The tenth day of Texas Tech-mas - hiring Mark Adams - Viva The Matadors

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On the tenth day of Texas Tech-mas, my Red Raiders gave to me...

Texas Tech hired Mark Adams to be the 18th head coach of the men’s basketball program. We all know why there was a vacancy. We can save that discussion for another time. This article will be dedicated to celebrating a loyal Red Raider who refused to get on the plane.

Coach Adams served as Director of Basketball Operations for the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons. He left for one season and found his way back for the 2016-2017 season and fortunately for Tech fans is still employed for his alma mater. Coach Adams was promoted to Associate Head Coach in 2019 and of course was hired as the Head Coach earlier this year.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL: FEB 13 Oklahoma at Texas Tech — Coach Mark Adams and Keenan Evans (12)

While I didn’t specifically detail the underground social media campaign that aided the hiring of Joey McGuire, I did make a joking attempt at referencing it. Coach Adams received a similar treatment. More importantly, many of Coach Adams’ former players stated his case for him on social media and even talked to Kirby Hocutt directly to persuade him to hire him.

When you consider that Coach Adams was in charge of the defense and most basketball players prefer to work on their offensive game, the fact that so many were in his corner speaks highly of the respect he had earned.

Former Red Raider Basketball player Andrew Sorrells, who was a member of the National Championship game team, gave his thoughts on Chris Beard leaving for Texas.

"Texas Tech has always had a chip on its shoulder, and I think that chip just got a lot bigger." pic.twitter.com/JI9QsJOmZb
— Eric Kelly (@EricKellyTV) April 1, 2021

Coach Adams appears genuine. I haven’t heard many repeated or cliché answers during his pregame or post game press conferences. He has candy in his office for players and even visitors. I can neither confirm nor deny any allegations of my hand being in more than one of those candy jars.

Coach Adams had been desiring a more up-tempo offense in recent years. He now gets his wish. One source has informed me that the presentation of Coach Adams and his assistants to recruits is the best in the Big 12 and it’s not even close.

Coach Adams wants a big man and a true point guard. Freshman big man Daniel Batcho is already a fan favorite and it looks like his skills are just now starting to be realized. The true point guard is a season away as four star rated Pop Isaacs will be joining the team in 2022.

I’m sure this season will continue to see its ups and downs. As with most new head coaching hires, there is an adjustment period. Coach Adams brought in nine new players and several new staff members. It should be expected that it will take time to gel.

Then again.

Tech is 8-2 as of the time of this article being written with a game later today and is ranked #25. No offense to Eastern Washington but I would expect Tech to be 9-2 by about three o’clock. Coach Adams got his first win over a top 15th ranked team by beating Tennessee earlier this year. Tech’s only losses have come from teams that are now ranked in the top 25, Gonzaga and Providence.

As with the hiring of McGuire, Tech fans won’t know whether the hire was successful or not for a few more seasons most likely. I believe I can at least speak for most in that we like how his tenure has started. Defense is still creating problems and should get even better. Offense always takes the longest. We as fans just have to keep in mind that Tech is using a completely new offensive system with so many new players and new coaches.

Be patient. Trust in Mark Adams.

Let’s take this moment and day to celebrate the hiring of Coach Mark Adams. He is a loyal Red Raider alum. He stayed in Lubbock with a great deal of uncertainty and his risk paid off. I for one will reward his loyalty with my own.

This is the tenth of my 12 article series of great moments from Texas Tech during this year. We are closing in on the final days with only two left. These are in no particular order so it is not intended to be seen as a ranking. I just wanted to treat each moment as its own and give them their due respect. I hope you enjoy this series modeled in the spirit of the 12 days of Christmas.

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