Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt was announced as the Chairman of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee on Jan. 14. He replaced Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long, who had served as Chairman for the first two seasons of the CFB Playoff.

Less than four weeks after he was announced as Texas Tech's new running backs coach, Jabbar Juluke left to join Les Miles' staff at LSU. It was long understood that LSU was a dream job for Juluke, a Louisiana native, so when a spot opened up with the Tigers it was seen as a foregone conclusion that Juluke would jump if given the opportunity.

Kliff Kingsbury hired DeShaun Foster a few weeks later to replace Juluke as running backs coach.

Led by third-year coach Tubby Smith, the Texas Tech men's basketball team ended a seven-season NCAA drought in 2015-16 thanks in large part to an incredible February. The Red Raiders posted a 7-3 record that month, including the program's first ever five-game Big 12 winning streak.

Texas Tech opened February with a home win over Oklahoma State and continued its strong play with wins over No. 14 Iowa State, No. 21 Baylor and No. 3 Oklahoma.

Less than a month after Texas Tech's 2015-16 season ended with an NCAA Tournament loss to Butler, Tubby Smith was announced as Memphis' next head basketball coach. The future Hall of Famer compiled a 46-50 record in three seasons on the South Plains, including a 19-13 mark in his final campaign.

Within 48 hours of Smith's departure for Memphis, Hocutt had secured a commitment from UNLV coach Chris Beard, a former Texas Tech assistant under Bob and Pat Knight, to become the Red Raiders' next head basketball coach.

In a condensed offseason, Beard dramatically transformed Texas Tech's roster, bringing in several junior college and graduate transfers, including Arkansas State standout Anthony Livingston.

Texas Tech dismissed linebacker Dakota Allen, the team's leading tackler in 2015, and offensive linemen Robert Castaneda and Trace Ellison in May for "a failure to uphold student-athlete expectations." The three were accused of burglary and indicted in June, but all charges were dropped later in the summer.

Allen played at East Mississippi Community College this fall. He recently announced his intention to return to Texas Tech in 2017.

The Texas Tech baseball team capped off one of the best seasons in program history with its second run to the College World Series in three years. The Red Raiders posted a 47-20 record and won the Big 12 title for the first time since 1997. Tim Tadlock's team finished 2016 ranked fourth nationally, the highest final ranking in school history.

Less than a week after Texas Tech's 2016 season concluded with a loss to Coastal Carolina in the College World Series, news broke that Texas was targeting Tadlock to fill its vacant skipper position. This story burned bright and hot for a day before Tadlock announced on Twitter that he would be sticking with the Red Raiders.

Texas Tech star quarterback Pat Mahomes set an NCAA record for total offense with 819 yards and tied the national passing mark in the Red Raiders' 66-59 loss to Oklahoma. Mahomes completed 52-of-88 passes for 734 yards, five touchdowns and an interception, while adding 85 yards and two scores on the ground.

The game was rather emblematic of the Red Raiders' 2016 season as the offense put up staggering numbers, but the team's defense gave up equally shocking numbers. Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield threw for 545 yards and seven touchdowns, Joe Mixon ran for 263 yards on 31 carries and Dede Westbrook caught nine passes for 202 yards and two scores.

In the wake of a disappointing 2016 campaign that saw the Red Raiders post a 5-7 record, including a humbling 66-10 loss to Iowa State, there was heavy speculation surrounding Kingsbury's job status. Hocutt addressed the discontent head-on in a media availability held just days after Texas Tech's season finale against Baylor and confirmed that Kingsbury would return as head coach in 2017.