Matt Wells Finally Has a New Job and He’s Staying in the Big 12
Matt Wells was fired as the head coach of Texas Tech football about 150 days ago. Many people, including myself, thought Wells might want to take the year off from coaching before accepting another head coaching job outside of the Power 5. Wells had plenty of success at Utah State and that seems to be the level he should focus on as a head coach.
After the coaching cycle began and ended without Wells collecting another job, I was pretty sure the bountiful buyout that Wells was paid to leave Texas Tech would sustain him through a season.
Not so fast, my friends. Matt Wells is joining the Oklahoma Sooners in an off-the-field role.
According to Parker Thune of 247Sports, Oklahoma Sooners Head Coach Brent Venables has hired Wells to "aid with high school relations."
In Wells' two full recruiting cycles while at Texas Tech, his high school recruiting classes finished 7th and 10th in the Big 12. Wells did have a great eye for finding and bringing in veteran players through the transfer portal, but his high school recruiting was what ultimately led to his firing.
That's evident by his replacement, Joey McGuire, who was brought in to restore the recruiting base that the two previous regimes had destroyed.
on3.com said this of the hire: "He will be brought to Norman to help out build relations within the state of Texas, one of Oklahoma’s most important recruiting areas. Spending a few years within the state will ultimately help with a staff Venables has assembled throughout the country."
Good luck? I respect Matt Wells as much as the next guy, but high school relations would be one of the last things I would have pegged him for when he left Lubbock.
At all.