Texas Tech AD: 'Last year was a disappointment'

Texas Tech wasn't very good last year and athletic director Kirby Hocutt knows it - he just isn't prepared to pin all the problems on Kliff Kingsbury.

"Coach Kingsbury has done a very good job in so many areas," Hocutt told David Barron of the Houston Chronicle. "Right or wrong, a lot of times the sole criteria your fan base looks at is wins and losses, and we're in this to win."

The Red Raiders are 24-26 in four years under Kingsbury. They went 5-7 last season despite possessing one of college football's greatest assets in quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

"Last year was a disappointment," Hocutt conceded. "Nobody was more disappointed than Kliff or me or the team."

The results - or lack thereof - resulted in murmurs that Kingsbury could be on the hot seat. Hocutt elected to bring him back for a fifth season, though, and believes his faith in the school's former quarterback will be rewarded.

"Being around campus watching our kids work out this summer, they're determined to improve and to redeem ourselves. We've had as good an offensive football team as you could have the last couple of years, but there are two other phases to the game of football and we have to continue to get better in both. I am confident that we will."