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

Paul Mills

If you didn’t have enough already, there actually is yet another former assistant to Scott Drew who is right there for the taking. We’re talking about someone who has coached in the state of Texas for most of their life, led a team to a Cinderella run already in his head coaching career, and might have the most potent mid-major already in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Mills spent 14 years on Drew’s staff from the beginning at Baylor, having previously attended Texas A&M and coached at the high school level. His collegiate head coaching career began at Oral Roberts back in 2017 and it’s been quite the ride. His Golden Eagles scored two upsets as a 15-seed and made the Sweet Sixteen in 2021. Two years later, a good portion of that team is still here and they’ll earn a higher seed after sweeping Summit League play and hitting 30 wins already.

Mills is another one of those perfect candidates, just without the previous experience actually at Texas Tech. He’s shown that he can win in the Big Dance at a school like Oral Roberts and he’s seen firsthand this Red Raiders program during his years with Drew at Baylor. Consider again what Tang did at Kansas State and you have to wonder if Mills can do the same thing here, especially after finding stars Max Abmas and Kevin Obanor (who transferred to Texas Tech) at a Summit League school.