giving up a lot, too. There have been four losses the past two seasons when they scored at least 52 points.

Kingsbury, who won his first seven games as Tech’s coach in 2013, is now 24-26 overall and a woeful 13-23 in Big 12 games. The Red Raiders have averaged 38.8 points a game in that span and allowed 39.6.

With first-round NFL draft pick Patrick Mahomes at quarterback last season, the Red Raiders led the nation with 565 total yards a game. They scored 524 total points, allowed 522 and finished 5-7.

Gibbs is going into his third season, the longest tenure for a Tech defensive coordinator since 2009.

Three defensive backs are among four junior college transfers, and there is also the return of linebacker Dakota Allen after a year away.

Kingsbury, meanwhile, is trying to take more of a CEO approach instead of being so focused on offense.

“Trying to be more involved in all aspects of the program,” Kingsbury said. “Not just saying, hey, we’re going to outscore everybody. We’re going to have a great quarterback. We’re going to score a bunch of points. But having an impact on special teams, strength and conditioning, defense, recruiting.”