List of Texas Tech Red Raiders head football coaches

The first coach of the Red Raiders, known then as the Matadors, was Ewing Y. Freeland.

The Texas Tech Red Raiders football program is a college football team that represents Texas Tech University in the Big 12 Conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 14 head coaches, and one interim head coach, since it began play during the 1925 season.

Texas Tech (then known as Texas Technological College) was known as the "Matadors" from 1925 to 1936, a name suggested by the wife of Ewing Y. Freeland, the first football coach, to reflect the influence of the Spanish Renaissance architecture on campus.^[1] In 1932, Texas Tech joined the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The school's short-lived Matadors moniker was replaced officially in 1937 with "Red Raiders", the nickname the team has had ever since.^[1] The same year, Pete Cawthon, Texas Tech's third head coach, led the team to their first conference championship and bowl game berth, a 7–6 loss to the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Sun Bowl. Texas Tech suffered four more bowl losses, under two head coaches, before their first postseason win in the 1952 Sun Bowl, under first-year head coach DeWitt Weaver.^[2] Before withdrawing from the Border Conference in 1956, the Red Raiders won nine conference championships, the most held by a Border Conference member. Weaver and his predecessor Dell Morgan each won four conference championships, a record for a Texas Tech head coach.

In 1960, Texas Tech was admitted to the Southwest Conference. The Red Raiders won two conference championships in 1976 and 1994, under head coaches Steve Sloan and Spike Dykes respectively. Texas Tech became a charter member in the South Division of the Big 12 Conference in 1996 when the Southwest Conference disbanded. During his ninth season as head coach, Mike Leach led Texas Tech to the program's first division championship in 2008. After Leach was fired at the end of the 2009 season, Ruffin McNeill was named interim head coach for the Alamo Bowl. Tommy Tuberville coached the Red Raiders from 2010 to 2012, resigning after the conclusion of the regular season. The current head coach, Kliff Kingsbury, is a former quarterback with the team. He was hired on December 12, 2012.^[3]

Key

General # Number of coaches[A 1] GC Games coached † Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame

Overall OW Wins OL Losses OT Ties[A 2] O% Winning percentage[A 3]

Conference[A 4] CW Wins CL Losses CT Ties C% Winning percentage

Postseason PW Wins PL Losses PT Ties

Championships CCs Conference[A 4] DCs Division[A 5]

Coaches

Statistics correct as of the end of the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season

#	Name	Season(s)	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	PT	CCs	DCs	Notable awards
1	Freeland, Ewing Y.Ewing Y. Freeland	1925–1928	37	21	10	6	.649	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2	Higginbotham, GradyGrady Higginbotham	1929	10	1	7	2	.200	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3	Cawthon, PetePete Cawthon^†	1930–1940	114	76	32	6	.693	10	1	1	.875	0	2	0	1	—	—
4	Morgan, DellDell Morgan	1941–1950	107	55	49	3	.528	23	3	1	.870	0	3	0	4	—	Border Conference Coach of the Year (1949)[6]
5	Weaver, DeWittDeWitt Weaver	1951–1960	105	49	51	5	.490	20	6	3	.741	2	1	0	4	—	Border Conference Coach of the Year (1951, 1953)[7]
6	King, J. T.J. T. King	1961–1969	92	44	45	3	.495	27	35	1	.437	0	2	0	0	—	SWC Coach of the Year (1965)[8]
7	Carlen, JimJim Carlen^†	1970–1974	59	37	20	2	.644	20	15	0	.571	1	2	1	0	—	SWC Coach of the Year (1970, 1973)[9]
8	Sloan, SteveSteve Sloan	1975–1977	35	23	12	0	.657	15	8	0	.652	0	2	0	1	—	SWC Coach of the Year (1976)[10]
9	Dockery, RexRex Dockery	1977–1980	33	15	16	2	.485	10	13	1	.438	0	0	0	0	—	SWC Coach of the Year (1978)[11]
10	Moore, JerryJerry Moore	1981–1985	55	16	37	2	.309	9	29	2	.250	0	0	0	0	—	—
11	McWilliams, DavidDavid McWilliams	1986	11	7	4	0	.636	5	3	0	.625	0	0	0	0	—	SWC Coach of the Year (1986)[12]
12	Dykes, SpikeSpike Dykes	1986–1999	150	82	67	1	.550	57	40	1	.587	2	5	0	1	0	SWC Coach of the Year (1989, 1993, 1994)[13] Big 12 Coach of the Year (1996)[14]
13	Leach, MikeMike Leach	2000–2009	127	84	43	—	.661	47	33	—	.588	5	4	—	0	1	Big 12 Coach of the Year (2008) George Munger Award (2008) Woody Hayes Award (2008)
Int	McNeill, RuffinRuffin McNeill	2009	1	1	0	—	1.000	—	—	—	—	1	0	—	—	—	—
14	Tuberville, TommyTommy Tuberville	2010–2012	37	20	17	—	.541	9	17	—	.294	1	0	—	0	0	—
Int	Thomsen, ChrisChris Thomsen	2012	1	1	0	—	1.000	—	—	—	—	1	0	—	—	—	—
15	Kingsbury, KliffKliff Kingsbury	2013–present	38	19	19	—	.500	10	17	—	.370	1	1	0	0	—

Notes

1. A running total of the number of head coaches, not including interim head coaches. Interim head coaches are represented with "Int".
2. Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.^[4]
3. When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.^[5]
4. Texas Tech was not in an athletic conference from 1925 through 1931 and 1957 through 1959.
5. Texas Tech participated as a member of the South Division in the Big 12 Conference from 1996 through 2010.

References^[15]

General

^[16]

• "2009 Media Supplement" (PDF). Texas Tech University. Retrieved 2009-12-30.

Specific

1. Clark, Kyle; Siegrist, Nikki (2003-03-13). "Making Matadors: Spanish style architecture inspires Tech's first mascot". The Daily Toreador. Archived from the original on September 26, 2008. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
2. "Texas Tech Bowl History". College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved 2010-01-30.
3. "Kliff Kingsbury coming home to Texas Tech to be Red Raiders head coach". Yahoo! Sports. 2012-12-12. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
4. Whiteside, Kelly (2006-08-25). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. Archived from the original on 2009-11-24. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
5. Finder, Chuck (1987-09-06). "Big Plays Help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-10-22. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
6. Rushing, Jane Gilmore; Kline A. Nall (1975). Evolution of a University: Texas Tech's first fifty years. Austin, Texas: Madrona Press. p. 128. ISBN 0-89052-017-8.
7. Andrews, Ruth Horn (1956). The First Thirty Years: a History of Texas Technological College. Lubbock, Texas: The Texas Tech Press. p. 307.
8. "Texas Tech 2010–11 Athletics Record Book". Texas Tech University. p. 10. Retrieved 2011-03-06.
9. Zuvanich, Adam (2008-07-09). "Hall to enter Hall: Former QB among seven Tech honorees". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Archived from the original on 2010-12-19. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
10. Traughbe, Bill (2006-09-20). "Steve Sloan Talks About His Career" (PDF). Vanderbilt University. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
11. Gulick, Joe (2008-09-17). "Dirk West: Coach hit it big". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Archived from the original on 2010-12-19. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
12. Freeman, Denne H. (1987-10-31). "'Horns Concern Tech Players Not Departure of McWilliams". The Victoria Advocate. Associated Press. p. 3B. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
13. "Dallas - Texas Tech's bid for its first Cotton Bowl Victory". San Antonio Express-News. Hearst Corporation. Associated Press. 1994-12-04. Texas Tech's bid for its first Cotton Bowl victory on Jan. 2 will be led by none other than The Associated Press Southwest Conference Coach of the Year. Spike Dykes, 56, received the award for the second consecutive year.
14. "Spike Dykes Endowment Kickoff Luncheon". Texas Tech University. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
15. "2014 Texas Tech Red Raiders Football Schedule | TTU". www.fbschedules.com. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
16. "2015 Texas Tech Red Raiders Football Schedule | TTU". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved 2015-10-20.