A Breakdown of the Texas Tech Men’s Basketball Coaches

It has been no secret to any of us that Mark Adams is stacking his staff up. Nonetheless, with a powerhouse of hungry coaches ready to work to win just like him. Since the news broke, April 6, 2021, that Mark Adams would be named the new Texas Tech men’s head basketball coach, he has been recruiting not only top athletes, but Adams has been stacking his coaching staff with the best of the best coaches and people, ready to show everyone he is the man for this job.

Mark Adams – Head Coach

Mark Adams was named the 18th men’s basketball head coach in program history for Texas Tech. Adams is a West Texas native. He graduated from Texas Tech in 1979, since then has had over 23 seasons of experience being a Head Coach. He has coached for many levels and has proved to be a winner in every single one of them. Adams has proved numerous times that he is a winner wherever he goes. Over the 23 seasons, Adams has had a 554-244 record.

Adams has been part of the Texas Tech men’s basketball program for the past five seasons. Adams was assistant or associate head coach until named head coach. He has also received 15 Coach of the Year honors during his time as a head coach. Over the past five years, Texas Tech has had a tough and aggressive defense, this is because of Adams. Adams has been the defensive mastermind for Texas Tech for many years. Now we finally get to see him take this defense to an even better level.

Barret Peery – Associate Head Coach

Peery spent four seasons as a head coach at Portland State, prior to being named Associate head coach at Texas Tech. He went into a program that was falling apart and spent four years rebuilding it and making it the best he could. Peery has had 25 years of coaching experience and has had major success.

Peery’s personality is much like his coaching and playing style. He is very uptempo, focused, confident, and controlled. At Portland, he was known for having a strong defense, but the way he runs an offense excites me. I am ready to see strong, intense action from both sides of the floor, and Peery brings that.

Since he stepped foot here in Lubbock, he has not only shown support for his new team, he has shown support to the community and all other things Texas Tech-related. Peery has easily proved himself to be a strong asset to our team early on, and a strong asset for Lubbock, his support on Twitter for anything and everything Lubbock/ Texas Tech are absolutely unmatched.

Corey Williams – Assistant Coach

Williams is known for being a star player for Oklahoma State and a member of the 1993 NBA Champion Chicago Bulls team. Since his time playing ball, he has had over 20 years of experience coaching. Before getting hired by Texas Tech, Williams worked for the Arkansas Razorbacks for two seasons, and before that, he was the head coach at Stetson for six seasons.

Williams is a tremendous addition to the program because of his strong ability to recruit. He led Arkansas to have the fifth-best recruiting class of 2020. Williams has strong recruiting abilities when it comes to high school and prep school players. This is very good for Texas Tech, because far we have gotten many transfers and JUCO players, and Williams is able to bring in star high school prospects.

Talvin Hester – Assistant Coach

Entering his 20th season coaching, Hester coached at Louisiana Tech for 3 successful seasons prior to coming to Texas Tech. Hester also coached and made a tremendous impact on Houston, Oral Roberts, Stephen F. Austin, and Prairie View A&M, recruiting-wise and overall helping the players grow throughout the seasons.

Hester is a strong recruiter but is also the type of coach that is willing to do whatever to help his team win. Hester is also a major key to the Red Raiders besides recruiting because he is able to help the players with development and is skilled in floor coaching. I see Hester being a strong member of the staff because of his excellence in recruiting, but also his ability to want to do more for the team.

Darby Rich – Strength and Conditioning Coach

Prior to being an added addition to the Red Raider staff, Rich coached two seasons at the University of Memphis. Rich is regarded to be one of the tops in his profession. He has also had experience at Texas A&M, University of Oklahoma, University of South Carolina, and Hutchinson Community College, where he started his coaching career in 1994, helping his team win the 1994 NJCAA National Title.

Rich has helped lead nine teams to the NCAA tournament and 14 players to the NBA. He has had such a successful career coaching because his mentality going into every day is hard work, toughness, accountability, and mental toughness. He brings a lot to the Texas Tech program, because with Rich’s success and hard work on top of the players, coaches, and the program ready to work, he will be a key piece to getting our team ready to play.

Darryl Dora – Director of Player Development

Darryl Dora is a returning Red Raider who played under Bob Knight from 2004 to 2007. Dora pursued his professional career in France, which came to an end in 2013. Dora returned to Texas Tech and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Human Sciences in 2016. He also earned his master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies in 2019. After graduating in 2016, Dora then became a graduate assistant for player development until 2019. He helped the program reach the 2018 Elite 8 and 2019 NCAA Championship Final.

For the past two seasons, Dora has been coaching at Austin Peay University as an assistant coach. His roles included recruiting, coaching, scheduling, and film study. Dora is important to this program because of his relationship to the program already, having been there, and is like a big brother to the players. I see Dora helping these players become successful in every way. He will be able to relate with the players and isn’t afraid of showing hard love.

Overall, we can see that Mark Adams has a system behind those closed doors, and that system is clearly working. I am excited to see what these coaches bring to the team and program. I can tell by Adams recruiting he is only interested in the hardest working, genuine, all-around coaches and players. This will be very healthy going into a fresh new season and new team. I for one have already started counting down the days!