I noticed a couple of days ago that you had been conspicously quiet recently and knew you were up to something. Love your analysis. Keep ’em coming.

Both of these guys have been very successful at their schools. Tubs success can be seen with tangible stuff like divisional,conference, and BCS titles. Leach’s accomplishments can be pointed towards more “firsts” for a university. Leach has won more bowl games in his tenure here than he have as a program altogether. Thats a first. He has the most wins in school history. Another first. Someone correct me but we never beat a number 1 ranked team at the jones until Leach’s tenure? If so, then thats a first. Both of these men have been successful wherever they coached at, regardless of conference,opponents, etc. Leach was great, and i thank him for the memories. I exicted about Tubs and the new memories he will create here.

Wreck’Em

but to me here is the rub…..Leach is gone..I loved him, I wish he was still our coach….he had so many firsts@TTech….I have his autogragh and will always cherish it….he left the team with great talent….he really didn’t get out and promote TTech football on a regular basis…..did a great job of promoting himself & TTech on a national level….loved his offense but if you look back at the last 3 or 4 years he had begun to change somethings, i.e. trying to run more…..will never forget “the catch” on Halloween against the #1 teasips!!!!!!!!….then watching in person with my 2 sons the slaughter of osu(copycats)…..Leach is gone….thanks to the stooges…..so I must turn to the South Plains Drifter to continue what the Pirate began….I have no choice….by birth, being an alumnus, habit(50 yrs.) and compulsion I’m a RED RAIDER!!!!!!!! Wreck’Em Tech

They have bars which serve wonderful bitters, they come in pints !!! Only a few bob… ;-)

Actually, this is a greatly detailed and well considered review of schedules…I am looking forward to see how you look at performace.

I am wondering, now, if you are going to compare recruiting, if so, I am excited to see the way you establish your basis.

Great write up and my mind was racing trying to sift the information and make a reasonable comment. I guess if your playing in the SEC or Big 12 it’s probably wise to schedule a few cup cake games being how the conferences are so loaded with talent. I look at Tech’s future as a piramid of success that started with the hiring of Leach. No offense to Spike but I was a student back then and we were doing good just getting to a bowl. I feel like even though we lost Leach we are still on the cusp of breaking through and winning a Big 12 championship. I would also go as far as saying it’s going to take a solid defense to do it and Tuberville will do a better job with that side of the ball. Leach made our offense what it is today and I think it stays close to what he has built and now we have to do the same with the defense. In the end I think we Red Raiders dodged a huge bullet by getting Tuberville as a head coach. We all wanted Leach to stay but we certainly didn’t pull an A&M with this hire.

LR although we don’t always agree, you are a huge asset to DTN and I hope to meet in person one day. Based on lack of evidence in the Big 12 thus far, I have never felt that we have achieved an overall upgrade at HC with the hiring of Tubs. I felt we lost an elite caliber coach in Leach, and was hopeful that we got lucky to recruit another elite caliber coach in Tubs. Based on your report, the near identical past record indicates that hope is well founded. The ultimate answer cannot come by looking at the past however, but will come when play begins again on the field.

In the end this report seems to validate all sides of the debate, if there is a debate. Leach supporters are correct in their feeling that Leach was elite and just as much a winner as Tubs. And those hopeful that we won’t see a drop off with Tubs are validated that his past record inidcates he holds the same caliber pedigree as a winner as Leach had. This all good news for Raider football, and hopefully is another tipping point towards building excitement for the upcoming season.

I see all these tidbits, records and trends swimming around but can’t seem to reel them in and throw them in the cooler. You have a knack for capturing all of these details and stringing them together.

Looking forward to posts 2 and 3. It’s a great way to pass the time.

I guess it would be different if their was a decision between hiring one over the other but Tubs has the job so who cares what coach is better?

Because Tuberville will be coaching the same level of talent Leach had to work with at Tech (barring some massive increase in recruiting success. Tech’s signing class was ranked 6th in the Big 12 South this year, so there’s a lot of work to do upgrading that aspect of Tech football).

I think it’s important to note that Tuberville was at Ole Miss when they had scholarship limits, and that likely had a negative effect on his record there. I think a more appropriate comparison would be Tubs at Auburn vs Leach at Tech, and throw out the Ole Miss records.

Appreciate the in depth analysis London concerning the Tuberville & Leach coaching stats. Can’t wait for parts 2 & 3. From what I can surmise, it’s a wash between the two, although I think the SEC continues to garner more respect than the Big 12, mainly because of the medias’ love affair with that conference.
Nonetheless, as a Leach fan and supporter, I’ve always said that Tuberville couldn’t have been a better choice for us. I honestly think that with our improved defense, that alone will be good for another 2-3 wins a year, which if you think about it, could realistically cause us to go undefeated (based on past years records) and eventually win the Big 12 Championship….as of course Tuberville has preached at his latest few luncheons…

I think we have seen that Tech football has been improving in every facet yearly under Leach. Every reporter in the nation salivates when Mike Leach opens his mouth. Nationally I don’t think too many people give a crap about what Mack Brown or Mike Sherman has to say. I would dare to say the same about Tubby. I think this is as or more valuable than alumni butt kissing. Leach gave the school and athletic program an indentity. I really appreciated that. Before we were just a program that would sometimes win and sometimes lose and you never knew when either was going to happen. WIth Leach Tech was always in the game even if we were 31 points down. This is invaluable. I don’t think the overall winning percentage is a tell all of what the coach brings to the table. We were pirates! We were outlaws! We were a team that did things our way, everyone else be damned, and we won! Leach, single handedly, changed the game of college football. He was still in his first head coaching job. How many other head coaches in their first job did what he did?

is giving us our own real identity. Just support the South Plains Drifter to encourage him to win, win, win and we as a fan base continue to explore a national identity. Our students have done a great job of “dressing up” so we as a fan base can continue pirates, outlaws, matadors, or gamblers. Whatever it is our identity is on us!!!!!Wreck’Em Tech

What is it about guys from the deep south not having any lips? Did they breed lips out of the race back in the 19th century?

If we ever actually make it to England I’m looking you up and buying you lot’s of beer.

I think what you might have to consider is that the Auburn job was Tuberville’s second, while Texas Tech was Leach’s first, in Div I football. While Leach had some outrageous ideas concerning the offense when he arrived at Tech, he had never had to consider what the defense needed to be like to maximize what the offense brought to the table. This is something I think he had to, and did, learn after a few years of mild success. His decision to release Setencic (sp?) and move Ruffin up started the uptic for Tech. Since Ruff was also learning on the run, sort of, the defense took a year or so to begin jelling. I still have no doubt that Leach had Texas Tech football at a point where he was going to have the team vying for a national championship on a continual basis. He was getting better and better recruits on offense AND defense. If the GOBs would have made an attempt to like Leach and show approval of his football coaching abilities, I feel Tech would have shined for years. However, their negativity began affecting Leach and the rest of the team, maybe the staff, suffered, causing the whole football team to be less than they should have been. Now, I just hope Tuberville can re-invigorate the team, while also rebuilding trust in the fan base. Should he do so, there is no limit, IMO, how high Tech can go. Well, there is a limit, so to speak——the National Championship! So, while the Captain sips margaritas on the sandy beaches of Key West, Florida, the Red Raiders will be establishing themselves as an elite football power nationwide, right there in the sandy atmosphere of Lubbock, Texas…..unless the GOBs become unhappy, again.