The Texas Tech Red Raiders have had a busy couple of weeks in the transfer portal, and on the coaching staff, with Zach Kittley leaving his position as offensive coordinator to become the head coach of FAU.
Kittley officially said goodbye to Red Raider Nation in a post on Christmas Eve.
Kittley made the announcement on X, writing in part, “It was always a dream of mine to come home and coach at my alma mater… One of my goals from the beginning of my coaching career was to bring a Big 12 Championship back to West Texas. Unfortunately we never reached that goal, but I know under the leadership of Coach McGuire that it will happen and the future is extremely bright in Lubbock.”
Kittley replaces Tom Herman, who was fired with two games remaining this season after compiling a 6-16 record in two years. Herman finished 2-8 this year before being dismissed. Associate head coach and special teams coordinator Chad Lunsford coached the Owls’ final two games of the season.
Meantime, Texas Tech hired Mack Leftwich, who has led one of the nation’s top high-scoring offenses the past two seasons.
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Leftwich arrives at Texas Tech following two seasons at Texas State where he has developed one of the nation’s top offenses as the Bobcats have led the Sun Belt Conference and ranked in the top 15 nationally for total offense and scoring each of the last two years. Texas State’s success offensively has pushed the Bobcats to their first two bowl appearances in school history and 15 combined victories, a significant improvement for a program that had not won more than four games since 2014.
Leftwich took over a Texas State offense that ranked 110th in the country for scoring average at only 21.1 points per game prior to his arrival in 2022. He quickly turned it around as Texas State averaged 36.7 points per game in 2023 and has a 37.1 points per game under his leadership in 2024.
