Zach Kittley has been announced as Texas Tech's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and the pieces are falling into place around him.
DeAndre Smith has been retained as running backs coach, and on Monday it was reported Emmett Jones will return to Lubbock to coach the wide receivers and Stephen Hamby will handle the offensive line. (The Hamby hire was first reported by Matt Zenitz of On3 and the Jones hire by Red Raider Sports; FootballScoop can confirm both moves.)
Jones is the former head coach at Dallas' South Oak Cliff High School who broke into the college game in a player development role at Texas Tech in 2015, then moved to wide receivers coach in 2016 and '17. He has spent the past four years at Kansas.
Hamby is a former Red Raider who began coaching as an offensive line assistant at his alma mater in 2013. He left in 2016 for the O-line job on Mike Jinks' Bowling Green staff. Hamby joined the Western Kentucky support staff in 2019 and was promoted to offensive line coach when Kittley joined the program ahead of this season.
At tight end, FootballScoop has heard rumors that Jason Witten and Riley Dodge will coach the position. Head coach Joey McGuire has relationships with both men, and both would further tap into the Dallas-Fort Worth recruiting pipeline.
In addition to being a successful high school coach -- he's 52-4 as the head coach at Southlake Carroll, his alma mater, with a state championship appearance in 2020 and a state semifinal game coming on Saturday -- Dodge has a connection to potentially the most important recruit in Texas Tech history.
However, FootballScoop does not believe either hire to be likely. (Don't rule either coach out for future college moves, though.)
We're told Austin Peay co-offensive coordinator Josh Cochran is the leading candidate to coach the Red Raiders' tight ends. Cochran coached alongside McGuire at Baylor and has connections in East Texas.
While the offensive staff is close to complete, McGuire's defensive coordinator search remains ongoing. McGuire originally targeted Louisiana defensive coordinator Patrick Toney, who instead followed Billy Napier to Florida.
We'll update that search as news develops. In the meantime, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.