Texas Tech football coach Matt Wells has been fired after two-plus seasons in charge.
The school announced Monday that it is relieving Wells of his duties effective immediately, and as a replacement named Sonny Cumbie, who played quarterback at Texas Tech for Mike Leach between 2000 and 2004, as the interim head coach. Cumbie served as an assistant at Tech between 2009 and 2013, then left for TCU. He returned again this season as offensive coordinator.
Wells, in his third season in Lubbock after replacing Kliff Kingsbury, was 13-17. The Red Raiders were 5-3 this season, but Wells was just 7-16 in Big 12 games, and only two of those wins were against teams that finished with a winning record (in 2019 against an 8-5 Oklahoma State team, and in 2020 against 6-4 West Virginia).
Wells was under pressure in Lubbock after last year’s 4-6 finish. He fired offensive coordinator David Yost, who had come with him from Utah State, and replaced him with Cumbie.
Tech blew a 14-point second-half lead in a 25-24 loss to Kansas State on Saturday, the sixth straight win for the Wildcats over the Red Raiders.