Texas Tech Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt made it very clear
during his press conference on Saturday afternoon that he wanted someone that
was a West Texas guy to come in and lead the Red Raider football program into
the future.
Enter Kliff Kingsbury.
On Tuesday, the former Houston and Texas A&M offensive
coordinator and former Tech gunslinger was made the 15th head coach
in program history.
Kingsbury spent four seasons, 1999-2002, airing it out in
the Jones as a part of the baby steps of the air raid offense here at Tech
under former head coach Mike Leach.
The New Braunfels native finished his career with 11,867
yards and 91 touchdowns to his name and was one of the 2002 Heisman Trophy
candidates, completing his senior campaign with a career-high 4,642 yards and
42 touchdown passes.
Following his career at Tech, Kingsbury spent three years
bouncing around the NFL including stops with the New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, Denver Broncos and Buffalo Bills.
After hanging up the cleats, Kingsbury stepped into a
coaching role in 2008 becoming the Offensive Quality Control Assistant with the
Houston Cougars.
Then from 2010-2011, Kingsbury coached the quarterbacks and
served as the co-offensive coordinator, before this past season uprooting along
with Kevin Sumlin to head to Texas A&M and the
SEC.
Kingsbury spent the past season manufacturing an Aggie
offense that produced a 10-2 overall mark and, of course, the Heisman Trophy
winning quarterback Johnny Manziel.
Now after spending the past three seasons controlling the
offense at Houston and Texas A&M, Kingsbury gets to return home to his alma
mater for his first head coaching opportunity.