Texas Tech’s identity as basketball school at risk pending next hire

Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports “This is not a setback, this is a change in direction.”

Kirby Hocutt’s hybrid of anger and optimism in today’s press conference was admirable as a Texas Tech fan, but I have an issue with the mantra he repeated throughout his speech.

Tech doesn’t need a change in direction. The direction we were going under Chris Beard was up. A change in direction would mean a change for the worse.

In fact, Tech basketball became so prominent in the Big 12, so beloved by the Red Raider community, that we all started to grow indifferent about the miseries of our football program. We were this close to becoming North Carolina, Duke and Kansas in terms of how we prioritized and…