Make your way out to west Texas, through the plains and the wind farms, hours from Dallas and Austin, and you’ll eventually hit what they call the Hub City. The connective tissue of numerous farming communities, Lubbock stands among the sleepier towns in the Big 12. But come game days at United Supermarkets Arena, the city is nothing of the sort.
In a sentence unimaginable even a decade ago, Texas Tech stands as one of men's college basketball’s top programs over the last five seasons. The Red Raiders have reached the NCAA tournament in each of their last three opportunities, registering their first Elite Eight appearance in 2018 before losing to Virginia in the national championship in 2019. The success has bred one of the sport's most raucous atmospheres. Games in Lubbock in recent years resemble Lawrence, Kan., or Lexington, Ky., an event not just for the city’s residents, but the collection of surrounding towns as well.
Mark Adams is a son of one of those towns. Hailing from Brownfield, Texas (39 miles southwest of Lubbock), Texas Tech’s coach grew up in a traditional fashion. His father, Tom, was a farmer, and when Mark wasn’t in school, he spent plenty of mornings and nights tending to his family’s property. Adams speaks reverently of his dad, a man he calls “not just a farmer, but a philosopher.” But as Adams’s college years approached, one thing was clear: His interests didn’t lie in the family business.
