After being reported last night, SI’s Thayer Evans was the first to report that Texas Tech and Kliff Kingsbury have hired Louisiana Tech running backs coach Jabbar Juluke.

Juluke is very similar in terms of career path as Mike Jinks, the former running backs coach at Texas Tech. Juluke was the head coach at Edna Karr High School in New Orleans and had a winning record of 80-39, which ended with a 14-0 Louisiana state championship in 2012. Juluke then took the job at Louisiana Tech in 2013.

La.Tech had the 81st best rushing offense in 2015, 2,075 yards, averaging 160 yards a game on about 33 carries a game and 4.81 yards per rush(for comparison purposes, Texas Tech averaged 191 yards a gaem, on 36 carries and 5.36 yards per rush). In 2013, La. Tech had 2,080 rushing yards, 149 yards a game on 35 carries and 4.24 yards per rush and in 2013 La. Tech had 1,922 yards on 34 carries, 160.17 yards a game and 4.69 yards per rush.

Juluke was called a rock-star when he went to New Orleans for this year’s New Orleans Bowl:

“He’s like a rock star,” Louisiana Tech coach Skip Holtz joked. “He’s been shaking hands with everybody since we made it here.”

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Juluke’s final year with the team, they finished the season 14-0 and capped things off with a 2012 Class 4A state title. He said it was an extremely tough decision to make, but he knew taking a job with a college team would help him further his career.

“When you have built relationships and camaraderie with people that have supported you and the things you’re doing, it was very difficult,” Juluke said. “I also had to think about my family and the opportunity I had to change their lives. And as a football coach, you always have to look to grow.”

Holtz said that Juluke’s addition to the coaching staff has already made a huge impact in his short time there.

“He brings energy, and he’s an outstanding person,” Holtz said. “Not only that, his familiarity with Louisiana and the recruiting that goes down has helped us immeasurably.

“He’s been a huge asset to our program.”

Texas Tech has a very “southeastern” feel to their coaching staff, as Juluke is from New Orleans, which might mean something to some of the Louisiana commits, as well as Joe Robinson, who hails from South Carolina, and Kevin Patrick, who has been in Florida for the majority of his career.

I would guess that Texas Tech will probably have a bigger foothold in at least Louisiana, or at the very least doesn’t want to lose what foothold that Kevin Curtis created, and maybe expand it a bit. I also wonder if this means that Texas Tech is maybe trying to change a bit of an attitude when it comes to the players, not that there’s anything wrong with coaches from Texas, but maybe a change in mentality and outlook will do the players and other coaches some good.

With the hiring of Juluke, Texas Tech will be down to one more defensive hire (am presuming that it would be defense, but you never know).