Has Texas Tech finally solved its identity as the Bermuda Triangle of coaching?
Easy to forget that it wasn’t that long ago Texas Tech was 20 seconds away from winning a national title in men’s basketball.
Tech’s painful, overtime loss in the title game to Virginia was in the spring of 2019, which only feels like 2,019 years ago, as does nearly everything else that happened before COVID.
Since that game, Texas Tech somehow maintained its reputation as the Stranger Things of college basketball, specifically with their coaches. Every time Tech was sure it had “The Guy,” something happened.
Bob Knight quit. They fired his son. They fired the next guy. The next guy was only an interim. The next guy left for Memphis. The next guy left for Texas, where he was fired. The next guy “resigned.”
Since 2000, Texas Tech has had 10 head coaches.
This time it actually feels like their guy on the sideline won’t leave. Or get himself fired.
In his first season as the head coach at Texas Tech, Grant McCasland has the Red Raiders in the top 25 and they should make the NCAA Tournament.
On Tuesday night in Lubbock, the No 23. Red Raiders trailed TCU by 10 points with 6:29 remaining before coming back to win, 82-81. The Red Raiders are 19-7, and 8-5 in the Big 12.
This was not expected. Not in Year One.
Tech was 16-16 last season before head coach Mark Adams “resigned” for making racially insensitive remarks, specifically referencing a Bible verse about slaves serving masters.
The entire saga was bizarre, but consistent with the Texas Tech basketball program since James Dickey was fired in 2001. Adams’ exit created the opportunity for Tech to hire McCasland.
“To be a part of this atmosphere, and have this home court advantage, we don’t win that game if not for the people in that building,” McCasland said after the win. “I am so thankful for the people that love watching us play. I love being at this university. This place is special.”
Not every man who has had this job means it. McCasland sounds like he does.
Barring an unforeseen collapse, Texas Tech will return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022, under Adams. That was the year after Chris Beard left for Texas.
As many kick-to-the-face moments Texas Tech has experienced over the years, Beard leaving Lubbock for Austin may rank as the most insulting. Beard wanted to be at Texas Tech, and was going to stay here until he retired.
(The little secret was the job he always wanted was Texas, and when UT figured out a way to “move” coach Shaka Smart to Marquette to create an opening for Beard, it was over.)
Texas Tech desperately needed McCasland more than McCasland needed Texas Tech.
After posting 20-plus win seasons in each of his six years at North Texas, including the school’s first and only NCAA Tournament win, a school was eventually going to hire him. He had done just about everything a coach can be expected to do at UNT.
The timing was both terrible, and perfect, for Tech.
“You always want that stability and people you believe want to be here, fighting day in and day out,” Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt said in an interview at the Texas Tech football stadium on Tuesday. “With Grant McCasland, we found someone who has been a winner every place that he’s been.
“We found somebody who embraced the values of West Texas.”
Don’t underestimate the value of that detail; one of the harder parts to Hocutt’s job is finding a candidate who understands living in West Texas. It’s not for everybody.
“He was here with coach Dickey. His wife played soccer here. They met when Grant was on Coach Dickey’s staff,” Hocutt said. “We found someone who is respected throughout basketball, and when you watch his North Texas teams play a lot of people say, ‘He’s a great defensive coach, can he coach offense?’ We’ve seen very quickly, yes.”
Tech ranks in the top third in the nation in scoring, and 33rd in 3-point shooting.
This is not a complete team, but it is much better than anyone anticipated when McCasland, 47, came here.
The players saw it immediately. Or close to it.
“First scrimmage, we beat Texas A&M,” sophomore guard Pop Isaacs said Tuesday of his team’s preseason exhibition game against the Aggies. “We were a brand new team. We knew it would take time. To see us compete at a high level, to beat a team like that, that showed me a lot.”
Texas Tech needs this to work, and maybe this time its basketball coach won’t quit, resign or be fired but rather be here long enough to actually retire.
