The Texas 20, No. 8: Kliff Kingsbury’s quest to turn the flash into victories

KingsburyThis is the Texas 20, DCTF’s countdown of the 20 biggest storylines heading into the 2015 football season.No. 20: Is there a college sleeper in Texas?No. 19: Which Texas high school football records will be broken? No. 18: State title games headed to Houston No. 17: Will anyone play defense this season? No. 16: Can Allen keep dominating without Kyler Murray? No. 15: Cameron Yoe’s chase for a fourth straight title No. 14: New coaches at SMU and HoustonNo. 13: Can DeSoto finally get over the hump?No. 12: What will be the best region in the state? No. 11: Is anyone in Texas on the college coaching hot seat?No. 10: Are Rice or UTEP ready for the national spotlight?No. 9: Can anyone stop Canadian and Refugio?Today, we’ve reached No. 8: Kliff Kingsbury’s quest to turn the flash into victories You don’t have to look around very hard to find opinions on Kliff Kingsbury or what he’s doing as Texas Tech’s head coach. It seems like this is the summer of having Hottie McCoach hot takes. We’re told he’d like to transform his team from sexy to “silent killer,” as if anyone was calling the Red Raiders the sexy part of that equation the last two years. There’s speculation that he might be a one-hit wonder, but that also seems like a weird, incomplete designation for a head coach whose greatest year came as a coordinator at Texas A&M. But here’s the thing: For all of the talk about whether he’s on the hot seat (and we’ve done some of it ourselves), or whether another rocky year in Lubbock will get him closer to said seat, it appears that he’s still got full control of the reigns for years to come, thanks to his contract. Should he? It seems like a bit of a pointless debate when the ink on the paper says the argument is irrelevant from the outside. What is worth debating is whether all of the flash will lead to something more substantial. No one can take away the 8-5 record in his first season, but the same goes for that 4-8 disaster last year. So with his contract status seemingly secure (and no secret), why all the pieces wondering aloud whether Kingsbury is really going to figure this out? The truth is simple and sharp: The guy’s been lauded for his looks and the way his best teams bomb their way down the field, but the signal to noise ratio just isn’t adding up. In the years since Texas A&M left for the SEC and Texas has been down, the Red Raiders haven’t capitalized. One of those years wasn’t Kingsbury’s fault, but the last two are on him. Maybe the truth is that he’s got the Red Raiders poised for a bigger leap in the coming years, and maybe the contract will allow him the time to pull it off. Maybe it's about discovering what his brand of football is actually about. But this feels like a big year for his team and his reputation, and judging by the print devoted to the topic, we’re not alone in that sentiment.