Memphis Set to Name New Football Coach Sportsbooks Betting. Sportsbooks betting on the Memphis Tigers has not been very successful in recent seasons but that could change beginning next year as the Tigers hire a new head coach. Tommy West will coach the Tigers in their final game and after that sportsbooks contest it is expected that Memphis will hire Washington Redskins secondary coach Jerry Gray as their next head coach.
Sportsbooks betting have Memphis as a big underdog in their finale against Tulsa. The Tigers have been one of the worst teams in college football again this season under West. Heading into Friday’s game against Tulsa they were 2-9 both straight up and against the sportsbooks betting odds.
Gray getting the job was somewhat of a longshot but Joe Gibbs recommended him for the position and that was good enough for Memphis. Gray has done a very nice job in Washington even though the Redskins are not very good. It is definitely not the fault of the defense though. The Redskins are one of the top ranked defenses in the league as sportsbooks betting stats show. Gray is a 13-year NFL assistant but he believes he has the experience necessary to win in college football. “The thing you have to do is look around and say, ‘Nine years playing, 13 years coaching,’ and all those things add up,” Gray said. “You take your experience and apply it someplace else.”
The top choice for the Memphis job looked to be LSU assistant head coach Larry Porter but Gray is now the likely hire. “I know [Gray’s] wanted to be a head coach,” Redskins cornerback Carlos Rogers said. “You have a guy that’s more than a coach.”
Sportsbooks have had Memphis as underdogs in every game except two and those were against non-conference weaklings early in the season. Under Tommy West the Tigers have simply performed poorly against the odds at sportsbooks. Perhaps under Gray the Tigers will be a team that can win and cover against the sportsbooks betting odds in the future. This season the Tigers have not been competitive in sportsbooks betting for the most part. They lost vs. the odds at sportsbooks against Mississippi, Middle Tennessee, Marshall, Central Florida, Southern Miss, East Carolina, Tennessee, UAB and Houston and most of those games were not even competitive. Their only sportsbooks betting wins came against Tennessee Martin and UTEP.