Matt Wells is coming to Texas Tech to see if he can pull off what Kliff Kingsbury and several others before him could not: elevate the Red Raiders among college football's elite as athletic director Kirby Hocutt promised.

Wells, who made inroads toward winning the past six years as head coach at perennial doormat Utah State, is leaving that position to take over the Red Raiders, Tech announced Thursday. Hocutt told Tech players during a brief team meeting at 8 p.m. Thursday in the Football Training Facility.

"I couldn't be more excited about the man who's coming to lead this program," Hocutt said. "He's going to do great things here."

The 45-year-old Wells is 44-34 in six years at Utah State, including 10-2 this season when he was named the Mountain West Conference coach of the year for the second time. The Aggies ascended to No. 14 in The Associated Press Top 25 and were on a 10-game winning streak before they lost to Boise State in the regular-season finale.

Wells has agreed to a six-year contract, Hocutt said, the terms not yet disclosed.

A source told A-J Media earlier Thursday that West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen, who spent eight years as an assistant at Tech, wanted the job, but Hocutt declined to interview him. Just like six years ago, the elapsed time between the Tech job coming open and word of a replacement being named was 100 hours, almost exactly.

"It's been my approach," Hocutt said, "that when you find that right person and you know that individual has the leadership skills to come and elevate this program and wants to be here and would be a good fit for this community, is going to be a positive influence on that locker room with this group of men, you expedite it as quickly as you can."

Utah State offensive coordinator David Yost and defensive coordinator Keith Patterson will follow Wells to Tech. They'll meet with Red Raiders players in a team meeting Friday afternoon and then get to work contacting recruits committed to the program.

Hocutt said he did face-to-face interviews with three candidates and had many phone conversations with others interested in the position.

But Hocutt said he felt confident going with Wells, having followed his career for years and gotten nothing but positive feedback from people within the college football industry.

"I talked to a lot of people about his leadership style, his head-coaching abilities and nothing (heard) nothing but positive words."

Though Wells has had three losing seasons at Utah State, he's won nine or more games three times at a program perceived to be disadvantaged in resources and recruiting logistics. The perception also includes playing third fiddle within the state behind Utah, with its Pac-12 Conference membership, and Brigham Young, with its long tradition.

Utah State had 13 losing seasons from 1998 through 2010, only once winning as many as five games. And the Aggies won seven games only once from 1980 through 2010.

Wells was a high-school standout in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, who played quarterback at Utah State from 1993-96. He served as an assistant at Navy (1997-2001), Tulsa (2002-06), New Mexico (2007-08 and 2010) and Louisville (2009), coaching offensive skill positions.

He returned to Utah State in 2011 as quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator and was promoted each of the next two years — to offensive coordinator for the 2012 season, when the Aggies went 11-2, and to head coach in 2013.

The Aggies went 9-5 and 10-4 with bowl victories in Wells' first two seasons, then sagged to 6-7. 3-9 and 6-7 the next three years before winning big again this year.

The Aggies are outscoring opponents by an average of 47-23. They lead the FBS in scoring drives of less than one minute (24), passes intercepted (18) and kickoff-return average (29.7 yards).

Wells and Oregon defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt appeared to be Hocutt's top two targets from the beginning of the search, which commenced Sunday when Tech fired Kingsbury after a third consecutive losing season. During the press conference to announce the change, Hocutt repeatedly used "elite" to describe his expectations for Tech football, where five coaches have had at least one season with double-digit victory totals.

"We will be elite in football again," Hocutt said. "I guarantee you, we will be elite in football again. This program has been there before and will get there again. We will bring back our edge."

The 247Sports website reported Wednesday that Leavitt interviewed for the job. Without naming names, Hocutt said Wednesday on his weekly radio show that he was talking with a coordinator at a high-profile program.

Wells is open to retaining some Kingsbury assistants who want to stay, Hocutt said. The coordinators are already known, and armed with Big 12 and additional power-five conference experience. Yost spent 19 seasons on Gary Pinkel staffs at Toledo (1994-2000) and Missouri (2001-12) and also has worked at Washington State (2013-15) and Oregon (2016). Yost coached quarterbacks Brad Smith, Chase Daniel and Blaine Gabbert at Missouri and Justin Herbert at Oregon.

This season, Yost has tutored sophomore quarterback Jordan Love, who has been the Mountain West offensive player of the week five times.

Patterson led defenses for Todd Graham at Tulsa (2006-10), Pittsburgh (2011) and Arizona State (2014-17) and for Holgorsen at West Virginia (2012-13). The Marlow, Oklahoma, native also spent nearly two decades as a high school coach in Oklahoma and Texas, including two stints at Allen in the mid-1990s and early 2000s.