Pros and cons of Texas Tech's potential hire of Matt Wells
WELLS TO TEXAS TECH: Texas Tech hires Matt Wells | Five questions about the hire
Texas Tech has hired Utah State's Matt Wells to be its 16th full-time head football coach. We dive into the pros and cons of Wells being tabbed to lead the Red Raiders.
PROS
...Wells maxed out the Utah State program. The Aggies have had won nine or more games just six times in their history, and Wells was head coach for three of them (10, 10, 9). He became Utah State’s all-time winningest coach (44) this season, and is the only coach in program history to take the Aggies to more than two bowl games (4).
... Wells has a history of plus staff hires. He hired Todd Orlando (now at Texas) to be his first defensive coordinator at Utah State. He hired Josh Heupel (now at UCF) to run the Aggies’ offense in 2015, and Wells’ current offensive coordinator, David Yost, was a semifinalist for the 2018 Broyles Award.
... Wells built a successful program at Utah State despite disadvantages, relative to its Mountain West peers, in location, recruiting base, program tradition and financial resources. It could be argued that Texas Tech faces similar challenges relative to its Big 12 and in-state rivals.
CONS
... Wells has no experience on the Power Five level. Despite a coaching career that spans more than two decades, the closest Wells has come to coaching in a power conference was one season in the Big East as Louisville’s quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator. The majority of his coaching career has been spent inside the Mountain West Conference, with three seasons at New Mexico and eight at Utah State.
... Wells has no obvious ties to Texas, which is concerning from a recruiting standpoint. He was born in Sallisaw, Okla., played at Utah State and has never worked in the Lone Star State. Wells spent several seasons coaching at nearby New Mexico and Tulsa, but that’s as close as he ever got to working in Texas.
... Ultimately Wells will be judged based on his record on the field, but news of his hire has largely been met with varying levels of negativity from the Red Raider fanbase. That may not matter if he is successful right away, as he was at Utah State, but it doesn't seem like Wells will get much benefit of the doubt from fans.