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Past coaches return to Houston as Red Raiders

Kliff Kingsbury excelled as the Cougars’ offensive coordinator in 2011, helping the Cougars to a near-perfect season as quarterback Case Keenum set a number of NCAA records. | Courtesy of UH Athletics

Saturday’s game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders will feature some familiar faces for the Cougar football program, not in the players but in the opposing coaches.

Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury, defensive coordinator David Gibbs and offensive coordinator Eric Morris have all at one point in their careers spent time on the Houston coaching staff.

All three were key figures in the football team’s success earlier in the decade and have produced a statistically strong team out of the Red Raiders.

“A lot of great memories,” Kingsbury said. “I owe a lot to (Houston) for giving me my start at coaching. I loved my time there — some of the most fun I ever had coaching, getting to work with Case Keenum and that 2011 group. Can’t say enough good things.”

Where it all started

For Kingsbury, a former standout quarterback for Texas Tech and Sammy Baugh Trophy winner, Houston was his first coaching job. After five years of hopping between the NFL, NFL Europe and the Canadian Football League, Kingsbury was hired by then-newly-named head coach Kevin Sumlin.

At Houston, Kingsbury got the position of offensive quality control. Through his position, he was able to work closely with then-starting quarterback Case Keenum.

The Cougars struggled, however, to a 5-7 record in 2010 when Keenum went down with an injury.

With Keenum back the next season, the Cougars went 13-1 in 2011. He set six NCAA career records, was named Conference USA MVP and earned the Sammy Baugh Trophy as the nation’s top passer.

The Cougars fell just short of an undefeated season when they lost to Southern Miss in the Conference USA championship game.

That near-perfect season opened up many head coaching positions for Sumlin. When he decided to go to Texas A&M, he took Kingsbury with him. Since then Kingsbury has coached the likes of Heisman trophy winner Johnny Manziel, NFL draftees Patrick Mahomes and Davis Webb and current Oklahoma starting quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Now with quarterback Nic Shimonek at the helm for the Red Raiders, expect him to carry on the air raid offense that has brought Kingsbury’s Tech team so much success. As of last Saturday, they had the best offense in the NCAA.

Success follows

David Gibbs has been coaching defenses for almost 26 years. By the time he became Houston’s defensive coordinator in 2013, he had already been the defensive backs coach for the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans, as well as the defensive coordinator at Auburn.

Everywhere he has gone, Gibbs’ teams have ranked in the top 10 defensively, as was the case when he was hired by then-head coach Tony Levine to come to Houston.

In his first season with the Cougars, the defense recorded 19 interceptions and 31 total turnovers. Led by arguably the best defensive backs trio in UH history, 2015 graduates Adrian McDonald, Trevon Stewart and William Jackson III, the defense improved in both areas the following season, recording 21 interceptions and 35 total turnovers.

The Cougars’ turnover total in 2014 was the best in the entire country.

But the single defining moment of Gibbs’ time at UH was the 2014 Armed Forces Bowl. As the interim head coach following Levine’s firing, Gibbs orchestrated the largest fourth quarter comeback in bowl history. The Cougars were down 25 points against the Pittsburgh Panthers with 11 minutes left in the game before coming back to win the game 35-34.

Now, however, Gibbs is very much on the hot seat with the Red Raiders in his third year with the team.

There is hope that his continuity in the program will help tighten up their defense.

Gibbs is the first Texas Tech defensive coordinator who has lasted more than one season since 2009, when Ruffin McNeill started his second year with the Red Raiders.

As it stands, the Red Raiders are coming into TDECU with a defense that ranked dead last in 2016.

The young gun

For offensive coordinator Eric Morris, another former Tech quarterback, Houston was also his first taste of college football coaching. After spending two years with the Cougars as a graduate assistant under Sumlin, Morris followed Kingsbury to his alma mater to become the co-offensive coordinator.

Under Morris, Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes excelled, setting the NCAA record for single game passing yards and single game total offense, both against Oklahoma in 2016.

Mahomes finished as the top passer in 2016 with over 5,000 passing yards, and the Red Raiders had the eighth best offense. He was drafted as the 10th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, joining the likes of Jakeem Grant and DeAndre Washington as players Morris coached who went on to be drafted in the NFL.

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