Entries from July 2011 ↓

Before we get going, forgive the mistakes.

Blogging can be a rough draft. Yesterday I said Mike Gundy had the league’s best “taylor.” Unless his tailor’s name is Taylor, that was kind of embarrassing. So, you know, give me a break.

Whoops.

Here we go.

Tommy Tuberville went first today and the Texas Tech coach remains great copy. The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel told Tuberville his “butt was in a sling” at his first Big 12 Media Days, last year, when he expressed his disappointment with Nebraska and Colorado leaving, rather than the Kumbuyah (that can’t be spelled right) attitude the conference was trying to push. So, of course, today, Tuberville began his answer by saying he still feels that way, that the conference would be stronger if the Huskers and Buffs had not left. Then he went on to say how much he misses the championship game. Then, finally, he embraced the deciding it on the field aspect of the 10-team round robin, said the conference could end up better than ever, and he’s really happy to be a part of it. Then, told, by the moderator his answer was so good, his time was up, Tuberville said “That’s a political answer, right. I worked on that one.”

You have to love the guy.

Next up was Kansas’ Turner Gill. He wasn’t nearly as much fun, but if you’re trained in the art of listening to the answer, some of the boring stuff might have been telling. “I thought there was tremendous improvement” Gill said of the Jayhawks last four games, all losses. He also said, over that time, the communication of his players, amongst each other, and his coaches with the players, improved dramatically. And, he said, that momentum carried over into the offseason. That is no small thing. If he’s not blowing smoke, there’s growth taking place at Kansas.

Then, Iowa State’s Paul Rhodes, took to the mic. The truth is, I was writing this blog over most of it, but the Cyclones have a new big video scoreboard and (I think) sound system and will soon break ground on a new practice facility. So they’re doing their best to keep up with the Stoops’ and the Browns.

Bill Snyder’s at the dais now.

I always enjoy listening to the Kansas State coach. His answers are always thoughtful and his thoughts are always complete. The funny or disappointing thing about it is he simply doesn’t like to do it. Media access to Kansas State has long been subpar. Snyder is famous for working 7-day 100-hour weeks and a few minutes away from that to chat with media folk simply isn’t on his list of “10,000 things I’d like to do.”

Some tidbits.

Only 69 Wildcats are on scholarship right now. Wow.

“That just makes it that much more difficult to create the depth that you want,” Snyder just said.

I’ll bet.

He did, though, say his team was better coming out of spring than it was going in. Maybe that’s something.

DALLAS — This, I was not fully prepared for.

This was something new and different.

I haven’t been to every single Big 12 football media days but I’ve been to most of them since coming to The Transcript in 1997 and it’s never been like this, not really. Somehow, it seems twice as big as any previous get together. It seems like there are more people covering it than ever before. It seems like there’s more people like me than ever before.

Well, there are and there aren’t.

Once upon a time, there were more writers here than anything.

That’s over.

But there’s more radio, more television, certainly more internet than ever before.

The most eye opening thing I saw was down on the second floor (most of media days is taking place on the third floor) of the Westin Galleria. It’s on the second floor that national radio is set up. There is Syrius XM, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, ESPN and ESPNU (I didn’t know ESPNU had radio; they may not, but they had a room, anyway). It wasn’t that long ago this was a regional exercise, but for USAToday and maybe the New York Times, but somewhere along the line it was decided by many national outfits that big-time college sports, for all of its local coverage, was still very undercovered nationally.

Now you’ve got ESPNU and the CBS Sports Network which is almost entirely college sports. The best part of Fox Sports national programming is college football. Also, you have more sports radio than ever before and there might have been 20 local stations set up on the third floor at the Westin.

Also, this year, the access seems to be greater.

Texas, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Texas A&M and Missouri seemed to bring more players than previous years and the coaches, with the advent of breakout sessions where anybody can talk to them after those same coaches have already made the print, radio and TV rounds, have never been so available. Tuesday, I’m looking forward to seeing a very disgruntled Bob Stoops have a look like, Geez, I’ve been doing this all day. Perhaps he’ll like it. It’s pretty informal.

Just to make things a little more festive, the conference brought in cheerleaders, seemingly just to stand around at strategic spots, like tour guides, only maybe nobody told them that’s what they were here for. I saw a couple take a question from somebody about where something was happening and neither knew the answer.

Anyway, I was kind of ready for media days to be a bit of a slog.

Always, it seems, real news is hard to come by (though ESPNS’ Texas Network controversy sure gave everybody something to write about). Always, it’s a challenge to find something unique to write about (thought I think I pulled it off with a Tuesday-appearing column about just how far Mike Gundy and OSU have come). Always he same media folks kibbitz about the same stuff. Still, this time around, it seemed a lot bigger and, therefore, a little different.

In half an hour, there’s even an open bar reception, hosted by the conference.

That might get interesting

As to the coaching breakouts after they’d finished several media rounds already, you just get to see them in a way you never get to see them in just about any other setting. With that, in closing, some quick observations.

Mack Brown – He’s always folksy and he always is very good with questions, never gets riled or short with anybody, but the guy looks tired. He just looks tired to me. So, you know, we’ll see.

Gary Pinkel – The Missouri coach, to me, always looks like he’d play a great detective in a serious cop show. He just looks like a guy who knows what needs to be done. Very dapper. Very casual. But always like he just got finished solving some huge problem. Maybe a detective’s the wrong way to go, but he looks like the kind of guy they build corner offices for.

Art Briles – If you didn’t already know he’d come from the high school ranks, you’d guess it. His success has not been small time, but he looks small time. Frankly, he looks like a country preacher to me. He just does. He’s not as different Baylor women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey, but he’s different.

Mike Sherman – The A&M coach looks as strong and certain as Pinkel, just not as smooth. I mean, if the most interesting man in the world quits making Dos Equis commericals, they might want to look at Pinkel. Sherman, instead, looks a little gruff. Like, frankly, he’d rather be coaching football than talking about coaching football.

Mike Gundy – But for Pinkel, Gundy has the best taylor. Also, the guy is amazingly forthcoming in the breakout sessions. He talked Monday about how weak his first contract was, about how, during two-a-days last year, the second practice was almost like “recess.” Just not in a bad way, because it was so darn hot, so the coaches didn’t push it. I’ve had people tell me that Gundy doesn’t mind lying, as opposed to Stoops, who won’t really lie, so much as spin or simply not answer. But if Gundy will lie when it suits him, he will also let you behind curtain like almost no college coach. You know, he’ll just tell you what he thinks, how he felt, etc. Monday, talking about his contract, he said it was “terrible” until it was revamped after his second or third season, and than any coach who doesn’t have a four- or five-year deal going forward will get killed in recruting because it’s not clear he’s going to be around for the next four years without it. He also said, point blank, last season was a game changer for OSU. The school is looked at differently. He feels it. He knows it. Nobody else says stuff like that. It may be understood, but nobody addresses it. Gundy does. Good for him.