By LANCE FLEMING
ACU Athletics Media Relations
HOUSTON – As Friday night crept toward early Saturday morning, Texas Tech interim head coach Chris Thomsen knelt on his right knee and watched the final play of the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas unfold before him.
For the last three weeks – since he was named Tech's interim head coach on Dec. 10 following the departure of former head coach Tommy Tuberville – Thomsen had been back in his element as a head coach. Preparing practice plans, getting a team ready to play, and making sure the small details of game preparation had been dealt with in the days leading up to the game.
In other words, he had done everything he could do to make sure the Red Raiders had a chance to beat Minnesota and end a tumultuous month with the program's 15th bowl win overall and third straight (2009 Valero Alamo Bowl and 2010 Ticketcity Bowl). And so it was that Thomsen dropped to a knee to see if sophomore Ryan Bustin could hit a 28-yard field goal to give Tech an almost-improbable 34-31 win over Minnesota, almost four hours after Friday night's game started.
And when Bustin's knuckleball of a kick floated through the uprights sending Raider Nation into a frenzy inside Reliant Stadium, all Thomsen did was stand up, raise his left arm in triumph and turn to hug Sonny Cumbie, the former Tech quarterback who was the Red Raiders' interim offensive coordinator for this game.
No overt celebrations. No jumping up and down. Nothing that would make it look like he'd never been there before. Because, of course, he had been there before.
During his seven seasons as the head coach at ACU (2005-11), Thomsen was one of the most successful coaches in the country, leading the Wildcats to 61 victories and six straight trips to the NCAA Division II playoffs. Were there differences being a head coach at the two different levels? Of course. But Friday's game – and the preparation leading up to it – was still football, and that's what Thomen loves.
His style with the players obviously left them with positive feelings toward their interim head coach. Each player quoted by various media outlets over the last three weeks had nothing but positive things to say about Thomsen and his way with the team.
"In my five years here, I think he's one of the best things to happen to me," senior center Deveric Gallington told the
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal earlier in the week. "He was like a father figure to me. he would call, bring me into his office, and we would have private talks. He's just a good overall Christian man, and I really appreciate that he helped me out with a lot of things away from football."
Support for Thomsen even spread to the defensive side of the ball where defensive tackle Kerry Hyder told the
Avalanche-Journal that even though Thomsen had only been at Tech for the 2012 season, "he's got the respect of the team."
"Being a head coach again was fun ... especially when you win," Thomsen said after the game. "Losing a game like – and I've lost a few like that – evokes the opposite reaction. More than anything, I just enjoyed being able to get a group of guys together, working with them during practice and then sending them into a game knowing they've done everything they can do to be ready to play. I enjoy seeing them overcome adverse situations during the course of the game and how they respond to those situations. This was a really fun night."
Tech had plenty of adverse situations to overcome, most of their own doing, thanks to 13 penalties (four of which were personal foul penalties), and two interceptions by senior quarterback Seth Doege that killed potential game-tying drives in the fourth quarter.
During a 27-minute span in which Tech didn't score (from late in the first half until Doege hit Eric Ward with a 35-yard touchdown pass with 1:10 left in the game to tie the score at 31-31, the Red Raiders also had a field goal blocked after a potential go-ahead touchdown was reversed by replay, and tight end Jace Amaro ejected after he swung at a Minnesota player on the aforementioned near-touchdown play.
After the touchdown was taken off the board, the Red Raiders had third-and-goal from the 16 turn into fourth-and-goal and Bustin hit a field goal that momentarily gave Tech a 27-24 lead. But Tech was whistled for illegal procedure, moving the ball back to the Minnesota 20-yard line. Bustin's 38-yard field goal was blocked, keeping the Red Raiders off the board. The Golden Gophers then drove 79 yards to a touchdown that gave them a 31-24 lead with 13:07 to play in the game.
"There's really no excuse for it (the penalties and ejection)," Thomsen said. "We didn't play very smart, and that's the only thing that I was disappointed in. I think both teams came out with a lot of emotion. A lot of guys played with a great edge, and it went over the top a bit, and the officiating crew did a great job at getting that under control. There in the second half it got better. Jace (Amaro) was ejected. I didn't see the play or what happened. That was disappointing. That was the only part of that game that I was disappointed in, and the guys could have done a better job at keeping their heads. But I'm not going to let that take away from a great win.”
The Red Raiders were able to overcome all of those issues to score 10 points in the final 70 seconds of the game to pull out the win. After the game, Thomsen credited his group of seniors, led by Doege and defensive back D.J. Johnson, whose interception of a Phillip Nelson pass with less than one minute to play and subsequent return set the Red Raiders up in prime field position for the game-winning kick.
"I'm really proud of our senior players," Thomsen said. "I've gotten to tell some little stories about those guys over the last couple of weeks. Doege's one of those guys. He struggled at times tonight, but,really, just like he has his whole career he just kept battling back. He got us back into the game there.
"D.J. Johnson is another one of those guys that I've talked about for the last couple weeks," Thomsen said. "He gave up a deep ball in the third quarter, and he bounced back and forced the turnover (at the end of the game). He got a big play on the interception to put us in position. So in my time around these guys, I'm super proud of them. I'm really excited that they got a win and get to finish off their career on a high note."
And now the next chapter in Thomsen's coaching begins as he leaves Tech for another job, reportedly as the offensive line coach for head coach Sonny Dykes at the University of California-Berkeley. Thomsen wouldn't confirm for the assembled media Friday night that he would be going to California, saying only that "I have a great opportunity in front of me that I'm excited about."
New Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury – who watched Friday night's game from a suite high above the playing field – took over the reigns of the Tech program as soon as the game ended, but decided not to retain Thomsen as part of his staff.
"That's OK," Thomsen said. "I'll get a bowl ring from Texas Tech, and whenever I look at it, I'll remember the special people that were such a big part of making it happen. I'm proud of this coaching staff and these players for continuing to work and going out 8-5 and with a bowl win."
