Three Potential Offensive Coordinators for Texas Tech:

It was announced that Offensive Coordinator Sonny Cumbie would be leaving Lubbock to take the head coaching job at Louisiana Tech. This left Head Coach Joey McGuire with the responsibility of finding a new guy to run the offense. Here are three candidates you should keep an eye on:

Zach Kittley:

Kittley is currently the Offensive Coordinator and play-caller at Western Kentucky. He has been with the Hilltoppers since December of last year. They are currently 8-4 on the season and just played in the Conference USA Championship game against UTSA.

Kittley coached under Kingsbury when he was head coach from 2013-2017. He does Texas Tech ties given that his dad is the head coach for Track & Field.

Having Kittley back in Lubbock would mean a very high-profiled and air-raid offense. The Hilltoppers offense ranks top in the country in yards per game, points per game, and passing yards per game.

Their offense is currently averaging 525.1 yards a game, second only to Ohio State, 422 passing yards, 102 rushing yards, and 43.3 points a game. Their offense is very explosive and can score the ball, and Texas Tech has had trouble being consistent with scoring through the whole game.

Kittley is also the Quarterbacks coach and he has coached one quarterback Tech fans may know in Patrick Mahomes, and he has another at WKU that is turning heads and has put the nation on notice with his play.

His name is Bailey Zappe. On the season so far, he has 4,968 yards, 52 TDs, and completed 70% of his passes.

What He Brings to Tech:

If Kittley were to get the job he would once again bring back that high-powered air raid offense, but unlike in years past, Texas Tech has a good group of running backs to work with.

He would be able to develop some of the younger quarterbacks like Donovan Smith and Behren Morton, and should he decide to stay get a chance to work with Tyler Shough and do something special with him.

Tech certainly has the offensive weapons to make this work and a bunch of young guys to develop and hopefully tune into stars.

I know a lot of Tech fans would love to see the air raid offense back in Lubbock and it could very well happen if McGuire decides to hire Kittley.

Defenses are a lot more talented in the Big 12, so Kittley would need to make some adjustments to his style of play with finding matchups.

Rashaad Samples:

Samples was a 4-Star receiver from Dallas coming out of high school and committed to play at Houston and from there went to Oklahoma State to play as well.

He was the Recruiting Coordinator and Running Backs coach and this past season the Associate Head Coach at SMU. He recently moved jobs and is now at TCU.

Samples have been seen as a very skilled recruiters. He helped put together a recruiting class this year that was SMU’s best class in modern history.

Like McGuire, his philosophy is to recruit and bring in local talent, and that has been what McGuire has harped on is keeping the West Texas talent here in Lubbock.

What He Brings to Tech:

He has spent time with Texas, Houston, and SMU under some very good offensive coordinators, so he could very well do the job.

The only concern is that he has never been an offensive coordinator full-time, so coming into a team to take control of an offense could be a worry for some, but with the right men behind him, he could be a big piece especially in recruiting.

While being a running backs coach, he has brought in Talent everywhere he has been especially while at SMU, so bringing in a good group of RBs to Tech could be to the advantage.

Graham Harrell:

Harrell is a household name in Lubbock and for any Texas Tech fans for his time he was the starting quarterback for the Red Raiders from 2004-2008.

He was a very successful college quarterback and was recently named to the Texas Tech Hall of Fame. He was the offensive coordinator at North Texas and is currently holds the same job at USC.

Harrell runs the typical Air Raid offense after playing under and learning it from Mike Leach.

North Texas offense was very successful in the time Harrell was there.

What He Brings to Tech:

If Harrell were to come back to Tech, then he would bring back that old-school air raid offense that was here when Mike Leach was head coach and Harrell was a player.

After his stint at North Texas, his ties with Texas recruits would be very strong, especially since he is an alumni player who was very successful.

Tech fans may not want to see just a straight-up air raid offense, but Harrell will have to adjust his playcalling given the group that Texas Tech already has.

Look for McGuire to make a hire within the next few days! For more information and news make sure to follow Guns Up Nation on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for all of your Texas Tech football and sports news.