What’s Important is Mark Adams Thinks Texas Tech is a Great Job
Texas Tech Basketball is 4-2 in conference play through six games, tied for the best conference record in the Big 12 out of all the teams who've played at least six conference games. They got to 4-2 last night by beating highly ranked Iowa State 72-60 amid a various array of highlights.
The first half was played closely before Texas Tech amassed a lead of 20 in the second half, settling for a 12-point victory. Bryson Williams and Kevin Obanor looked like the stars fans thought they could be for large portions of the game, and Adonis Arms and Terrence Shannon Jr. both hammered down impressive dunks.
In the crowd of the United Supermarkets Arena, there was a sign in the crowd that wanted Adams to run for president. After the game, Adams responded to the sign on Twitter saying, "Thanks for the nomination, but I already have my dream job!"
That's right, Mark Adams calls Texas Tech his dream job.
Now, you might be saying, "Of course he would, that's his job." And you're right. The last guy sure said things like "home" like he wanted to be in Lubbock. But Adams is different, born and bred West Texas. I truly believe he's at his dream job at Texas Tech.
If Adams ranked the Big 12 jobs, I have no doubt that Texas Tech would be his personal favorite, but he might defer to Kansas due to the rich basketball history and Phog Allen Fieldhouse.
Nationally, the sentiment isn't the same. A pundit from Stadium has been critical of the Adams hire and was under the impression that Chris Beard was the magic man around Lubbock. Jeff Goodman has been incredibly stubborn to accept that Mark Adams had a huge hand in the proceedings over the last five years as the shadow man behind Beard's figurehead persona.
After the Iowa State game, Goodman finally gave Adams his due, admitting that Adams was legit. How nice of him. But Goodman couldn't just compliment Adams; he had to stick his foot in his mouth and call Texas Tech basketball the WORST (with emphasis) job in the Big 12 because it's in Lubbock.
Here's the clip:
I'm not even going to dignify the Lubbock comments because I know that Lubbock is at least on par with Stillwater, Oklahoma and Manhattan, Kansas.
I will, however, take exception to Texas Tech being the worst job in the Big 12.
Do you know why? Because Texas Tech had 15,000 people in the United Supermarkets Arena, while other Big 12 coaches were complaining that they didn't have enough fans at the game.
The players at Texas Tech believe that they have the best game-day atmosphere and fan engagement in the country. Bryson Williams has played basketball for five seasons at the collegiate level at Fresno State and UTEP, who traveled extensively as part of their non-conference slates every season. The man has been around college basketball and has seen dozens of arenas, so I trust Williams when he says something like this:
Here's the Swag Surfing Bryson mentioned:
Texas Tech also has a brand new Womble practice facility and has been recruiting at a high level for going on five years now.
Goodman later tried to qualify his statement by saying that Texas Tech was probably the worst a decade ago, but now that Beard built it up it was at least 7th now.
Would Bob Knight, the Hall of Fame head coach, have taken the Texas Tech job if he thought it was the worst in the conference? Would Tubby Smith have come to Lubbock if he thought the Red Raiders were in the worst position in the conference? No. They wouldn't have, and they're both former Red Raiders.
If Mark Adams believes that this is his dream job, then Texas Tech basketball will be fine for the next 5-10 years, regardless of what Goodman thinks.