Why Tommy Tuberville Will Help Texas Tech

I want to make one thing clear before I start. I am glad Tommy Tuberville is gone from Auburn.

There was a conflict between him and some of the Auburn alumni and ex-coaches that was hurting the program. The fault for this was on both sides. I will not elaborate, as that is an Auburn story and this is about Texas Tech.

Tommy Tuberville took over Auburn after the tenure of a great in-game coach and a lazy recruiter. Tuberville then immediately raised the level of talent in the program. If anyone should doubt his ability to find and secure talent feel free to look at a few of his former players in the NFL here. 

Tommy Tuberville does not believe in the normal scouting services like Rivals and Scout. Most of his recruits came from prospects who were invited and took part in a series of camps he ran. He brought them in and evaluated them to his own standards. 

Depending on how much Scout and Rivals paid attention to the results of these camps, his recruiting class rating varied. The talent never did. The one problem with his system was academic eligibility.

His camps graded recruits on how well they could play football, not how they would perform in the classroom. Forty-one percent of his last three recruiting classes never made it to the field.

We must remember the ones who did make it were of the highest quality. Ben Tate, Antonio Coleman, and Walter McFadden will be the three latest members of the NFL elite who came through his system. There were several NFL players from every class and every year he was at Auburn. 

Many of the players he found who could not qualify came back to Auburn after a period at prep school or junior college. Others found their ways to other programs.

The point is his process found talent and motivated the players to do what it took to make themselves ready to get to the next level. Eltoro Freeman is the latest example of this at Auburn this year.

In Texas, the University of Texas usually gets the high-profile recruits it wants. The rest of the region also recruits Texas heavily. This will make little difference to Tommy Tuberville. His series of camps and his ties to the recruits early on give him an insurmountable advantage. He will upgrade the talent at Texas Tech.

Tommy Tuberville is not an offensive coach. He is a great game coach and game strategist. He is one of the best defensive minds in college football. He is abysmal at offensive coaching.

He relies heavily on his staff and offensive coordinator for this. This was his undoing at Auburn. He had several on his staff who had followed him throughout his career. Some on the offensive side had grown stale and were no longer effective. 

Tuberville would change coordinators, but he refused to change the offensive position coaches. This led to poor performance on the offensive side of the ball. It cost him his relationship with Auburn in the end. He no longer has this dead wood to support. 

He was putting in a system similar to the Air Raid with Tony Franklin when his final season fell apart. He knew this was necessary to keep the program fresh and exciting. He will be ecstatic there is a working system in place at Texas Tech. He will add to it but will not turn from it.

The need for speed is and always has been foremost in Tuberville's mind. He understands speed will make up for many errors. He does not like corners, safeties, and linebackers who do not have sub-4.5 speed. He did have some, but they were the exception and not the rule.

Tuberville would rather recruit a fast, athletic, small player and build him up. This will be a trend for the future of Texas Tech football. One only needs to look at this year's Auburn Tigers to know how effective this process is. With a new offensive system and the same players, Auburn set a single season offensive record with Tuberville recruits.

Tuberville is most dangerous when perceived as an underdog. He has developed and executed brilliant game plans time and time again that allowed his teams to compete in games in which they were at overwhelming odds. This trait alone will put Texas Tech in contention for the Big 12. 

I do not expect Texas Tech to take over and dominate the Big 12 with Tommy Tuberville. I do expect them to take a seat at the table. Texas Tech will win the Big 12 on occasion and contend for it regularly. This is not the norm for Texas Tech.

The Texas Tech football program will draw interest from fans. Once they figure out the chances of winning as the underdog are going to be high, the stands will fill up regularly. The program will grow and expand under his guidance.  

I do not know how long Tommy Tuberville will stay at Texas Tech. Much likely depends on his developing relationship with administration and alumni.

One thing I do know is Texas Tech will benefit from his stay no matter what the length.