Prolifically bad defenses typically get coaches fired.

This offseason, six of the schools that ranked among the bottom 10 in total defense last year hired new defensive coordinators. Among Power 5 programs, six of the eight worst scoring defenses have new coordinators going into 2017. The coaches who did survive were all first-year DCs, with one exception.

Texas Tech ranked dead last in college football in both of those defensive categories last season. The Red Raiders' defense ranked bottom-five nationally in 2015. And yet, defensive coordinator David Gibbs is back for Year 3.

A whole lot of change is needed after a 5-7 season, no question, but coach Kliff Kingsbury never believed a new hire was the answer. In fact, he sounds genuinely grateful Gibbs is still on his staff.

“He’s frustrated. He’s competitive. He wants to be successful. I can’t tell you how much respect I have for him for sticking it out,” Kingsbury told ESPN.com. “He’s had opportunities to go other places and start over. He’s well-respected in this profession and he wants to get it right here. I admire him for that. It would be an easy out to go somewhere else at this point. He wants to do it here and wants to show we can get this fixed.”

Kliff Kingsbury is confident his defense will turn things around in David Gibbs' third season with the team. Michael C. Johnson/USA TODAY Sports

Kingsbury is making a big bet on the value of continuity going into a critical year for the program. He trusts Gibbs is the right man for the job and just needs more talent and more time. After giving up a grand total of 1,089 points over their last 25 games, there’s really nowhere to go but up.

At the end of a disappointing season, Kingsbury and athletic director Kirby Hocutt discussed those woes and agreed the head coach would get more involved in the day-to-day operations of the defense. He’s putting in extra time with that group on and off the field this spring. Gibbs says he appreciates the extra help.

“I think it’s awesome,” Gibbs told reporters last week. “He’s in our meetings every day, we watch film every day. Having a different perspective, a lot of times somebody has a different opinion of a player, a different opinion of a certain defense. All those thoughts are welcome. I’ll do whatever it takes to fix this thing. I’ll take all the help I can get. I’m not the guy who thinks I have all the answers.”

For Texas Tech, staying the course was the right answer. Kingsbury points to the consistency enjoyed by the Big 12’s most successful defenses. Defensive coordinators Tony Gibson (West Virginia), Glenn Spencer (Oklahoma State), Tom Hayes (Kansas State) and Mike Stoops (Oklahoma) are all going into their fifth or sixth seasons on the job. Gary Patterson has been doing his thing at TCU since 1998.

“Being able to create a culture over a period of time and getting recruits in who fit the right scheme, them hearing the same terminology and getting taught the same techniques and fundamentals year after year, that’s how you develop good defenses,” Kingsbury said. “For a long time, Texas Tech hasn’t been able to do that.”

Remember, Gibbs is the Red Raiders’ eighth defensive coordinator since 2007. He’s the first DC to stay on there for a third year since Ruffin McNeill. Recruiting and developing the right pieces on defense gets awfully challenging when the blueprint and leadership is constantly changing.

Despite the terrible results, Kingsbury is confident he has the right coach.

“Coach Gibbs didn’t come to Lubbock and get dumb all of the sudden,” Kingsbury said. “He’s had success everywhere he’s been.”

Gibbs' 2013 Houston defense ranked No. 1 nationally in takeaways with 43. He only spent two years there, but he and his staff did recruit seven defenders who started for UH in 2016. Replicating those results at Texas Tech has been difficult, but doing so does take time.

The biggest problem Kingsbury saw when reviewing the 2016 unit: The Red Raiders didn’t have enough depth to compete over 75-plus snaps. They needed more guys they can actually trust to do a consistently good job.

Gibbs is starting to see that this spring. He sees better players on the No. 2 and No. 3 defenses when they take the field. By now, he’s recruited most of them. He has eight starters coming back and a group of newcomers, led by junior college defensive backs Octavious Morgan, Jaylon Lane and Vaughnte Dorsey, who have upped the competition level this offseason.

“We need to be five or six deep in the secondary, five or six deep at linebacker and 12, 13 deep at defensive line,” Kingsbury said. “That’s what we’re striving to do.”

The Red Raiders’ defense gave up 55 points per game last season in their losses, yet four losses were decided by one-score margins. Give that team an average D instead of an awful one and perhaps the results are dramatically different.

Gibbs isn’t being asked to pull off an impossible miracle here. But it is time to show serious progress. Kingsbury believes his defensive coordinator will deliver.

“It was never a question of, hey, he’s not the right fit,” Kingsbury said. “We have to get better as a program.”