Red Raider Sports Magazine - October/November 2021

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RED RAIDER

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RedRaiderSports.com is a publication of TRI Productions Volume 27 Issue 2 Managing Editor Aaron Dickens

Cover Photo Elise Bressler

Photographers Elise Bressler

Brandon Brieger Elizabeth Hertel

Norvelle Kennedy Artie Limmer

Michaela Schumacher Michael Strong

Writers Wes Bloomquist

Terry Greenberg Randy Rosetta

Ben Gola Al Pickett

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the

WOMBLE FOOTBALL CENTER

by TERRY GREENBERG

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features

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• Weight room - 14,000 sq. ft.

• Sports medicine facility

• Position meeting rooms

• Locker room - 7,000 sq. ft.

• Nutrition center

• Team meeting theater

• Team lounge

• Recruiting area

• Space for coaches and staff

Dusty Womble has a history of seeing investments pay off.

He met his wife on a disastrous blind date when they were Texas Tech students. They went out again and have been married since 1981.

While still a student, he started Interactive Computer Designs before graduating with a management information systems degree. He sold his company to Tyler Technologies in 1998 and retired in 2016. Tyler is publicly traded and now worth $20 billion.

Before the Texas Tech men’s basketball team made first-ever trips to the Elite Eight and Final Four the next year, he gave $10 million toward the Dustin R. Womble Basketball Center, which was used for recruiting even before it opened earlier this year.

And now, Dusty and Leisha Womble have given a record $20 million gift toward the Dustin R. Womble Football Center – the largest individual gift in Texas Tech Athletics history. It will be built where the existing Football Training Facility sits just south of Jones AT&T Stadium.

“It’s been identified as a need for the football program for quite some time. It was built about 20 years ago and there are some issues with it that prevent us from updating it to what it needs to be to get us to the same level as all the national powers we want to compete with,” said Womble.

The new two-story center doubles the existing building’s size.

“When it’s connected to the Sports Performance Center, we’ll have one of the largest training and development centers in the country,” said Kirby Hocutt, Director of Athletics.

Construction will start early next year and will be ready for the 2023 season.

The Wombles have now given $30 million toward the Campaign for Fearless Champions, elevating Tech’s sports facilities to among the best in the nation, if not the best. Womble is now the largest individual donor in Texas Tech Athletics history.

The football center is one of the last major pieces on a campaign list of more than two-dozen projects.

TTU and the Biggest Stage

Lawrence Schovanec, Texas Tech University President, spoke at a recent event to announce the gift, talking about the “incredible family of Dusty and Leisha Womble.”

“We’re blessed by their generosity, and just as importantly, their example, their daily commitment and involvement that so positively impacts Texas Tech, Lubbock and the surrounding community. This sends a message that TTU plays and belongs on the biggest stage of college athletics,” he said.

Hocutt also spoke.

“Dusty loves Texas Tech and shares the vision of being the absolute very best athletics department in the country,” he said. “Remember, he did not invest in the Womble Basketball Center – the gold standard – after we went to the Final Four. He believed in that vision well before.

He’s here again investing in the future of Texas Tech football because he believes in what’s going on in this program and the vision for the football program in the future.”

Hocutt mentioned “gold standard” often in his comments about the athletic facilities Texas Tech has built during the campaign that kicked off in 2014.

“We’re not taking a back seat to any other program. We’re making a significant investment in Texas Tech football. Our investment into Texas Tech football is accelerating and is our primary focus,” he said.

Hocutt also thanked the Red Raider Nation, pointing out a record was set for men’s basketball season seats, baseball season seats have been sold out consistently and football crowds this season have been great.

My Support

Womble stressed the importance of investing in Texas Tech regardless of the peaks and valleys all sports programs go through.

“My support is there regardless of good times or bad times. Some fans are only supportive when things are on the upswing. Our programs need support when things are not going well,” when the team is trying to improve, he said. “My support is there regardless of what our current wins and losses are. My support is there to try and take wherever we are, advance past that and make this program stronger and in a better position in the coming years.”

Womble has only missed one Tech football home game since 1977 and that was in 2006 for a daughter’s college visit.

“I love this place unconditionally. I love the opportunity it provided for me. I’m a supporter of Texas Tech University and they can count on me,” he added.

Athletics has been able to lean on many generous donors during the Campaign for Fearless Champions, said Andrea Tirey, Senior Associate Athletic Director, with more than $200 million being raised to date.

“The passion of our fans and donors – their unwavering support for the Red Raiders is amazing. People step up time and time again to help us have the resources we need to be successful. People have given over and over to multiple projects. We use the word family a lot when we think about the people who support Texas Tech Athletics and it’s true. Our donors support us re-

gardless of wins or losses because they believe in the Double T and this great University,” she said.

And new donors keep stepping up.

“We’re seeing a next generation of donors, too. Our pipeline is strong,” said Tirey.

Athletics still needs to raise $20-30 million to finish funding the football center, followed by the South End Zone project.

“We’re pushing the accelerator and confident we can raise the money for those projects and future needs,” she said.

The Womble family’s total investment puts them in the same category as Jerry Rawls, Ed Whitacre and Jim Sowell and others who’ve invested multi-millions in the university.

Womble credited Ed Whitacre’s gift to create the Ed Whitacre Center for Athletics Administration in the East Side of Jones AT&T Stadium to start the dominoes falling for the new football facility. Football staff will move into the old staff offices in the South End Zone while the new football center is built. Then the South End Zone project will add more fan opportunities to watch Red Raider football.

He also credited everyone involved in the stadium improvements, the Sports Performance Center, the Cash Family Sports Nutrition Center and United Supermarkets Arena.

“It’s a tribute to our joint love of this university and our joint commitment to what it came become and what it represents,” he said.

A Game Changer

Womble has seen the recruiting impact from the basketball center.

“I think it’s the centerpiece of their recruiting story. But there are a lot of components to selling that program. The program’s success, the coaches, United Supermarkets Arena, the university, the conference we’re in and the practice facility,” he said, Coach Mark Adams wants players who will play tough defense and want to develop their game to hopefully play in the NBA. The center is designed to help players develop 24 hours a day, seven days a week where before they would have to leave the arena if there was a concert or another team needed the space, he said.

As for football, the existing facility is not an embarrassment, said Womble.

“I don’t think it kills us in recruiting, but I don’t think it helps us either. It’s just not where we want to be to compete with the premier programs in the country. It’s not there in size, in functionality.

We want to force people to compete against our facilities,” he said.

Womble was involved in the basketball center and looks forward to the same with this project.

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“Maybe even more so. When we started that project, I had never been involved with a project inside a university structure. I had a lot of learning. I have the benefit of seeing the challenges we had at the basketball facility and a little bit of experience on how to maybe head those off before they become a problem,” he said.

And, as with the hoops facility, he’s looking forward to seeing other facilities and will be on a trip to see what Nebraska, Georgia and South Carolina have done.

“We want to see what we’re competing against,” he said.

Plus, Hocutt and the football staff have seen a lot of facilities and have ideas what they’d like to see, said Womble.

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The Back Story

Womble joked at the gift announcement that it was from his kids’ inheritance and they came to see if their parents would go through with it.

“That’s not actually accurate,” he said, laughing, adding the funds were already out of his estate and in a fund designated to donate.

“They love the school as much as I do. They understand we’re blessed to do this,” he said.

So what did happen on that blind date?

One of Leisha’s sorority sisters knew Dusty from high school and set up the date.

“There was a huge blizzard that day and Tech let classes out early. We went to see the movie Coma and it was not very good. Then we got stuck in the parking lot. I didn’t realize we

were parked in mud because it was covered over with snow,” he said.

Leisha, who had never driven a four-speed with a clutch, was inside the car while Dusty was outside the car trying to move it.

“I got mud all over me. I had to call one of my dorm roommates to come get us,” he said.

Then when he took Leisha home a former boyfriend of hers was inside talking to Leisha’s mom.

“She was a little shook up,” he said.

“I said I’ll call you and we’ll try this again.

We ended up signing up for some country and western dance classes and that’s how we really got to know each other,” he said.

[Dusty R. Womble and family pictured below.]

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Since the beginning, Ron Reeves has been building.

by TERRY GREENBERG

Ron Reeves had two futures to consider his senior year at Lubbock’s Monterey High School. Texas Tech wanted him as a quarterback. The Cleveland Indians wanted him to play baseball.

He leaned on Bobby Moegle, Monterey’s legendary baseball coach and defensive coordinator for the Plainsmen football team.

Moegle told Reeves if he could play quarterback, that’s what he should do. Some schools wanted him as a linebacker.

“He knew my skill set, probably better than anybody,” Reeves said of Moegle, who won four state baseball titles at Monterey.

Plus, quarterbacking the Red Raiders fulfilled a young boy’s dreams.

“I lived on 21st and Boston. Every afternoon when I came home from school you could hear the band practicing. I’d be in the front yard, football up in the air and catching it, pretending I was in a ball game. I had a football helmet and had number 44 written on it in Magic Marker for Donnie Anderson,” he said of Anderson, a member of the Texas Tech football Ring of Honor.

Reeves was Tech’s starting quarterback four seasons from 1978-81, then played professional football before starting a Lubbockbased construction company 35 years ago.

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Reeves did the interview for this story on a Zoom call from a 60,000-acre ranch south of Fort Stockton, where he’s building a client’s home.

And he still – jokingly – says Donald Trump owes him $10,000 and interest for a bonus when he played for Trump’s New Jersey Generals in the long-gone United States Football League in the 1980s.

A Physical Runner

Reeves’ dad, three uncles and older sister all went to Lubbock High. The family moved by the time Reeves went to high school.

His dad, Garnet Reeves Jr., played end for Texas Tech, back when end was a position literally on the end of the offensive line, not split out. Both father and son were recruited by Texas Tech, Baylor and TCU.

His first game as a Red Raider was against ninth-ranked USC in the Los Angeles Coliseum. Reeves didn’t play, but two weeks later against Arizona he came in just before halftime, helping lead Texas Tech to a 41-26 win and securing the starting quarterback position.

After losses to Texas and Texas A&M – both ranked in the top ten – Reeves led the Red Raiders to five straight wins and a 6-3 record before they hosted fifth-ranked Houston.

Tech scored a late touchdown to trail the

Cougars 21-20 when head coach Rex Dockery decided to go for a two-point conversion and win.

Reeves got behind the center – long before teams used the shotgun formation. Running back James Hadnot was to Reeves’ left.

Reeves took the snap, dropped back, looked into the end zone and started to run to his right, while Hadnot headed left.

Tech wanted to lure the Houston defense to the right. Reeves then threw back to Hadnot, who caught the ball around the 8-yard-line. He broke three tackles to get in the end zone and give Texas Tech a 22-21 win over the eventual Southwest Conference champion.

“It was pretty exciting and one of my most fun wins ever,” said Reeves.

Larry Martin, an offensive lineman, did

somersaults all the way to the sideline, Reeves recalled.

“You don’t see grown men doing somersaults off the field very often,” he said.

Going into his senior year, Reeves was ranked in the top 15 quarterback prospects for the NFL, but a knee injury against the Washington Huskies dropped his ranking.

“My knee turned to rubber and I had to be carried off the field,” said Reeves, who missed the rest of that game and the next week’s contest during a tough 1-9-1 season.

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The diagnosis was his “fat pad” was bruised, said Reeves. He’d get his knee drained, practice gingerly and played the final few games of the season even though he wasn’t 100 percent.

During the final game at Houston, Reeves got hit hard. Knee surgery followed.

Reeves had torn his medial ligament. His anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), it turned out, was torn earlier in the year.

His doctor tightened the medial ligament but didn’t fix his ACL.

Four decades later, that might seem strange, but Reeves’ doctor knew he wanted to play pro football and back then, sometimes players were never able to play after ACL surgery.

Reeves ended his career with 4,688 yards passing – 13th all time – with most of those ahead of him from 2000 or later when the Air Raid offense took off in Lubbock.

But his 856 yards rushing are third all time for quarterbacks behind his two predecessors – Joe Barnes with 1,321 and Rodney Allison with 1,043.

All three wore number 12.

The trio played in the 1970s and early ‘80s when the veer was a hot offense in college football and gave quarterbacks more chances to run.

Quarterbacks would take the snap, either give to the “dive” back looking for holes in middle of the action or flip to the “pitch” back who would try and attack around the outside. Or Reeves would keep the ball and look for yardage.

None of the post-2000-era quarterbacks ran for many yards with one exception – Patrick Mahomes, who ran for 845 yards, 11 behind Reeves.

Spike Dykes-era quarterback Zebbie Lethridge also had 845 career yards.

“We were a veer team; our passing game was very limited. I was a physical runner, but I wasn’t fast. We had good running backs and an average-speed quarterback. Every defense we played said we’re going to stop the dive back, stop the pitch back and make the fat quarterback beat us,” he said.

Reeves averaged 142 carries a season and took a lot of hits.

“I can’t blame the defense for trying to make me be the one to beat them,” he said.

Pro Football & Donald Trump Reeves was drafted by the Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) and competing for a roster spot when the Oilers brought in Archie Manning – father of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Peyton and Eli. Reeves was released early in the 1982 season.

He finished his business degree at Tech, stayed in shape and played for Calgary and Montreal in the Canadian Football League the next season.

It took Reeves a little while to get used to how

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offensive players could run before the play started and found the bigger ball a little harder to throw.

“But it’s the same game. It was enjoyable,” he said.

The United States Football League was starting its second year in 1984. The Denver Gold had the rights to Reeves, but he was traded to the Chicago Blitz, coached by Marv Levy, who later took the Buffalo Bills to four straight Super Bowls, but never won one. The Chicago franchise failed at the end of the season and other USFL teams could pick up Blitz players. Reeves headed to New Jersey, owned by Donald Trump.

Reeves backed up Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Doug Flutie, who got injured. Reeves was New Jersey’s field general its last five games.

His star running back was Herschel Walker, another Heisman Trophy winner, now running for U.S. Senate in his native Georgia.

Ron and wife Nancy Reeves became friends with Walker and his wife Cindy.

“When I went to camp, my first-born daughter was only nine months old, so I brought Nancy and Lindsay to camp and put them in a hotel room.

The only other wife was Cindy. Nancy and Cindy got to be good buddies,” said Reeves.

During the season, Reeves and Walker heard comedian Eddie Murphy was coming to Atlantic City during an off day. Walker asked Trump if he could get them tickets.

“He said, ‘yeah, let me get my people on it,’” Reeves said.

“The next thing we know Trump sends a helicopter with Trump written on the side over to a little airport near where Herschel and I lived. They picked us up, flew right down the Hudson River and over the Statue of Liberty” and on to Atlantic City, he said.

A Rolls-Royce picked them up. They were invited to a reception for big gamblers.

“Everybody’s getting Herschel’s autograph.

They don’t know who the heck I am,” he said.

After dinner, the Rolls took them to the show where they met Murphy backstage. Then they gambled a bit before hopping on the helicopter back to New Jersey.

“Back to our one-bedroom apartment and reality,” he said. “It was a fun experience.”

Reeves had a clause in his New Jersey contract if he started five games, he’d earn a $10,000 bonus. But when he got his final check, the bonus wasn’t on it.

“I asked ‘what’s the deal? I started five games,’” he told the team.

The answer was the fifth game was a playoff

game and the clause meant regular season games.

“So I tell everybody he owes me $10,000 and when you compound that interest that’s a pretty good chunk of change. But I don't think I'm ever going to get it,” said Reeves with a laugh.

Then the USFL folded.

Life After Football Reeves felt he could still play somewhere, but now had two children.

“It was time for me to figure out something to do for a living,” he said.

Reeves got into the building industry through his stepdad Charles Griffin, who was in the ready-built home business.

Griffin married Reeves’ mom during his senior year at Monterey. The couple saw almost all of Reeves’ games, loading up a motorhome with friends for college road trips.

In 1987 he started Ron Reeves Construction, now celebrating 35 years.

“I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve chosen to do for work and really glad I stayed in Lubbock,” he said, allowing him to stay close to Texas Tech football.

“They’re so nice to former letter winners.

If I want to go to practice, they make it easy.

(Director of Athletics) Kirby Hocutt and Rodney Allison (now Director of the Double T Varsity Club) are great guys,” he said.

Being a Red Raider opened some doors early for his business.

“But now it stands on its own,” said Reeves.

Reeves enjoyed watching Texas Tech’s 2008 win over Texas but he wasn’t part of packed Jones AT&T Stadium that night.

“My youngest daughter was playing basketball for Nebraska. Preseason games for basketball are not that big a deal, but when it’s your daughter’s first one, you’re there. I watched her play seven minutes. I got back to the hotel to see the end,” of the game on TV.

A group of former Red Raiders from his era gets together at a West Texas ranch over the past few years to keep in touch and have fun.

Ron and Nancy are celebrating 40 years of marriage this November. She also went to Monterey and Texas Tech and they dated for seven years. They planned to get married the Saturday after his last game, but his leg was in a cast and Reeves was in a wheelchair after his knee surgery.

“We tried to have everything planned out perfect,” he said, but they went on with the wedding, cast and wheelchair included.

Two of his daughters live in Lubbock, but one lives in Lawrence, Kansas. And in one of those small-world stories, her father-in-law played CFL football with Reeves in Montreal.

“Nancy’s been such a blessing. We raised three girls and now we have nine grandkids and eight of them are grandsons, so it’s a new perspective to watch the things they’re interested in,” he said.

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by WES BLOOMQUIST

It’s a month and a day before the start of the season when Bryson Williams pulls his car into an empty parking lot at the Texas Tech basketball practice facility at 5:40 a.m. to begin his day. No one told him to be here. Everyone knew he would be.

This is how it’s been since the first day his transfer decision became official. Bryson Williams doesn’t waste time. He's always ready to work.

“My opportunity is here,” Williams says. “I’ve lived long enough to know I have to take full advantage of everything that I have. People say I work hard, but I know I can work even harder to achieve my goals.”

On this day, a Friday morning with the coaching staff out of town recruiting, redshirt freshman Daniel Batcho hitched a ride with him and senior Marcus Santos-Silva would soon arrive. For most of the summer, Williams did this routine by himself. Almost no one even knew he was getting there so early besides a few coaches and the cleaning crew. Sometimes enthusiasm and commitment spread, especially when results start getting noticed. That’s what happened here. Marcus, Batcho and student managers started joining. Marlon Turner and Robert Flores from the housekeeping staff arrived a little earlier than assigned to get everything ready. Head coach Mark Adams says Bryson’s love for the game became contagious and strength and conditioning coach Darby Rich describes it by saying Bryson became a magnet for people wanting to improve.

“I used to start my day at 8:15 here in the gym before I saw the work he was putting in and knew that it would make me better if I was with him,” Santos-Silva says. “He was here early in the morning by himself for the longest time but now he’s got Batcho and me working with him. It really shows what a strong leader he is. I’ve been playing for a long time and this guy came in here and showed me there was an even higher level of work ethic to get to. He wants to be great and wants us to be great.”

Just a week before at the team retreat, Williams stood in front of his new teammates and showed his vulnerability off the court. The group of 14 players on the roster are comprised of mostly experienced players who arrived in Lubbock from all across the country with nine sign-

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ing throughout the offseason in April, May, June and July. Each journey is unique, but somehow they’ve all found themselves sitting in this remote cabin in Floydada, Texas. Go ahead, Google the location then resume reading. Here at the team’s retreat, they are tasked with strengthening the relationships that can help with their ultimate goal of winning on the court. It takes hard work and being connected. It requires trusting each other. Gathered in that circle with teammates, coaches and managers, Williams understood this as he spoke openly about his love for his family back in Fresno, California and the sacrifices they’ve made for him to be successful. It quickly became clear to everyone in the cabin where his motivation comes from.

“My mom sacrificed everything for my sister and me,” Williams says. “Everything she does is for us. She didn’t eat sometimes to make sure we were full. It was never easy for her. I know there were times in her life where she’d only get about four hours of sleep because she was always working to provide for us. There’s no way I’m going to not push myself as hard as I can when I have an example like her in my life. My dad’s my dog and not a deadbeat, but my mom is the reason I’m here. She’s been there for me every day of my life.”

Still living in Fresno, his mom has worked for the State of California for 20 years in the Employment Development Department. A single mother who always found a way to provide, she has had roles of clerical agent, key date operator and since 2007 has been a program examiner where she processes claims. She once saw another mother in the stands at one of Bryson’s games wearing a nice shirt with her kid’s name in rhinestones on it. She didn’t ask where to buy it, instead how to make it. She saw an opportunity and would start creating custom shirts and gift baskets on the side to help pay for travel associated with Bryson playing basketball. Her examples of being devoted, resourceful and focused are significant reasons her son is in the gym even when no one told him to be.

“I’ve always told my kids you have to work hard for the things you want in life,” says Denise Williams whose daughter is graduating from

Fresno State this year. “As a single parent and raising my kids on my own, it was important for me to teach them work ethic. Bryson has loved the game since the fourth grade. I remember him spending countless hours running up and down the sidewalk working on his ball handling and shooting his basketball on a goal mounted to a tree in the front yard. His love for the game made me hustle harder to help keep him playing. He has a college degree and is following his dreams.

As a mom I am extremely proud of the man he has become.”

“I owe her everything,” Bryson told his teammates in the Floydada cabin.

Williams signed with Texas Tech on June 14, 2021 having already produced 1,627 points and 745 rebounds in his career. The statistics are impressive and would place him 11th in scoring and seventh in rebounding within the Tech record book if the stats had been registered as a Red Raider from the start of his career. They aren’t though. Williams will begin his sixth and final season of college basketball on November 9 against North Florida playing for his third university. His ride started in his hometown with two seasons at Fresno State then El Paso to play at UTEP where he’d have to redshirt his first year before playing two for the Miners.

“My journey has given me a lot of unique life lessons,” says Williams who earned his bachelor’s degree at UTEP and is now pursuing a master’s in Interdisciplinary Studies. “It started with clear direction. I committed to Fresno as a sophomore in high school. We lived right down the street from the university. It was comfortable. I knew everyone there. My friends, family and coaches I had grown up with. Going to UTEP really forced me to grow up and survive on my own for the first time.

They were great for me there, but it was the first time without my family. It was an entire new way of life for me. Everywhere I’ve been and everyone I’ve been around has made me who I am today. I wouldn’t take anything back.”

Adams doesn’t really want to think back on the first time he witnessed Williams play two years ago. Williams, playing for the first time at UTEP, went off for 19 points and nine rebounds in a charity exhibition win over the Red Raiders on continued on page 19

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2019 at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso. The performance came after his redshirt season and following Tech’s run to the Final Four. The Red Raiders were supposed to dominate the Miners, but it was Williams who took over the game.

“He single-handily beat us in that game,” Adams said. “Bryson made a huge impact on the game and also on me. I didn’t like him very much on that night. He was poised throughout the game and made great decisions.”

Against Wichita State in Texas Tech’s closeddoor scrimmage, Williams continued impressing by leading the Red Raiders with 25 points on 8-for-12 shooting and securing seven rebounds.

Through 121 games in his career, Williams is averaging 13.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.

He has 15 double-doubles, four games scoring 30 or more points and 81 blocked shots. Last season he went off for 23 points and 13 rebounds in a near upset of Kansas. As a redshirt junior, he averaged 17.8 points and 7.2 rebounds, including scoring his career-high 34 points against UTSA and putting a pair of 33-point performances on Hawaii and East Central. His senior season would see the Miners play only 24 games in the COVID-altered season where he finished with 15.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and his third straight year by being selected to an all-conference team. He’s piled up the stats. Earned awards. Taken on every challenge. At the end of the season and with a coaching change at UTEP coming, Williams started evaluating his options and wanted to challenge himself by playing at the highest level of the game.

Back in the gym on that morning, it’s 6:05 a.m. when Bryson walks out of the locker room and heads over to the rack of balls on the wall. It’s about as silent as it will ever get in the Womble practice facility in this moment with only the court lights on – strikingly different than the madhouse it will be the rest of the day. For the next hour, Bryson, Batcho and Marcus will go through a series of drills with graduate assistant Ty Nurse and student managers Marlei Burrowes and Jake Hirst. There’s a layup drill where they are alternating hands and sides of the rim, arcing shots

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over foam sticks and shot fakes that are followed by attacking the rim with thunderous dunks that reverberate throughout the otherwise silent gym.

Left-handed hook shots are followed by righthanded hook shots and then drills working on jumpers, free throws and spin moves come one after another. Everything he’s doing you can tell he’s done countless times before. Everything is with purpose.

“I believe he’s showing me how to be great,” Batcho says. “I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as he does every day. Nothing stops him. I just look at him sometimes and say, ‘damn’. He’s an animal. You can just tell nothing is going to get in his way.”

“His work ethic is what separates him,” adds Texas Tech Director of Scouting Darshawn McClennan. “He is so hungry and driven to make it. He does whatever it takes to be successful, whether that’s diving on the court for a loose ball during a game or waking up at 5 a.m. for morning workouts and then coming back late at night to get in more shots every day during the summer.

Bryson never stops working.”

These early morning workouts are nothing new for Williams who says they date back to his days at Roosevelt High School where he is the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,302 points. He’s always loved basketball, but almost enjoys the grind of it even more. His mom saw that passion from an early age and says it was hard to keep him at home because he always wanted to be the first one to the gym. “First question he always asked was when he could get into school,” she says.

“I had trouble making free throws in high school,” Williams says. “That’s how this all started. I couldn’t make free throws. I’d score a lot of points, but every time I stepped to that line I’d miss it. My high school started at 7:50 in the morning so my coach would get up there with me at about 6:15 every day to shoot free throws. I’d shoot about 200 free throws and then go off to class.”

Williams ranked fifth in Conference-USA last

season in free-throw shooting at 83.6 percent and went 177-for-216 while at UTEP over the past two seasons. Against Wichita State in the scrimmage, he went 8-for-10 from the line. Something is working.

At 7:06 a.m. the on-court drills are over, but his morning is just getting started.

Without a break, he walks directly to the weight room where Rich is waiting for him. The two immediately developed a strong relationship over the summer through their mutual appreciation for each other’s dedication. Watching them together you’d think they’ve been working together for four years, not four months. Rich played college basketball at Alabama with Letrell Sprewell and Robert Horry and has coached at South Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Memphis over the past two decades. He knows what hard work

looks like and can see through fluff. The weight room can sometimes be a tricky place for basketball players. Some love it. Some get through it.

Bryson attacks it.

Remember, this is a morning that falls a month and a day before the start of the season.

For Williams, his sixth. At 7:15 a.m. following an intense hour of on-court drills and a week of hard team practices, he begins what appears to be the most important work out of his life. Everything is serious as he goes through a series of sets using weights, dumbbells, body weight and a medicine ball. Thirty minutes into the routine, teammate Clarence Nadolny comes into the room dancing with a carefree mood that contradicts the level of intensity and focus Bryson has had all morning.

Bryson greets him a huge smile and starts dancing with him though. He can compartmentalize.

He matches Clarence’s energy. He goes back to work.

“Bryson brings a consistency with him every day that is very uncommon,” Rich says. “It’s not just to the weight room that I see that either. It’s in everything that he does. He gives everything he has at every practice. Works hard in here with me every day. He walks down every hall with a smile on his face all the time. Bryson is going to attack everything he does and he takes everything to another level.”

Santos-Silva was the only senior for Texas Tech last season, but now, in the new era of the transfer portal and the NCAA granting an additional year of eligibility due to Covid, the Red Raider roster has six. Williams is joined by three other super seniors in Santos-Silva, Adonis Arms and Davion Warren to go along with traditional seniors Sardaar Calhoun and Kevin Obanor - all transfers this season besides Marcus. “Bryson is a dog. He brings his effort every day,” Warren says Williams. Kevin McCullar, Terrence Shannon, Jr. and Nadolny are also back as juniors with valuable experience, including advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season. It’s a roster of grown men playing the game with purpose, unselfishness and a shared sense of motivation from feeling underrated throughout their lives.

“We all have a drive to win,” Williams says.

“Our team is full of guys like me who have a lot of experience and approach this game in a different way than we did four or five years ago. We all have different rap sheets that tell how we got here, but we’re all in this together now. We’ve all talked about it and we all have this feeling that we’ve never got the respect that we all deserve.

If we want to win we’re all going to have to push each other. We have to prove everyone wrong.”

At UTEP and Fresno State, Williams proved to be a player who could fill the stat sheet. He dropped his career-high 34 points in an overtime win over UTSA where he also had 10 rebounds for a double-double. As a senior last year, he would score

20 or more points in seven of 24 games and had a career-high 14 rebounds in a game against Charlotte where he also scored 23 points on 11-for-17 shooting. That game was followed by his performance against the Jayhawks which showed what he could do against Big 12 opponents. It opened a lot of eyes. There was no shortage of prospects for Williams following his decision to transfer from UTEP, both collegiately and professionally. His phone was going off non-stop from area codes all across the country looking to add his talent and experience to their roster. “Having an opportunity to play here at the highest level of college basketball and for a coaching staff that genuinely care about you is why I came here. This isn’t a place where people make excuses. Everyone is here to work.”

“He could be starting his pro career right now if that would have been the path he wanted to take,” Adams says. “I appreciate him trusting us this season to help him get to his ultimate goals. To have a player of his caliber who has come in with such a great work ethic is great. He’s making the most of every day he has here and I really believe it’s going to pay off for him.”

His morning routine is finally winding down at 8:25 a.m. as he finishes by battling Rich for post position in an exercise called ‘Cable Cross Blockouts’. It’s a performance training set which utilizes using a wall-mounted cable machine and emulates low-post tasks including rebounding and securing post position down low.

Every part of it designed to translate to his success on the court this season and get him ready for the monsters of the Big 12. Williams is experienced enough to know that he will be judged for his production and how it impacts the team. He’s racked up statistics, but hasn’t played an NCAA Tournament game. He’s played well against Big 12 teams, but now he’ll face them every night.

Walking out of the weight room at 8:40 a.m. after eating breakfast at the nutritional station he’s now heading up to the coaches offices to watch film for the next hour. He’ll eventually take a nap or two in the locker room and maybe even catch one on a coach’s office couch, but as afternoon team practice approaches at 2:30 p.m. and he’ll be ready. It’s a never-ending cycle with another individual workout coming later that night and tomorrow and the season rapidly approaching.

Time is everything for Bryson right now, knowing through his experiences that this opportunity will not last forever. Days go by fast. Seasons fly by. Time is fragile and funny in how it seems just like yesterday he was starting his freshman season at Fresno State in 2016, but how it also feels like it’s been forever since he made his decision in June to transfer to Texas Tech. His experiences remind him to value every moment and not take anything for granted. His hometown of Fresno showed him that. “It’s a hard-working place where people have to work hard to survive.

We come with a different mentality. It’s all or nothing. That’s why I bring it all.” His mom never complains, always encouraging with an inspiring voice. “I’m not going to let her down. She gives me the motivation I need.” At 23-years-old, the man looking back at Bryson in the mirror knows who he is and how he got here. He’s seen countless talented players come and go, not taking full advantage of what they have and what they can achieve. He knows how important taking advantage of time is and has promised himself not to waste a second of it.

“There have been a lot of times when I’m out here by myself and doubt creeps into my mind,” Williams says. “For sure there are moments when you don’t want to do something. You just have to fight that and get yourself right. It’s really all on you in this life.

What do you want? What are you going to do to get it? I’m going to do everything I can to get what I want.”

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by RANDY ROSETTA

NEW DIRECTION

Down to his final semester as a college

student, Dalton Rigdon was eager to reach the finish line, but also a little unsure if he was finishing the right race.

Being a chiropractor was a well-estab-

lished legacy in his family, with eight family members already practicing their craft throughout West Texas.

Like any red-blooded American young boy,

though, Rigdon had long dreamed of a heroic profession when he got old enough – firefighter, police officer, solider. Not that chiropractic work didn’t have its element of heroism: The ability to help heal a person’s body. Just not the same sizzle.

During his career as a Texas Tech receiv-

er, Rigdon watched Dominic Zuniga, the officer assigned to accompany Red Raider head coach Matt Wells wherever he went. On a road trip to Oklahoma State last season, Rigdon asked Wells if he thought Zuniga would mind if he asked him about his chosen profession.

That conversation led to more questions,

a relationship that became more meaningful, several ride-alongs with law enforcement and eventually the decision to switch to a new career path.

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Dalton, Texas Ranger.

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“I was going to go into chiropractic because I wanted to stay around sports, especially this program, and maybe be a team chiropractor someday,” said Rigdon, who is now on track to graduate in December with a degree in sociology with an emphasis in criminal justice.

“It’s always been something in the back of my mind even when I was going through kinesiology courses to become a chiropractor.

Criminal justice, profiling and just being able to help people in any way I can have always been something I was always really interested in.

Just meeting with Zuniga and talking with him, made me realize that was something I wanted to do.”

As drastic as the sudden career change might seem, it’s not like law enforcement is a foreign concept in Rigdon’s extended family.

Besides the numerous chiropractors, there is a strong presence in public service – a grandmother (Judy Whitehead) who was a juvenile detective in Houston, Perryton and Canadian; an uncle (Nick Hale) who was in the Air Force; and another uncle (Keith Rigdon) who is in the Perryton Police Department and part of the SWAT team.

Now Rigdon would like to add to that part of the family legacy instead of the one that seemed to be his destiny for so long. The next step after graduation from Texas Tech is a sixmonth training program in Austin which will put him into the workforce as state trooper. That’s just the starting point for what Rigdon wants to eventually become a high-impact role with the ultimate goal of being a Texas Ranger.

“What really interests me the most is the chance to get into profiling and that kind of stuff,” Rigdon said. “Homicide investigations is definitely something that I really interested in, and I would like to look at being part of our Special Response Team (SRT). I want to do something where I can help as many people as I can.”

Hard to question Rigdon’s altruistic goals or his enthusiasm for his new and much different endeavor. But the transition from being a chiropractor to putting his life on the line every single day had to pass one more steep hurdle first.

Rigdon is a recent newlywed, so when he made the abrupt career change, taking Christina Rigdon’s feelings into account was at the top of his priority list.

Christina Rigdon is a lab technician at Texas Tech and her husband confessed that she “was not necessarily super pumped about it” when he told her what he was pondering.

“You think you're getting married to somebody who's going to do a normal 9-5 job and

the most exciting thing that’s going to happen at the office is cracking some grandmother’s back, right?” Dalton Rigdon said. “Now, on the flip side, she’s married to somebody who is going to deal with a much more dangerous job, and it’s not all that glorious to think about your husband dodging bullets every day. But we talked about it, and she understands that I want to help people, so she’s fine with it now.”

To be clear, Rigdon’s wife wasn’t the only person who had to reconcile with how different the excitement of being a state trooper is from chiropractic work. He needed to be comfortable with his change as well.

Being a college athlete in prime condition lends itself to a notion of invincibility, and Rigdon is as fit as any player on the Texas Tech roster. But his relationship with Zuniga has the added benefit of understanding the realities of the path he is about to head down.

“I don't think you get into this kind of the profession without realizing what you’re potentially going to face every day,” Rigdon said. “If you're not truly willing to sacrifice that, I don't think you get into it to begin with because of the reality of it. You have to be willing to sacrifice if you believe what you’re doing is important.

“Being able to go and represent the state of Texas and being able to say that I protect the people of the state of Texas, that's the most gratifying thing I can ask for – loving what you do and just being fulfilled, it’s just an honor to be able to do that.”

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by RANDY ROSETTA

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LAST

RIDE

Four years coaching together helped create a coaching bond between Mark Adams and Rick Cooper. The last 36 years of friendship brought the two West Texas coaching legends back together for one final ride.

Adams landed his dream job last April 6 as the Red Raiders’ new basketball coach. He spent the next few weeks assembling his staff and his mind kept wandering back was Cooper, his one-time assistant at Wayland Baptist, his protégé and somebody who became a lifelong friend.

Cooper resisted at first, his life headed in a new direction after his recent retirement as the Wayland Baptist athletic director and with a newly constructed house in Canyon. There are four grandkids to spoil and the 63-year-old Cooper was eager for that phase of his life.

“Every time I called him, we’d talk about the new job and he was always changing the subject,” Adams said with a smile.

Adams didn’t relent and finally convinced Cooper to come aboard as his Chief of Staff.

Pretty quickly, reticence gave way to excitement and the realization that working together is a nice twist of destiny for both men as they arrive at the stretch run of their professional lives.

Now, six months into their second stint together, Cooper calls his new post a dream job as well.

“I'm a guy who banged around at lower levels most of my life, and now Coach Adams is giving me this chance at a Power 5 school with a really bright future, and I couldn’t be more thrilled,” Cooper said. “I'm here for the experience of a lifetime. It's a dream come true for me, too, and I’m really glad to be here.”

Turn back the clock 40-plus years, and that same enthusiasm was present when Adams was a young first-time head coach at Clarendon Junior College and Cooper was a recent Wayland Baptist graduate who was on the Pioneers’ basketball staff.

First impressions weren’t a strength – Adams reports that Cooper showed up to recruit Clarendon players wearing jeans and an untucked shirt – but something between the two

men quickly meshed. Shortly after that, Adams landed the job at Wayland and inherited Cooper as his assistant.

After a rocky 0-6 start in their first season together, the Pioneers found their groove with then 25-year-old Adams and 23-year-old Cooper as the brain trust. Wayland won 20 games that first season and soon began a run of three consecutive appearances at the NAIA Tournament, including a national runner-up finish in 1985.

Those four years together were the only time Adams and Cooper have worked side-byside until now, but they built a rock-solid foundation of friendship.

“He's a hillbilly and I'm an old farm boy from Brownfield, so we really didn’t have a lot in common,” Adams said. Cooper hails from West Virginia. “But from the very start, we complemented each other. We shared a love for basketball, and we were both young and learning how to coach together. That's how we developed our philosophy together even though we came from completely different backgrounds.”

Buoyed by the four-year run of success at Wayland Baptist, Adams moved up the road to take over at West Texas State and Cooper slid into the driver’s seat at Wayland. When Adams departed WT for Texas-Pan American after the 1992 season, Cooper pursued the job but didn’t get it. When West Texas was in the market again a year later, Adams called the athletic director and made a plug for his friend.

That was where the two coaches’ careers diverged a bit. Cooper arrived at WT in 1993 and stayed for 20 seasons with unprecedented success. By the time he stepped down in 2013, Cooper had amassed a 546-242 record in his two coaching stops to earn spots in both schools’ hall of honor.

Adams got back into basketball in 2004 at Howard College and guided that program to a NJCAA national crown in 2010. He moved to Texas Tech as a director of operations under Tubby Smith, left for Arkansas-Little Rock on Chris Beard’s staff and came back to Lubbock when he landed the job in 2016.

After Beard’s departure last spring, Adams endured the arduous process of pursuing his dream job and Cooper kept close tabs.

They spoke as the process played out, which wasn’t a surprise. The volume of phone calls between the two was constant through the years, and a tell-tale sign of their friendship was that basketball was rarely the primary topic.

Instead, the two talked about how their lives were playing out – each with a son and a daughter, each now with grandchildren to spoil.

“We’ve always had the commonality that we both love basketball, but there are some differences that drew us together,” Adams said. “I always knew I wanted to be a basketball coach, and God made it pretty clear to me that was the skill set He blessed me with.

Rick, on the other hand, could have been a lawyer, or a doctor or anything he wanted, and he would’ve been good at it. That's something that has always attracted me to Rick – not only do we share a love of basketball, but if I want to talk about anything in life, I know he’s so well-read and informed that I can learn something from him. I tell him once in a while that he’s not as smart as I though he was because he got into coaching and stayed in it.”

It’s that yin-and-yang that explains why Cooper is back in basketball after a sevenyear stint as an athletic administrator at his alma mater.

Adams had established relationships with each member of his staff, so the basketball connectivity is there and strong. He needed somebody who he knew would keep it real on other fronts.

“There's just an incredible comfort level between for us, and it means a lot to me to know I can trust coach Cooper and that he’s going to take care of things and take care of me,” Adams said. “He makes my job easier and takes the stress off of me. Knowing he is a friend who will tell what I need to hear with an honest answer is important.”

A fitting final chapter of a strong friendship that began with a love of basketball.

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by TERRY GREENBERG

rea l i gn me n t

In 1925, two years after classes began, Texas Tech’s

application to join the Southwest Conference was rejected.

Twenty-seven years later, in 1956, the Southwest

Conference finally said yes when Texas Tech asked a fifth time.

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The Red Raiders left the less-prestigious Border Conference and joined Texas, Texas A&M and five other schools.

It set off the biggest celebration in Lubbock since the end of World War II and later set the stage for the Red Raiders to join the Big 12 Conference in the 1990s.

Being in the same conference as the older schools from Austin and College Station gave Texas Tech a sense of finally being seen as equals.

“We needed to be part of that to grow,” said Robert Giovannetti, Senior Associate Athletics Director/External Operations & Strategic Communications.

Then in 2013, Texas A&M left the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference.

Texas Tech continued to flourish over those nine years.

Then this summer, Texas and Oklahoma announced plans to leave the Big 12 and join the Aggies in the SEC.

After decades of being linked to those universities, things have changed.

Texas Tech is ready to stand on its own in a reconfigured Big 12 and President Lawrence Schovanec and Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt played key leadership roles in the process.

“We don’t need to tag along with those two anymore. Texas Tech has done enough to stand on its own,” said Giovannetti.

Surprise

The Houston Chronicle reported on July 21 that Texas and Oklahoma reached out to the SEC.

None of the other eight Big 12 schools knew.

“I was incredulous. We did not have a hint this was coming and that frustrated some people. You could characterize it as a gut blow,” said Schovanec, who three weeks earlier had become chairman of the Big 12’s Board of Directors, made up of the university presidents.

“I went home that day and my wife Patty said to me, ‘Well ... it didn’t take you long to screw this up,’” he said, laughing in his office.

A meeting was set up with the presidents of Texas and Oklahoma.

“We pursued every opportunity to keep the conference intact. At that point no firm decisions had been announced, although we had a very strong indication it was going to be what happened,” said Schovanec.

Shortly after, it became official the schools would move to the SEC in 2025.

A New Big 12

“We all (the eight remaining members) felt a certain commitment to the conference. We were competing at a very high level,” said Schovanec, pointing out Baylor won the men’s basketball championship earlier this year, which Tech almost won two years before.

“With the prospect of an expanded College Football Playoff we thought the future was solid and bright.”

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Then the Pac 12, Big Ten and Atlantic Coast Conference announced a scheduling alliance in late August. Two days later the Pac 12 announced it wasn’t looking to expand after Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby met with his Pac 12 counterpart.

Reports started popping up on social media – the Big 12 would fold, schools would go to other conferences – Schovanec said a lot of it was wrong.

Schovanec had an in-depth conversation with the university president who chairs the ACC Board of Directors and came away believing the three-conference alliance was not that significant, a loosely configured agreement.

But the Big 12 was not involved.

“I believe we suffered in the eyes of the public, who saw us lacking significance to have been included in that discussion,” he said.

The Big 12 Board of Directors got busy to not only keep the conference together but keep it as one of the Power 5 conferences, allowing it to retain the same autonomy those conferences enjoy.

A firm was brought in to look at new members. It created a four-person expansion committee: Tech’s Hocutt, Iowa State President Wendy Wintersteen, Kansas Chancellor Doug Girod and Baylor Athletic Director Mack Rhodes.

“Kirby is one of the most respected athletic directors in the conference not only among his peers, but also the other presidents and chancellors. His voice matters,” said Schovanec.

Giovannetti said before the expansion committee was formed, Hocutt spent a lot of time talking to different people in college athletics about what was happening and what Texas Tech could do.

“Kirby is very well connected and respected nationally,” he said.

He also stays – to use a football phrase – calm in the pocket.

“Kirby’s not reactive. We saw this during COVID. There were people who wanted to make decisions right away and Kirby’s thoughtful, takes everything in and then makes decisions,” said Giovannetti.

Hocutt’s calm approach didn’t change during the frenetic days when the Big 12’s future was unknown.

Schovanec said the eight remaining Big 12 members worked well together.

On Sept. 12, the conference announced it would add Brigham Young University, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Houston and the University of Central Florida.

“The four institutions are a perfect cultural fit for the conference,” said Schovanec.

Moving Forward Losing Texas and Oklahoma – two historically strong football programs – is a loss for the conference, said Schovanec.

“But Cincinnati is in the College Football Playoff conversation,” he said, and BYU, UCF and Houston have all been competitive. Plus, Houston made it to the men’s Final Four in basketball earlier this year.

“I feel we’ll benefit from a broader geographical presence and hopefully that will translate into value when we talk about our new TV contract,” said Tech’s president, which comes up in a few years.

Where conferences used to be based on geography, it’s now TV viewers, said Giovannetti.

“If you look at Lubbock, I think we’re the 145th television market,” he said, but when you add Amarillo, the Permian Basin, Wichita Falls and eastern New Mexico it adds up to the 41st market.

“Those are things we’ve got to tell people. Plus, we have a huge alumni base in Dallas and Houston. We bring those viewers with us too,” he said.

Tony Hernandez, Tech’s Deputy Director of Athletics, said even if the Big 12 is spreading out further from its historic areas of Texas and the Midwest, all four new schools are closer to Lubbock than West Virginia.

The new Big 12 will be one of the best, if not the best basketball conference, said Hernandez. They’re also a good academic fit.

Tech, Houston and UCF are three of 16 Carnegie R1 Research and Hispanic Serving institutions in the country. Cincinnati is an R1 school and BYU R2.

“I do believe we’ll have enhanced opportunities to work with the University of Houston in the academic arena,” said Schovanec.

When the four schools were announced, there was concern Tech would lose a recruiting advantage in Houston.

Schovanec flipped that, saying Tech can tell recruits from the fourth-largest city in the nation they can compete for the Red Raiders and still get to play in front of their friends and family on road trips.

It also gives Red Raider coaches a presence in Florida and Ohio – consistently two of the top states for high school talent.

“Our coaches feel they have a strengthened recruitment message,” said Schovanec.

Red Raider fans also have new places to go for road games, said Hernandez. UCF is in Orlando, home of Disney World. BYU is in Provo, Utah, near great skiing

“There’s some excitement from our fans being able to go to new cities,” he said.

Sooner or Later Texas and Oklahoma, according to the existing contract, are supposed to stay in the Big 12 until 2025.

If they leave earlier, they each must pay about $75 million, which would be spread among the eight remaining schools.

Texas abandoning the Big 12 in secret left a bad taste in some parts of the Lone Star state and opened discussions about changing how the Permanent University Fund is distributed or other ways of helping fund Texas public higher education.

Both of those could replace lost TV revenue if the future Big 12 contract is less than it was with UT and OU. The feeling now, said Giovannetti, is the Long-

horns and Sooners will be gone sooner than 2025 and the payouts will happen.

BYU is expected to join in 2023.

The other three are members of the American Athletic Conference.

Don’t expect that to be the end of seismic changes in college sports conferences.

“Kirby’s line now is to never say never again on conference realignment,” said Giovannetti.

Streaming services are getting more involved with broadcasting sports and could change the dynamic again, he said.

There could also be changes in other conferences.

Stanford, UCLA and USC have the most national championships – by far – each more than 100 across multiple sports, he said. The next closest is Oklahoma State with 52 and 34 of those are in wrestling.

“The Pac 12 has a lot of reputational value. But when you see what’s happened in football this year with attendance ... USC, UCLA, Stanford, Oregon are always going to be OK, but I think the rest of the schools might say is this where we want to be five, ten years from now?” Giovannetti said.

Could Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State (the last two Tech’s Border Conference pals decades ago) find a revamped Big 12 more attractive?

Could bigger super conferences develop with 20 or more teams?

Who knows – but never say never.

Nobody’s Shadow “This does give Texas Tech a chance to be featured more prominently,” said Giovannetti, adding the university must communicate what it’s accomplished.

Hernandez added Tech needs to tell people its reach is coast-to-coast.

“Texas Tech has a strong presence around the country,” said Hernandez, pointing out after Texas and New Mexico, California sends the third-highest number of students to Tech.

The conference shake-up helped Texas Tech take a good look at itself and like what it saw.

“We’re going into our 13th year of record enrollment. We have a strong brand, a strong institution and a strong athletic department,” said Hernandez, emphasizing facility improvements from the Campaign for Fearless Champions.

“Our facilities don’t take a back seat to anyone.

The resources we put into athletics are phenomenal – the Womble Basketball Center, the Cash Family Sports Nutrition Center, the Sports Performance Center is the best indoor track and football complex there is,” he said.

“I talk to my counterparts every time they come here and they’re amazed how great our facilities are.

United Supermarkets Arena is 20 years old, but to me it’s the best arena in the Big 12, even if it doesn’t have the tradition of 66-year-old Allen Fieldhouse in Kansas,” he said.

“We don’t need to be in anybody’s shadow,” he added.

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SEIZE MOM

by TERRY GREENBERG

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E THE MENT

by AL PICKETT

Everything you ever wanted to know about how recruiting has changed in college athletics can be found in the Texas Tech women’s basketball roster.

Nine of the 12 players on the Lady Raiders’ roster this season are newcomers. Only three are freshmen, however. The other six are transfers from four-year schools. The Lady Raiders have added players from Oklahoma, Little Rock, Texas A&M, West Texas A&M, Arkansas and SMU. And five of those six are listed as juniors or seniors, having played at least three years at previous schools.

Texas Tech is bringing back only three players from last year’s team that finished 10-15 overall and 5-13 in Big 12 play. Two of those three returnees were transfers a year ago. You will remember that Krista Gerlich, a member of the Lady Raiders’ national championship team in 1993, didn’t get the Texas Tech head coaching job until August a year ago.

Despite landing the job so late, Gerlich managed to nab two signees – Bryn Gerlich, her daughter, and Vivian Gray – as transfers from Oklahoma State. The Lady Raiders showed remarkable improvement as last season went along. In fact, under Gerlich’s guidance, Tech recorded its highest conference finish under a firstyear head coach in the Big 12 era.

The 6-foot-1 Gray became the cornerstone of the Lady Raiders’ team a year ago, earning first-team All-Big 12 honors for the third-straight year along with being named honorable mention All-American by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

She predicts a much better season this year.

“They have picked us to finish eighth in the Big 12,” Gray said. “I think that is disrespect. Our goal is to win the Big 12 and make a deep run in the NCAA tournament. We will turn up the pressure on defense this year. We will play at a faster pace with more energy as well.”

Gray, a native of Argyle where she was a two-time Texas Class 4A Player of the Year while leading her high school team to three straight state championships, scored 2,839 points in her prep career. She started her college career at Fort Lewis College, a NCAA Div. II school in Colorado, because she wanted to play with her older sister. But after one year at Fort Lewis, she transferred to Oklahoma State where she spent two seasons before transferring to Texas Tech.

Since athletes were given an extra year of eligibility because of COVID, Gray will be playing her fifth season of college basketball.

“It’s crazy,” Gray said. “Getting to play four years in the Big 12 is a huge blessing.”

She said she is looking forward to the up-

coming season and now knows Gerlich’s system better after a year in the program. Since she is now a veteran on the Lady Raiders’ roster as well as a player who has transferred twice in her career, what advice does she have for all the newcomers on this year’s squad?

“Work hard every day,” Gray replied, “and be prepared to learn and to take criticism from the coaches and your teammates.”

Gray enjoyed a career season in 2020-21, averaging 19.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.4 steals per game. She ranked fourth in the Big 12 in scoring and was also among the top 20 in the conference in blocks, minutes played, rebounding, field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage, assists-to-turnovers ratio, steals and assists.

But despite those impressive numbers, Gray believes she can improve.

“Last year was a good year, but not the best year,” she said. “My 3-point shooting can be better. I struggled with that last year. My goals are to average at least 20 points, keep my rebounds in the 8-9-10 per game, keep my field-goal percentage in the 40-50 range, 3-point shooting at 40 percent and improve my free-throw percentage which was 78 percent last year.”

She also expects to improve her assist numbers because her new teammates are better finishers.

Gray may get more opportunities to shoot the 3-pointer this year, too.

“I will be playing the ‘three’ (small forward) position more this year because we have more true posts,” she said, calling that her natural position. “I will still post up some to help out our posts.”

After this semester, Gray said she will be only nine hours away from completing her master’s degree in business administration. After that, her goal is to go to the WNBA.

“That’s the plan,” she said.

How high could she be drafted?

“I honestly have no idea,” Gray responded. “I try to stay off all the online boards. I am sure at the end of the season, Coach (Gerlich) will help me out.”

Gray said the highlights for her last season were beating Texas (the Lady Raiders’ first win over their in-state rival since 2013) and Senior Night.

Now this year, she gets to have a second Senior Night.

“It will be more of a true ‘Senior Night’,” she laughed.

Five-year careers, transfers from conference rivals and more than one Senior Night. It is just the new world of college basketball.

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RECRUITING

NOTEBOOK

The Texas Tech men’s basketball program will need a big influx of new recruits next season to fill the void left by departing super seniors. The recent addition of forward Robert Jennings is a great start toward that goal.

Robert Jennings Jennings, a 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward, officially announced his commitment on Sept.

30, exactly a week after hosting the coaches for an in-home visit. The coaches were able to seal Jennings' pledge in person during their in-home visit to the Jennings household last week.

"The coaches came down, we sat around the table. We ate, my auntie cooked. They got

to meet all my family so I feel like the in-home visit did play a part because it gave me a better feel for the coaching staff. It just helped me build on top of our relationship that had started when I went on my visit.

“When I told them I wanted to commit they were excited, they were overwhelmed. They were super excited, I was honestly surprised by how excited they were. When I saw their excitement, it honestly made me feel more comfortable with my decision."

Jennings held offers from SMU, Ole Miss, Penn State, Texas A&M, Missouri and several other high-major programs. Ultimately, it was the fit at Texas Tech that made the most sense for Jennings.

“I feel like Texas Tech, their style of play on the defensive end, turning defense into offense, I feel like that really fits my game. I'm a hard-nosed defender, I play with a motor, I play hard, so that's what really stuck out to me.

Texas Tech senior Kevin Obanor has been selected to the watch list for the 2022 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award which was announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Obanor is entering his first season with the Red Raiders after transferring from Oral Roberts where he averaged 18.7 points and 9.6 rebounds per game and recorded three doubledoubles in the NCAA Tournament last season.

A Houston native, Obanor earned NABC AllDistrict and All-Summit League first team honors as a redshirt junior. He enters the 2021-22 season having produced 1,306 points and 684 rebounds through 86 games in his career.

Named after Class of 1993 Hall of Famer and 16-year professional basketball player Julius Erving, the annual honor in its eighth year recognizes the top small forwards in Division I men’s college basketball.

Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies will open up on Friday, October 22 so Texas Tech fans can vote for their favorite players

in each of the three rounds. The top 10 player selections from the fan vote will get an additional vote towards making the next round.

Obanor, who signed with TTU on July, 13 after exploring his NBA Draft options, led ORU in rebounding 24 times during the season and scored in double-figures in 27 of 28 games. He scored a career-high 39 points against Omaha in a game where he went 16-for-23 from the field and also had a career-high with an 18-rebound performance against North Dakota.

His heroics in the NCAA Tournament last season in Indiana included going off for 30 points and 11 rebounds in a first-round upset of Ohio State. Obanor followed that with 28 points and 11 rebounds in a win over Florida before having 12 points and 11 rebounds in a Sweet 16 loss to Arkansas. Obanor finished last season with 56 3-pointers made, shooting an impressive 46.3 percent from beyond the arc and is a career 42.5 percent 3-point shooter by going 122-for-287 during his three seasons at ORU.

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RedRaiderSports.com

by BEN GOLAN

“To be the player that I want be, to be great at the next level and continue my basketball career, I felt like the fit was going to have to be the best for my style of play and I feel like that's Texas Tech.”

Jennings says he’s “ready to get down there and get with the Texas Tech family” but before he gets to Tech, Jennings will play his senior season at TACA Storm and in the meanwhile just wants to get better and prepare himself for the next level.

"To continue to expand my game, both mentally and on the court. To prepare myself for the next level. It's hard to be a freshman and get into the games. I have high standards that I hold myself to so I want to be as ready as I possibly can for my freshman year at Tech."

Jennings is ranked by Rivals as a threestar prospect and the top-ranked power forward in the state of Texas.

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