Now, it appears he is interested in heading back to Houston where he had arguably his greatest success. In 2014, Houston was 11th in the country in scoring defense allowing just 19.5 points per game and 19th nationally in total defense surrendering 334.6 yards per game. And the season prior, Gibbs’ Houston defense racked up a stunning 43 turnovers to lead the nation.
Perhaps similar success awaits Gibbs again in Houston. He was the best defensive coordinator Texas Tech has had since Ruffin McNeil in 2008-09, but just because he is the best we have seen in quite some time at Texas Tech doesn’t mean he was particularly good.
If it is more Pez’s comfort level with Gibbs and not Major’s, what happens if the hire does not lead to improvement on defense (I hate to think what THAT would look like)? Major has to be onboard if it is sink or swim time for Major as the HC.
Will be interesting to see. I am not opposed to Gibbs but hope this is a broad search for the best candidate.
The answer to that is simple. Major Applewhite is NOT on the hot seat. He needs to produce, there is no doubt, but the hot seat take has been solely from disgruntled UH fans, not the administration. Khator’s comments were not meant to be taken literally.
I feel like you misunderstand how most of us view the hot seat. The hot seat isn’t a term you use when a coach has no chance of sticking around. The hot seat is usually a term saying, if things don’t get better right away, they are gone. Do you feel like if we finish 8-4 and no division title next year, regardless of the tougher schedule, that Applewhite gets a fourth year? If you think he gets a fourth year, he isn’t on the hot seat, if no improvement gets him fired, he is currently on the hot seat.
So his defenses were better at UH than TTU. Is this an indication of a talent issue, a SOS difference, the offensive philosophy (although I am not sure the UH Levine/Bush 3-and-out offensive “strategy” helped the defense much) or a combo of two or more of these? It’s not like he changed his philosophy. I really thought Kingsbury + Gibbs was going to be a lethal combo…but for the opposing teams and not the Red Raiders.
I am sure the crew at Wreck 'Em Red have no interest in complimenting a DC that may end up at UH.
Can we afford to pay Gibbs more than $650k a year? This guy was at a P5 school, getting 4 star recruits in fertile Texas with his defense ranked near the bottom of all 128 FBS schools(P5&G5). This makes me very nervous.
2015 ranked 127
2016 ranked dead last (OMG Rice had a better defense)
2017 ranked 104
2018 ranked 110
Is this the best UH can do? Tell me why did we get rid of Frio? Usually you get new hires that had lots of success but this guy has failed for 4 straight years. He better be real cheap.
What’s worse is that Tech runs a similar offense that we do so the defense is going to be on the field longer.
Its somewhat of a concern for me as well…I think the guy is very good with scheme and calling plays such as blitzes at the right times etc. Im not sure how effective he would be without inheriting some excellent young talent like we had 2013.
I feel like anyone high on Gibbs is more of a “devil you know” kind of person. The equivalent of having a neighbor Dave that never caused you any trouble, moving away, making headlines for having fist fights with neighbors and then looking at current neighbor Mark with tall grass and untrimmed hedges and saying “wish Dave would move back here, he was a great neighbor.”
The difference being between then and now, we weren’t as explosive back then. Meaning many of our scoring drives under Briles are shorter than the non-scoring drives in the Levine era.
So in other words, Gibbs can’t coach on the P5 level with all the advantages of a P5 program but he’s an awesome defensive coach on the G5 level. Okay in that case I’ll take him.
Tech didn’t sign a single 4-star defensive recruit from ‘16-‘18. In those three years they signed a total of four offensive four-star players. Tech typically finishes in the bottom half of the Big 12 in recruiting; their recruiting peers are Kansas State, Iowa State, and Baylor, not Texas and OU.
As for their defensive rankings they were two spots away from having the worst scoring defense in the FBS the year before Gibbs arrived. This year they are 30 places better in scoring defense at #86, which is 20 spots better than UH, and if they had given up one less point we game they would be fifth, exactly in the middle of the Big 12, in scoring defense. And Gibbs had to try to slow down Kyler Murray and OU, Will Grier and WVU, etc., not Tulsa, Tulane, and TSU.
