On Sunday afternoon, Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt ended any speculation that the Red Raiders head football coach will return in 2017.
“I believed in Kliff Kingsbury when we hired him in December of 2012, and I believe in Kliff Kingsbury today,” Hocutt said. “I look forward to future success under his leadership. As we move forward, I am confident that they’re are much better days ahead for Texas Tech football.”
When Hocutt was asked if Kingsbury would definitively return next season, “absolutely, absolutely,” Hocutt answered.
However, Hocutt continued to emphasize that given how the season finished, they’re not satisfied with the outcome.
“That being said. None of us are happy, believe me, with staning here after a 5-7 season. When you turn in the pads in November, that’s not a good thing, and we don’t plan to be in this position again,” Hocutt said.
In four seasons at the helm for Texas Tech, Kliff Kingsbury holds an overall record of 24-26, along with a career record of 13-23 against Big 12 competition.
Two out of his four seasons have now finished with sub-.500 records, however Hocutt was confident that Kingsbury is still the guy to lead this Red Raider program, and get things right next season.
How many wins will that Kingsbury will have to reach? Of that, Hocutt was not sure. However, he was certain of when this program needs to get back to competing at a championship level.
“Oh…tomorrow. I mean we’re not happy with where we are. We’re disappointed, but I still believe that the best thing for us is to stay the course. I would never go as far as to say, ‘hey we’ve got to get this many wins for us to consider this a successful season.’ There are so many things that can happen with in the course of a football season, and the way the ball can bounce, but it’s hard to say how close we are,” Hocutt said. “But we’re better than a 5-7 football team. We’re better than what we showed this year. We’ve just got to find a way to execute at a consistent level that we saw signs of last Friday night, and if we can do that, I think we’ll be happy with the outcome.”
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