Texas Tech Wednesday Morning Notes - In A Commuter Lot Edition

DTN's Top Three:

1. Good find by Georgia Sports Blog as Bulldog football player Jeff Owen has an interesting blog.
2. Mark Cuban will fund your business.
3. If I think the Airstream Panamerica is incredibly cook, am I a nerd?

Texas Tech vs. Texas Game Moved to September 19th

As first found by you guys (FanPost and FanShot), the Texas Tech vs. Texas game has been moved up to September 19, 2009, which was a bye weekend for Texas Tech, and will allow the Red Raiders and Horns to be on the television at 7:00 p.m. on ABC. FWST's Jimmy Burch and ESPN's Big 12 blogger Tim Griffin seems to favor the Longhorns, but what everyone is forgetting is that the situation with Leach is going to work itself out, Taylor Potts will already have 2,000 yards passing, Baron Batch will dominate a Texas defense without Brian Orakpo and the strong Texas Tech defensive line will dominate the Longhorn line the entire game rather than just one half. I kinda like Barking Carnival's thought that girl watching will be optimal.

Leach Stuff, Part #3

I'm a little bit worn out covering this stuff, but I still feel obligated to link what I find. Feel free to click along or stay here. SportingNews' Matt Hayes says that the rift between Leach and Myers is more than about money:

Here's more background: A close friend of Leach told me a story last fall that sums up the situation. When Bob Knight arrived at Tech in 2001 to coach basketball, Myers gave Knight Leach's university parking spot.

Even though Leach was given another spot in the same lot, the move didn't sit well. For the rest of the semester, Leach parked in a commuter lot and walked to work.

Really, a parking spot?

DMN's Richard Durrett asks in a DMN College Blog post if Mike Leach has all of the leverage. I'm going to have more on this later this week, but the more I keep thinking about this, the more I think it's going to be an awful ending for everyone.

Sit-Down Interview with Pat Knight

DMN/FWST's Dwain Price has a sitdown Q&A with head coach Pat Knight (As an aside, I think that the DMN and the FWST have combined forces and will you'll probably see articles and items both sites and printed in both papers.) Here's a couple of snipets:

Are you having second thoughts about following in the coaching footsteps of a legend like Bob Knight?

I'm pretty sure there's a lot easier avenues I could have taken. But when you're offered a chance to coach at this level and it's your first job at a place I like to live and a university I love working for, you can't turn it down.

Snip

As the head coach, what specifically can you do to turn your program around?

I've got to get players that stick to the way I want to play, so it's a process. It's a marathon. You want to win every game. But there comes a time when you've got to sit back and look at the big picture, and recruiting is a big part of that, especially in basketball.

Previewing the K-State Wildcats

LAJ's Jeff Walker and DT's Alex Ybarra both preview tonight's game against the Kansas State Wildcats. I'll have a preview later this afternoon.  Pat Knight hopes that Texas Tech can just catch fire:

"I'm not going there," said Knight, whose Red Raiders play the streaking Wildcats at 8 p.m. today in Manhattan, Kan. "You wish and you hope you get on a roll. They're playing great, what have they won, five in a row? You hope, you go to bed at night thinking if we can just catch fire."

Practice Report #4

Short Hops George Watson checks in with the baseball team again. Go read the whole thing, but I wanted to highlight this:

Best sign of the different culture – In his second at bat, freshman outfielder Kengray Fleming failed to execute a bunt, popping it up on the infield, and throwing his bat in frustration. The coaches didn’t like that, and made Fleming run poles — i.e. run the length of the outfield wall from foul pole to foul pole, all while carrying his bat. I counted him running from left field to right field and back at least four times during the ensuing half inning. The culture is changing.