The Texas Tech Red Raiders confirmed on Thursday afternoon that head football coach Matt Wells has tested positive for COVID-19.
— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) December 3, 2020
Wells is isolating away from team activities and hoping that additional testing will produce negative results and allow him to take the sideline for Saturday's regular-season finale versus the Kansas Jayhawks.
If Wells tests positive again and has to quarantine through the weekend, defensive coordinator Keith Patterson will serve as the Texas Tech interim head coach against Kansas. As Sam Khan Jr. noted for ESPN, Patterson joined Texas Tech with Wells before the 2019 campaign.
Texas Tech lost to the Oklahoma State Cowboys 50-44 last Saturday and dropped to 3-6 on the year. Kansas, meanwhile, has gone winless all season and fell to the TCU Horned Frogs last weekend.
Kansas head coach Les Miles tested positive for COVID-19 back in October. Per Dean Straka of 247Sports, Miles and Wells are the only Big 12 coaches known to have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic hit the United States.
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