It was officially announced yesterday that Texas Tech would hold one of their spring games at The Star on April 1st at 3:00 p.m. There will still be a Midland practice on March 25th and there will also be a spring game in Lubbock on April 8th. Essentially, for the last three weekends of spring practice Texas Tech will be holding three spring events, Midland being first, then Frisco and ending in Lubbock. Tickets for the spring game are $10 for adults and for folks 18 and younger it’s free.
I’m almost positive that I’ll be heading to the event in Frisco as my sister is getting married on April 8th. I’m probably bringing the boys as well and a bunch of the friends I’m going with will probably be doing the same.
Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt talked about this opportunity:
“We are excited for this opportunity to continue to grow our partnership with a world-class organization such as the Cowboys,” Hocutt said. “This will be a tremendous experience for not only our student-athletes but our fans in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The Star will be the perfect setting to showcase our program and our university.”
Head coach Kliff Kingsbury is excited to be the first program to host a spring event at The Star:
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to be the first college program to host their Spring Game at The Star,” Kingsbury said. “The facility is immaculate and will provide an incredible experience for our student-athletes. With this being one of our three public scrimmages this spring, we are excited for our fans to be able to watch this team continue to develop.”
#TexasTech Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt announces the 2017 Spring Game to be played at The Star in Frisco on April 1 at 3 pm. #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/I7UBukcQzb
— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) February 9, 2017
It should be noted that LAJ’s Don Williams first reported this way back on December 31st, so congrats to him for having the story first. Williams has how the idea came to fruition:
Hocutt said the Tech event in Frisco was the brainchild of Estis and Giovannetti.
Hocutt’s and Estis’ relationship pre-dates their arrival in their current positions. Estis played basketball at Ohio University, where Hocutt was athletic director from 2005-08. Hocutt said Estis worked for the Cleveland Cavaliers at the time and later was recruited to the Cowboys.
“We’ve stayed in touch,” Hocutt said. “He called me. They were thinking outside the box on how they could showcase The Star. There was an opportunity for us to be the first college program to have an event there.
“We got Kliff (Kingsbury) and Kenny (Bell) and Robert and Chad (Weiberg) around the table and batted it around. Was this something we’d be interested in? The Metroplex is such a huge, important market for us, so we said, ‘Absolutely.’”