Coming off a 5-7 season, Tech coach Tommy Tuberville faced inevitable questions at Big 12 media days about the pressure that will be associated with his third season in Lubbock.
Tuberville believes he's just getting started.
"Just being here a couple years, people have said, 'Hey, you're on the hot seat,'" Tuberville said. "I'd like to be able to coach some of these guys that we've recruited."
Tuberville said increased depth, particularly on defense, has him feeling optimistic about his team's chances after a disastrous campaign in 2011 that saw the Red Raiders lose their final five games of the season.
The coach said Tech has "doubled the talent" on the defensive side of the ball.
"We're making progress," he said. "That's what I look at as a head coach. We've recruited a lot better in the last two years than I dreamed we ever would when I got here.
"I had people tell me you can't recruit here, it's hard, you're too far away from everybody. ... But we've overcome that. We've bucked all odds in terms of recruiting."
Tuberville said a team needs about 30 players on defense in the Big 12 who can fill in productively on a day-in-day-out basis, adding that Tech only had 15 such athletes last season.
Reasons for increased depth this season: Tech has added a number of junior-college players -- linebacker Will Smith chief among them -- on the defensive end, while also returning most of the letterwinners from last season's team.
Tech will also benefit from the addition of players who redshirted last season, such as 6-foot-4, 255-pound defensive end Branden Jackson, who Tuberville says will be a "great player" for Tech this season.
Tuberville said new defensive coordinator Art Kaufman will be a major factor when Tech enters its Big 12 Conference schedule because of his experience in adapting to the league's varying, diverse offensive game plans.
"There will be dramatic change each week in terms of what offense you have (to face)," Tuberville said, "so you have to have someone who show to adapt to different offenses. That only comes with experience, and Art has been there."
Comments (15)
Add commentToo Far Away
The way to counter that is we are too far way. Is to explain that Tech is too far away for out of town boy friends. When you meet a girl her old buoy may visit once and then she is yours. Austin is the worst. I know for I lived there after Tech and almost every weekend there was some guy from Houston, Dallas or San Antonio coming for the weekend to mess everything up. Also, like I explained to this big dumb Aggie at the bar the other night it's not about Lubbock, it's about the campus and the co-eds. Tk
Please Correct Any Errors Herein
1. The players Tuberville can't win with won 20 of their last 26 before he showed up.
2. Don't believe anything Tuberville says. Ask the people who invested with him.
3. You'll know when Tuberville is gone when you see Dicky Grigg in town to cheat him out of his pay and his job.
4. Kent Hance is never seen in public taking questions from the little people.
5. Tech is a dead duck as long as Hance, Scovell, White, Sowell, Anders, and Turner hold sway.
Hot Seat
The heat supply to the hot seat ain't hot enuff. His @$$ should have been fired last December. What a joke.
Hey trooper Keaton, you don't
Hey trooper Keaton, you don't have to worry about Lubbock being too far away, im sure coyote and factsrfacts will fill in just fine. By the way....we're you referring to lodotxA&M as the aggie?
Tech is going to show dramatic improvement on defense, Michael Starts looks like a big time recruit and could help immediately. Kaufmans experience will be like Wade Phillips on texans last year.
Tuberville will not be here in 2013
Tuberville said the defense was improving last year, and it was a disaster last year. Whatever comes out of his mouth is a lie, and is just talk. When Mike Leach was here, he didn't have losing seasons when he was bringing his players. Again it is clearly coaching. Tuberville is desperate for his job, and will be fired this year. Expect Sonny Dykes next year.
Poor Ole Leacher Wet Blankies....
On and on the paid three or four left Leachers write in their futility to be disruptive at Raiderland! How pathetic they are. None have Tech degrees. None probably even have real jobs. And none will shout their opinions above in a Tech game this fall unless they like gettin' a can of whup-[filtered word] opened up all round em.
Tubs is the real deal!
I like to be positive most of the time (sorry for some of my rantings Neal Brown... well- mostly). Ha! But Tubs is exactly the kind of coach Raiderland needs. He reminds me alot of JT King who brought Tech along and into the Southwest conference in the early sixties. He was very innovative yet laid back. He whipped UT for the first time in Austin. He recruited All-Americans Donnie ANderson and Dave Parks both being first round draft picks and Parks being first pick overall ! Also John Scovell and Tom Wilson. And they were pretty durn good qb's in their day. And that was just the offense.
He also reminds me of Spike. A real man who means what he says and says what he means. He tried to let his play on the field do his talking for him. Spike went 5-5 against UT and beat both Stoops and Leach with a freshman qb in the Jones for his last game! Not too shabby for the coach and bus driver from Coahoma.
We are lucky to have one of his stature at Raiderland and I personally feel good about this upcoming season. Stick around and have some fun! AND BEAT THE HELL OUTTA TEXAS !!!
@ flash lite
i agree with your statements! Guns up!
factsrfacts
Like many people there? That's quite a list of people you hate. Seriously, life is more enjoyable sans the hate......you should try it.
Flash
Living in the past I see, try joining us in 2012. After all this time you think Tech is equal to the UT & OU football programs- delusional much? We're picked next to last and you talk about how innovative Tubs is- keep trying to polish that turd.
@Flash
Tuberville's "innovative"? Please explain some more and cite examples of his innovation. Was it hiring "bubble-screen" Brown? I always say give a coach one more year than he deserves just to make sure firing is the right decision and I still stand by that. If we jus fire Tuberville, we're just starting from scratch all over again and it'll be another 4-5 years before we see results. Also, if Tuberville is fired, who's available?
Players gotta come thru!
Pullin the plug on TT right now would just not be smart and Kirby knows that! Recruiting is back to a very respectable level and butts are filling the 60,000 seats at all time levels. The game has already changed from everybody trying to play basketball on grass. Raiderland is changing with it. I see lite at the end of the tunnel and we jus gotta keep on doing what we do to progress. Hopefully we have seen the end of our problems on the defensive side of the ball and will be back to a level we need to make everything "click". And remember: coaches coach but players play the game. Players gotta come thru!
People crying about the D and Coach T
Don't forget we were killed by injuries last year. It was the worst I have ever seen in a football team. That can have effects on all sides of the ball. My question is what are the Debbie Downers going to do when tech turns it around? Cry about spilled milk?
Yes, we were the only team to
Yes, we were the only team to have injuries last season... Let me guess -if Tubs wins 8 games consistently that's the new measure of success at Tech, funny how Tubs quit using the word 'championship' every other sentence after his first season at Tech. What's more abundant in Lubbock Kool-Aid or beer?
@atxraider
i agree with you because you know it isnt good when you have to move a receiver to db in the middle of the season because of injuries. I guess no one saw that but us. We had freshman starting on defense and im wondering if i was the only person who saw that.? Since you guys like to use stats how many of Leachs players left the program after Leach was fired? How many players got injured last season? Key Players? Factor all of that together all of that in together & you should come up with the conclusion of Leach didnt leave the cupboard bare but some of his players left for whatever reason after he was fired, A high number season ending/offseason surgeries not including the other players (darrin moore & leon mackey) who got injured & missed some games all factored into that 5-7 record last season. Those arent excuses they are facts