Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe | 2011-02-17

I don't think I need to tell anyone that I'm just presenting the information, you do with it what you want.  Ryan Hyatt had RaiderPower.com's Travis Cram on the radio yesterday and did confirm that the Pac-12 associate athletic director Kevin Weiberg is apparently no longer a candidate.  Current Miami AD Kirby Hocutt is still considered a candidate, however, Cram and Hyatt both agree that there are some candidates that are inside Texas Tech and Hyatt thinks there's another surprise outside candidate, but they did not want to discuss names until Monday of next week.

For those of you who didn't know, Danny Hardaway was Texas Tech's first African-American athlete.  You can read a blog post where I wrote about Hardaway way back in 2008.  I had someone email me and ask about Hardaway and I didn't have any updates on him, but then I ran across this from the LAJ where Hardaway will be in Lubbock today:

A Black History Month event featuring the first African-American athlete at Texas Tech is set for today on the university campus.

Danny Hardaway will be featured among speakers and storytellers during the event at 8 p.m. today in room 169 of the Human Sciences Building at Broadway and Akron Avenue, according to a university news release.

The free, public event was designed to celebrate Black History month and will feature a presentation on the history of the university, cultural dances, music and a panel of Tech alumni.

The event was organized by the Eta Lambda Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the Iota Upsilon Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi.

If anyone has the time, I'd love for someone to go to this event and let me know how it goes.  I know I'm getting my hopes up, but I'd also love to see an article or video tomorrow.

I know that this may not be a popular stance, but head coach Tommy Tuberville is obsessed and loves the weather.  You probably know someone like Tuberville in your life, the guy or gal that almost always seems to know what the 7-day forecast is and the chance of rain within the next couple of days.  Whether or not you need a jacket or can make it with a sweater.  Tuberville loves talking about the weather.  It doesn't matter if it's wind or sun, it's part of the conversation. 

Yesterday, the official site posted that spring practice would be moved up to this Friday and I'll let Tuberville take it from here:

"The weather forecast looks really good this weekend, so we are going to go three-straight days and try to get some quality work in early," said Tuberville. "We wanted to get an early start this year so hopefully we don't run into any lingering injury issues that we dealt with last fall. The guys are excited to get back on the field and ride the wave of momentum that we picked up at the end of the year."

Tech's first official spring practice will begin at 3:50 p.m. on Friday followed by a 1:50 p.m. practice on Saturday and a 2:30 p.m. workout on Sunday. All practices are open to the public and will be held in Jones AT&T Stadium. Fans are asked to use the tunnel entrance on the east side of the stadium and sit in the east stands and not on the sidelines.

The 10-day forecast looks fantastic.

You can also find the 2011 Spring Roster (PDF) and please note that DT Bobbie Agoucha is now Bobbie Clarence Hampton.  And offensive coordinator tweets that leading up to spring practices, the team is working hard:

SI.com's Stewart Mandel writes about the 10 new coordinators that will have the biggest impact on 2011 and newly hired defensive coordinator Chad Glasgow makes the list:

Chad Glasgow, Texas Tech (defense): Red Raiders coach Tommy Tuberville could not have looked to a better source to help upgrade his defense. Former TCU secondary coach Glasgow, 39, spent 10 seasons on Gary Patterson's staff, helping to produce the nation's top-ranked defense five times. Tuberville -- a defensive-minded coach himself -- figures to incorporate fresh concepts from a guy who's been at the center of one of the nation's most innovative defenses. It remains to be seen whether that means moving full-time to TCU's unique 4-2-5 scheme.

There are some pretty nice names on that list and it's nice to see Glasgow mentioned.

ESPN's David Ubben writes about what to watch for in the Big 12 and looks at every team with this bit about Texas Tech:

Time to find new stars. Most of the big names on Texas Tech's defense are gone. Colby Whitlock, Bront Bird, Brian Duncan will all continue their careers elsewhere. The leaders on the defense will have to begin to emerge in the spring. Is it Scott Smith? Cody Davis? A younger, unexpected player? We'll find out. Sometimes these types of situations aren't as easy to predict as they might seem, like Missouri's strength in 2010 emerging in the secondary.

There's more there, so go check it out if you're so inclined.

That's right, only one more day until opening day.  The official site has some video from head coach Dan Spencer, Friday's starting pitcher LHP Daniel Coulombe and CF Barrett Barnes.  And here's your probable starters:

PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday, Feb. 18
Texas Tech: Daniel Coulombe (LHP)
Western Michigan: Mike Moyer (LHP)

Saturday, Feb. 19
Texas Tech: Robbie Kilcrease (LHP)
Northwestern: Jack Havey (LHP)

Saturday, Feb. 19
Texas Tech: Jamen Parten (RHP)
Utah Valley: Zane Gray (LHP)

Sunday, Feb. 20
Texas Tech: Ben Flora (LHP)
Northwestern: TBA