COACHING CAROUSEL CLIPS

Though Kliff Kingsbury’s not necessarily on the hot seat, conversations with multiple people in the coaching search industry who spoke on the condition of anonymity pointed to Texas Tech as a situation to monitor in the coming weeks.

That’s how bad of a look it was for Kingsbury to lose at Arizona State last Saturday. It wasn’t necessarily the result that caught the attention of some in the industry but rather the 68-55 final score. It’s the third time in the last 11 games Texas Tech has scored 50 points and lost, and it brings more questions about whether Kingsbury has what it takes to fix the Red Raiders defense.

He changed coordinators before last season, bringing well-respected David Gibbs over from Houston, but the results aren’t getting better. Kingsbury has a contract through 2020 with $9.4 million guaranteed after this season.

In other words, it seems highly unlikely that Texas Tech would come up with $10 million to fire a popular alumnus who, at 37, is still growing as a head coach. Still, his career record is 20-20 and 1017 in the Big 12. If the defense doesn’t get fixed this year, pressure could build significantly for 2017.