Cumbie's move makes perfect sense, gives McGuire a clean slate to work with
Keeping Sonny Cumbie would’ve been a boon for new Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire. Bridge to the current players, relationships with the quarterbacks – at least three who seem likely to return – and a West Texas face to represent the program.
Losing Cumbie to a head-coaching job is obviously big for him but can also turn out to be a positive for the Red Raiders, assuming McGuire makes a move that balances out losing the Snyder native.
And who’s about to doubt that McGuire can’t do exactly that after the start he has gotten off to since he was introduced?
First things, first, there seems to be a genuinely strong bond between Cumbie and McGuire. So this doesn’t smack of an escape by any means.
I wasn’t in Lubbock when Art Briles left the Red Raider fold for Houston, but that never seemed like a comfortable marriage with Mike Leach – seemed more like Briles was foisted on the Pirate more than the head coach wanting to hire a popular Texas high school coach. I watched something similar unfold at LSU when Les Miles was more-or-less ordered to keep Jimbo Fisher as his offensive coordinator. Worked for a while, but Fisher jumped at the chance to leave for a similar post at Florida State.
That uneasiness just doesn’t seem to be at the core of this move at all.
First of all, there seems to be that bond between McGuire and Cumbie. And as a defensive-minded coach most of his career, it made a lot of sense for McGuire to count on the existing OC – not to mention the guy that Kirby Hocutt trusted to guide the program through some choppy waters as the interim coach – as he got comfortable in the shoes of being a college head coach for the first time
Nope, this is all about Cumbie getting a chance he has dreamed of and prepared for, which included a long apprenticeship at TCU.
Not all coaches strive to be a head coach. Not all coaches are meant to be head coaches. Tons of examples of that. What the last month has proven to me is that leading a program is something that Cumbie wants to do and is ready for.
Point to the dips of the last five games if you prefer but getting a team to bounce back after losses the way Cumbie oversaw – that’s what head coaches have to be able to do. And he did so first with the word “interim” hovering like a bad hangover then after McGuire hired. Then he had to transition from uncertainty to auditioning for a job in the blink of an eye and did do very well.
Folks at Louisiana Tech noticed – and just a hunch, but I bet former Bulldogs’ coach Sonny Dykes put in a good word for his former player and friend – and when Skip Holtz pulled the plug on his tenure, it’s hard to fathom that Cumbie wasn’t high on the AD’s call list. Same was likely true at Louisiana-Lafayette and would be at North Texas and UT-San Antonio if those jobs open up.
Because Cumbie showed the college football world something by keeping the Red Raiders from completely unravelling in his role as the interim head coach. And with the glaring exception of the struggle against Oklahoma State, he also coordinated an offense that navigated a quarterback switch to a redshirt freshman who grew into the role quite nicely.
Cumbie had to juggle those roles, as well as the emotions of an emotionally wounded team – players, assistant coaches, support personnel and all – and found a way to get Texas Tech to a bowl game for the first time since 2017.
Consider as well that Cumbie is 40 years old, so waiting a whole lot longer to become a head coach could’ve been risky. McGuire is a bit of a unicorn – landing a Power-5 head-coaching position without a stop at a lower rung on the career ladder. But most coaches have to find a place for an intermediate step and Louisiana Tech is a perfect place for Cumbie to do so.
The other side of this move is that it completely clears the slate for McGuire. While there didn’t seem like there would been any discomfort working with Cumbie, that possibility is a non-issue now. McGuire can find the guy he wants and can hand him the keys to the offense. Might not be somebody he has worked with before, but it will be his guy, and to a lot of coaches, that’s an important distinction.
Whoever that is will need to possess some of the traits that made him attractive to McGuire as an offensive coordinator. The one thing that will be hard to replicate doesn’t seem to be a huge worry: Tech is losing the established relationships Cumbie had built with the current players, but relationship-building certainly seems to be one of McGuire’s biggest strengths.
Cumbie saw his chance and jumped at it – and good for him and Louisiana Tech for seeing a connection that made perfect sense. Now McGuire can find somebody to partner with him as he begins the process of taking the Red Raiders back to a more competitive level.
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Randy Rosetta is the Managing Editor of RedRaiderSports.com
Follow on Twitter | @RandyRosetta or @RedRaiderSports
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