Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe | 2011-03-15

Sometimes DTN gets comments about why certain sports don't get covered on DTN or questions why I don't get around to covering other sports and the answer is time.  I just don't have enough time.  I've mentioned this a couple of times, but the easiest way to remedy this situation is for you to step up and become a regular contributor.  Email me and let me know when you intend on posting a FanPost previewing a game or sport and I'll make sure it receives front page recognition (a lot of times if I'm at work, I can't push something to the front page) in a timely manner. But I need help.  I can't do it all.

Bracket Challenge!!!!  I'm awful at picking games, but it's a rite of passage.  Not to mention, the DTN community has officially picked San Diego St. as the official team to follow, by a margin of 45%.  So, DTN's official contest will be at CBS Sports and you can REGISTER HERE.  The group name is DTN 2011 March Madness and if there's a prompt for a password, it's "redraiders".  Register and kick my rear.

Yesterday, the Sports Business Daily (DTN FanShot) broke that the Big 12 is on the verge of a new second tier television contract.  College Football Talk's John Taylor had a breakdown of the proposed agreement as does ESPN's David Ubben.  I haven't had the time to read up and truly understand how this is either beneficial or not beneficial to Texas Tech so I'm going to withhold comment until I can be a little more educated.  And if you're already educated on this subject, I'd love to see a FanPost on the matter. 

There seems to be a bit of a fight between RRS and the LAJ.  This seems to have started earlier yesterday morning when RRS.com's Chris Level tweeted the following:

Barring a late change I expect #TexasTech to announce Billy Gillispie as it's next head coach on Wed. which is end of 10 day waiting period.

This then prompted LAJ's Courtney Linehan to tweet the following:

Sources tell me Texas Tech has NOT made an offer regarding the men's basketball coaching job.

TW&HS's Ryan Hyatt also tweeted and clarified that this hire process is largely contingent on new athletic director Kirby Hocott's first day, which should be March 21st:

Looks like Kirby Hocutt's first full day as AD at Texas Tech is 3/21/11. If that's the case I don't see a formal introduction of new men's basketball coach til At least next Monday, maybe next Tuesday. No worries though.

Then, Linehan chimed in with the following:

Whoever said Tech will announce its new bball coach on Wednesday is wrong. No offer will be made before March 21.

See, this is funny to me because it's pretty obvious as to who is saying that the hire will happen on the 18th rather than the 21st, but Linehan isn't specifically calling out Level and RRS.com and I don't know why.  Maybe that's the part I miss as a blogger, which is that I've got no problem calling someone out, but it's more professional to do it this way.  Either way, it creates more work for me as I have to put together their dueling tweets.  Anyway, this then prompted RRS.com's Level and Aaron Dickens to release a free timeline as to events, with the following qualification:

Monday, March 14 - Level reported that all key parties involved were "on board" with Gillispie becoming Tech's next head basketball coach and that an announcement could come as soon as Wednesday if the state-mandated 10-day waiting period is waived and if Bailey officially makes the hire instead of Hocutt, who will not be a full-time Tech employee until Monday, March 21.

And then LAJ's Linehan writes last night and obtains a quote from President Guy Bailey that it's going to be Hocutt's hire and it's going to be no earlier than the 21st:

"This is Kirby Hocutt’s hire," Bailey said in an email Monday, "and Kirby doesn’t become a TTU employee until March 21 and could not make an offer before then."

Linehan also writes that with Oklahoma's Jeff Capel losing his job, this could create some competition for Billy Gillispie and although there is some concern that Gillispie could choose Oklahoma over Texas Tech, I think this is a decision that's entirely in Gillispie's court and no timeline would either interfere or prohibit his hire at Texas Tech.  The dates and timelines are entirely superficial, and although I think that as of the time that Linehan wrote her article, Gillispie didn't have an offer, but I'd bet that as soon as he hit send on his email, Gillispie had an offer from Texas Tech. 

One other note, according to the Tulsa World's Dave Sittler, the top candidates for the Sooner's job are Gillispie and Marquette's Buzz Williams, which makes me think that both OU and TTU will each get one of these two coaches and I think they would both be fantastic hires for either university, so I don't think there's going to be a "loser" in this situation.  And if you think that Buzz isn't as good a coach, then go take a look at their stats (thank you StatSheet):  Buzz Williams and Billy Gillispie.  They both have their pluses and minuses.

And a final note, Gillispie was on with Galloway & Co., 103.3 ESPN in Dallas and when specifically asked about the Texas Tech job, he completely sidesteps the question (about the 6:30 mark).

The official site has the goods, as does LAJ's David Just, who writes that the Lady Raiders are headed to California:

Eighth-seeded Texas Tech will face ninth-seeded St. John’s in the opening round of the NCAA tournament at 3 p.m. CDT Saturday at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif.

"I’m going home, so I’m happy," Morris said. "The seeding was important and everything, but I’m sure we can beat anybody that we play."

The winner of the first-round game between Tech and St. John’s will face the winner of top-seeded Stanford and No. 16 UC Davis on Monday.

Morris and Wickett, transfers from California and Pepperdine, respectively, said they’ll both have family on hand this weekend.

The official site has video as the pick was announced and KAMC has a story on a tiny screen.  Congrats to the Lady Raiders, this should be fun!

Very quick mentions for the baseball and softball teams.  The men finish up the Texas Tech Invitational with a game against Texas A&M - Corpus Christi @ 1:00 p.m. today at Dan Law Field.  This is the last game before conference play starts.

The Lady Raiders are an amazing 29-1 this year, beating Alcorn St. and Evansville yesterday (both shutouts) to wrap up the Masked Rider Invitational.