Texas Tech Basketball: 10 candidates to replace Mark Adams as head coach

Kyle Keller

Texas Tech is a prominent job, though the program is certainly in a better spot than it was a decade or so ago. It’s hard to forget that the Red Raiders actually hired both Billy Gillespie and Tubby Smith as head coach the last time they were in this situation making two relatively quick hires in a row. This time, the Red Raiders likely won’t just nab someone with high-profile head coaching experience, especially when there’s a fruitful crop of mid-major coaches in their backyard.

Keller has done great work in the last 7 years as head coach at Stephen F. Austin, but he’s also very familiar with the Big 12. After time as a junior college head coach, he spent nearly a decade on staff at Oklahoma State, and later served as a staffer at Kansas and a full-time assistant at Texas A&M. With the Lumberjacks, he scored that sweet upset of #1 Duke a few seasons ago and has led this team to the NCAA Tournament and a pair of conference titles.

While Keller was a candidate two years ago when Beard left campus, he might be less intriguing with Stephen F. Austin coming off two more years that don’t exactly jump off the page. Nevertheless, Keller is a very talented mid-major coach and has done a good job of transitioning this program from the Southland to the WAC these last two years. We’re not sure if Texas Tech wants to go in this direction, but Keller has been great leading this program.