Texas Tech Football: Top 5 Candidates to Fill the Defensive Coordinator Job

Though there are undoubtedly a slew of question marks for the Red Raiders in 2011, filling the opening at defensive coordinator must top the list.

Tommy Tuberville brought James Willis to Tech prior to the 2010 season to initiate a defensive revival in Lubbock, which for all practical purposes showed very few signs of actual promise.

Tech finished its 2010 campaign ranked No. 86 overall in total defense (allowing 30.3 points per game), No. 66 overall in rushing defense (allowing 1,884 total yards on the ground or 157 yards per game) and a dismal No. 120 (out of 120) overall in pass defense (allowing a total of 3,673 yards through the air or 306.1 passing yards per game).

Willis’ sudden departure just days before Tech’s appearance in the Ticket City Bowl vs. Northwestern was shocking and as of yet is still an unexplained mystery.

Regardless of why he left and where he will end up, it will never be known if Willis’ first season in Lubbock would have actually led to the promised land of a stifling defense for the Red Raider Nation. 

The burning question now is whom Tuberville will select to replace Willis and subsequently who will continue the quest for the “D” necessary to fulfill Tommy’s visions of championship grandeur.

Tuberville purportedly spoke to approximately 10 candidates last week while attending the American Football Coaches Association Convention and will bring several of these possible replacements to Lubbock this week to speak further about the opening.

Whether he will actually fill the role in the coming week remains to be seen, as Tuberville has also stated that he is not afraid to start the process over again if he can’t find the right fit.

The following slideshow combines rumor with wild unfounded wishful thinking in order to come up with the top five candidates to replace James Willis as the defensive coordinator at Texas Tech.

Sam McElroy

Current Position: Defensive line coach, Texas Tech

McElroy served as the interim defensive coordinator for Texas Tech for its victory over Northwestern in this year's Ticket City Bowl.

McElroy is a native of Corsicana, Texas, and graduated from Southwest Texas State in San Marcus, where he did not play football but served as a student assistant in the football program.

Previous college coaching experience includes a seven-year stint as the defensive backs coach at Sam Houston, three years as the defensive coordinator at Tarleton State, two seasons as the defensive backs coach at North Texas and most recently five years as the head coach at Tarleton State.

While at Tarleton, McElroy led the Texans to a 40-15 record.

There is currently no indication that McElroy is not being considered for the coordinator job at Tech.

David Blackwell

Current Position: Unknown

Blackwell was most recently at the University of South Florida, where he served as the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the 2009 season under then-head coach Jim Leavitt.

The Bulls’ 2009 defense was ranked No. 30 in scoring defense, allowing only 21.2 points per game.

Blackwell is not currently listed as a member of Skip Holtz’s staff at USF.

Previous to the stint at USF, Blackwell served as linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator at Clemson, Pitt, Illinois State and East Carolina.

Blackwell is an East Carolina alumnus who played linebacker for the Pirates before suffering a career-ending neck injury.

Blackwell has been rumored to be mentioned in conjuction with the opening at Texas Tech.

Matt Wallerstedt

Current Position: Associate head coach/defensive coordinator/inside linebackers coach, Air Force

Wallerstedt’s 2010 Air Force defense ranked No. 39 overall in scoring, allowing only 22.3 points per game.

The Falcons ranked an impressive No. 5 overall in passing defense (allowing only 1,880 total yards through the air or 156.7 yards per game) and were No. 99 against the run (giving up 2,341 total yards on the ground or 195.1 yards per game).

Wallerstedt played at Kansas State under Bill Snyder. Before joining the staff at Air Force in 2008 as the linebackers and special teams coach, he made stops at Fort Hays State, Emporia State, Wyoming, North Alabama, Akron and Kansas State, where he was the linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator from 2006-07.

MSNBC.com has recently reported that though Texas Tech is indeed interested in Matt Wallerstedt that he—at least according to an Air Force spokesperson—is not currently considering a move to Lubbock.

Scott Shafer

Current Position: Defensive coordinator, Syracuse

Shafer’s 2010 Syracuse “D” ranked No. 13 overall in scoring and No. 6 in passing yards allowed.  The Orange defense was critical in transforming a 4-8 Syracuse team to the 8-5 team that ended the season with a win over Kansas State in the Pinstripe Bowl.

Previous to Syracuse, Shafer served for one season as the defensive coordinator at Michigan under Rich Rodriguez and spent 2007 in the same capacity at Stanford under Jim Harbaugh leading the Cardinal to a No. 5 ranking nationally.

Shafer, who played QB at Ohio University and Baldwin-Wallace College, also made coaching stops at Northern Illinois, Illinois and Western Michigan.

Shafer has not been connected with the Tech job, but who wouldn’t have a guy with this sort of track record on the short list?

Dave Huxtable

Current Position: Defensive coordinator, Central Florida

Dave Huxtable has successfully led the defensive unit at UCF since 2008.

Huxtable’s 2008 Knight “D” allowed only 24.1 points per game, and his 2009 unit's average was reduced to 20.7 points per game. That number was brought all the way down to 17.1 points per game, earning UCF the No. 8 spot overall in college football.

The 11-3 2010 Knights captured a Conference USA title and won their first-ever bowl game with a shocking 10-6 defeat of Georgia in the Liberty Bowl—all on the backs of Huxtable’s venerable “D”.

Prior to taking over defensive coordinator duties at UCF, Huxtable served as linebackers and special teams coach for four seasons at UCF and also made coaching stops at Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, East Carolina and Western Kentucky.

Huxtable graduated in 1979 from Eastern Illinois and has not been connected in any way (yet) with the Texas Tech defensive coordinator opening.

Another guy for the short list?  Absolutely.