Texas Tech Baseball:

I've watched the Larry Hays retirement press conference and I came away with a number of different thoughts about Hays that I thought I'd get down. Honestly, I can't wait to read what Hyatt will say about Hays and the program, especially as a guy who has followed the program as much as Hyatt has.

First and foremost, Hays is a guy who loves Texas Tech University. There's no doubt in my mind that he wants Texas Tech and Lubbock to succeed and there's something really comforting about that. I like having guys like that working for my university. There might not be a better salesman for Texas Tech than Hays and a better representative.

I think he's telling the truth with everything he said. I think he wants Spencer to succeed. I think he knew that the smart thing was to let Spencer and Petrie take control of the program and let them run with it.

I give a ton of credit to Hays for being honest with himself, his staff, his players. That's not an easy thing to do. In fact, it's incredibly difficult to do. He had every opportunity to go back next year and improve his record and the wins and losses and if he were to retire then, he could go out with his head held a bit higher. Retiring now says a lot about Hays' character. It's a lot easier to retire when you're on top, it's much more difficult to do when you're on the bottom. It's tough not to let pride get in the way and tell yourself that if you can just hang on for one more year it will be better.

Hays mentioned that by having Spencer and Petrie in place, he's left the program in a better place. I couldn't help but think that if you had asked me a week ago that question, I would have said absolutely not. Texas Tech has finished at the bottom of the Big 12 for 2 years running, and looking at the program from the outside, you'd have your doubts. But there's a lot more to a program than just coaching and recruiting players. There's the part that I don't think about.  It's about upgrading the facilities, getting a new playing surface on the field, getting locker rooms that players can be proud to play.  There's a lot more to leaving a program in a better place than wins or losses and Larry Hays did that.

So, a huge thank you to Larry Hays. Thank you for all of the work you've done and thank you in advance for all of the work that you'll do in the future for Texas Tech.

GET YOUR GUNS UP!!