Go around the Big 12 Conference with the morning drive, the top stories around the conference. Wednesday’s stories include Big 12 basketball matchups on Tuesday night, but first the story of the head coach Lincoln Riley and passing game coordinator Dennis Simmons.
The relationship between Lincoln Riley and Dennis Simmons
Jenni Carlson of the Oklahoman details the history behind head coach Lincoln Riley and the recently promoted Dennis Simmons. This story started on the campus of Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas. However, as Carlson notes, they have been almost inseparable.
Since the two football coaches first crossed paths at Texas Tech nearly two decades ago, they’ve been nearly inseparable. Except for three seasons when Simmons left Riley and East Carolina and coached at Washington State, they’ve been together.
“For me, he’s certainly been a guy that I can lean on,” said Riley, who technically didn’t hire Simmons at OU but brought him to Norman when Bob Stoops hired him as offensive coordinator. “Somebody I’ve got a very close relationship with.”
But last week when Riley announced he was adding pass-game coordinator to Simmons’ outside-receivers-coach duties and promoting him from associate head coach to assistant head coach, it wasn’t because of their friendship.
It was because Simmons is one heck of a coach.
Frankly, he’s the most underappreciated assistant in college football.
Texas Longhorns survive in Manhattan, Kansas
The Longhorns were looking to end their skid as they had lost the last five games in six tries. Their lone win was over the Kansas State Wildcats, Longhorns Wire writes that Texas barely survived a late run by KSU.
As the second half kicked off, the Longhorns went on a 25-11 run with just over six minutes to play until Kansas State started to bring the game within one point.
With under 30 seconds to go, Kansas State continued to score and forced the Longhorns to the line to attempt free throws and protect the time on the clock. However, Kansas State was unable to get the last shot they needed and the Longhorns were able to escape Manhattan with the win.
No. 7 Texas Tech falls at home to West Virginia
In a close game throughout, the Red Raiders were unable to fend off the West Virginia Mountaineers in a top-15 matchup in Lubbock, Texas. Tech was nearly doubled up at the charity stripe by West Virginia, 39-20. The Mountaineers made more shots than the Red Raiders even attempted. The highlight of the night came when Tech head coach Chris Beard had enough; he was ejected with 23.5 seconds left in the game. West Virginia pulled away for an 82-71 victory. They face Oklahoma on Saturday in Morgantown.
Chris Beard just lost his friggin mind and it was glorious. pic.twitter.com/e34IIVK2XI
— Kyle Boone (@Kyle__Boone) February 10, 2021