Good morning West Texans and all you good, fine, friendly folks out there who wish you were . . .

Monday morning thoughts coming down

I can’t say that I’m surprised that Texas Tech Strength and Conditioning coach Bennie Wylie is moving on to Derek Dooley’s staff at Tennessee. When Tommy Tuberville was hired he kept Wylie on out of professional respect but also sent a clear sign that a six-month trial was in effect, virtually ensuring that if Wylie found something better in the meantime he’d be smart to take it.

Of course some Tech fans will overreact and claim that Tuberville has “run-off” another great Leach assistant, but that really isn’t fair to either side. Every coach in every sport usually thinks “their guy” is the best guy when it comes to S&Q. I’m sure Tuberville has an idea who he’d like to work with and that’s the main thing here. For both the head coach and the S&Q coach you need to be on the same page from the git-go.

Make no mistake, part of what Tuberville wants to and needs to do at Tech is change the culture. He must have coaches that can convey a new message. I don’t think that after years of telling the current players one thing under Mike Leach that Wylie would have as much credibility sending a different set of messages under Tuberville. Right or wrong, Tuberville needs someone fresh and at the same time Wylie needs to work with a coach he’s comfortable with. I hope he gets that in Knoxville.

For the most part Wylie improved things greatly at Tech in his department. That isn’t to say he didn’t have his detractors though, both around the program and outside it. That may surprise some Tech fans.

Many folks in the know will tell you they thought Wylie did a great job making players stronger and more powerful, but at the same time they had reservations about his commitment to the quickness side of things. The word was that Wylie focused so much on “stats” and power numbers that jump off that page but that there was a disconnect at times to how that translated onto the playing field for all positions.

I’m not smart enough to say whether that is true or not.

I’ve also heard from many that there was a caste-system at Tech in the weight room and that if you might be able to make the coach look good, you’d get more help and that certain players got more attention. Sounds like a typical set-up to me where you focus on starters more than scrubs but we’ve also heard it created a disparity amongst work-ethic on the team.

This isn’t to say Wylie isn’t a loss to Tech or that he isn’t a very good S&Q coach, because he is. It is saying that it is very hard for a S&Q coach to be everything to every coach. It’s difficult to straddle the line between power and strength and quickness and conditioning.

Tuberville made it very clear early on at Tech that he wanted to get the Red Raiders faster and quicker. He didn’t care so much about size as speed. That may or may not run counter to what Wylie does best, I don’t know. I do know that both coaches need to be comfortable with each others’ process and I had a feeling from day one that Wylie would be moving on as it is just the nature of the game.

So, thanks for everything Bennie and thanks for being a great Red Raider. I hope you figure out a way to rock the orange as well as you did the scarlet but you’ve got a challenging color scheme to deal with there on the sidelines!

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HYATT