Leading Off

I should have a coaching profile for one of the new assistants hired up today at some point (see below).

Texas Tech Soccer

At 2️⃣6️⃣, we have our highest end-of-season RPI since 2015 thanks to a program-record four wins over ranked teams and a 5-3-1 record in the toughest RPI conference in the nation!#WreckEm pic.twitter.com/QNbOt2DYPz

— Texas Tech Soccer (@TexasTechSoccer) December 5, 2018

Texas Tech Baseball

MLB’s Jim Callis has his top 50 prospects for the 2019 draft and your guy Josh Jung is the 6th best prospect, saying this about the third baseman:

Jung has produced since he arrived at Texas Tech, starting with winning Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year honors in 2017. He encored by topping the league in hitting (.392), on-base percentage (.491) and RBI (80) while leading the Red Raiders to the College World Series as sophomore, then had a strong summer with Team USA. One of the more well-rounded offensive players in the college ranks, he should join Donald Harris as the only first-round picks in Tech history.

Jung has a controlled approach at the plate, repeatedly barreling balls to all fields with a sound right-handed swing. He lets his power come naturally and his bat speed and strength should translate into 25 or more homers per year once he turns on more pitches. He manages the strike zone very well and has no shortcomings in his offensive game.

Though Jung is a below-average runner, he’s reasonably athletic and makes enough plays at third base. He has the strong arm required at the hot corner and should be able to stay there. His instincts help him make up for his lack of quickness in the field and on the bases.

Texas Tech Basketball

The men move to 8-0 on the year. We’ve got a recap coming up shortly.

Above the rim. #4To1

🔴#WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/ibxywnr3H4

— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) December 6, 2018

Texas Tech Football

Head coach Matt Wells made it official on some of his coaching staff. The two coordinators, David Yost and Keith Patterson, are already official and now these guys are:

• Dave Scholz: Strength & Conditioning
• Javon Bouknight: Outside Receivers
• Steve Farmer: Offensive Line
• DeAndre Smith: Running Backs
• Julius Brown: Defensive Backs
• Luke Wells: Inside Receivers and Tight Ends

It is also very possible that Wells will be a lot more active on Twitter than Kingsbury was, who rarely ever tweeted. And if I had to guess, when Wells maybe secures a commitment (or perhaps reaffirms a commitment), he’ll tweet out “Wreck Em”:

Wreck Em

— Matt Wells (@TTUCoachWells) December 6, 2018

Last night, Wells at the very least visited with recent decommit, Keeyon Stewart.

I wanna Thank @TTUCoachWells and @CoachJuice_TTU for visiting me. Also I was the first recruit that coach wells visited as the new Texas Tech Head Coach 🔴⚫️ #WreckEm #Gunsup pic.twitter.com/MbNc7K1DWs

— 𝒦𝑒𝑒’𝓎𝑜𝓃 𝒮𝓉𝑒𝓌𝒶𝓇𝓉₂₄ (@keeyon24) December 6, 2018

So, Wells is out there along with Juice Brown, the defensive backs coach.

Would you like to stir up a hornets nest? Me too. interesting article from Awful Announcing’s Andrew Bucholtz about the next round of possible conference realignment he quotes a Sports Business Journal article that states that the Longhorn Network and the ACC Network might play integral part in how things shake out in 2023:

While college experts were skeptical about widespread conference shake-ups, they unanimously said they’ll be watching three factors that could be triggers for change: Texas, Oklahoma and the success of the ACC Network.

…When the Big 12 begins negotiating its next media rights deal, it will be incumbent on the league to show enough revenue growth, without expanding, to keep the Longhorns and Sooners from exploring alternatives. Whether the Big 12 can generate significant raises from its base of 10 schools remains to be seen.

…Another potential trigger for change is the ACC Network, which is scheduled to launch in August in an environment rife with cord cutters and dwindling subscriber bases. ESPN fully owns the channel and was able to secure the right to launch it on Altice’s New York-area systems and nationally on at least one digital multichannel video provider.

If the channel is successful in signing more carriage deals, the conference’s makeup will remain the same. If not, some of the ACC’s stronger programs — Florida State, Clemson — could become targets for the SEC and Big Ten.

Of course, the other big thing is how and if the Pac-12 is going to pull itself out of the tailspin they are in regarding revenues and how that conference is run. If you haven’t checked out the Oregonian’s John Canzano detailed look at how Larry Scott may be driving the Pac-12 into the absolute dirt (it’s a 4-part series, so give yourself plenty of time).

Miscellaneous . . . If you missed this yesterday, this was pretty neat, SB Nation’s Bill Connelly and Matt Brown produced a nice history of the option play that’s kind of interactive, maybe better appreciated on a non-mobile device . . .