It was an eventful day, but maybe that’s a bad way to describe yesterday. Maybe the idea that it could have been a lot more eventful, but wasn’t, is the story of the day.

After Texas A&M let go of long-time coach Rob Childress, TAMU fans immediately went to TexAgs to state in some instances that TAMU was a better job and that the first call that the AD should make would be to Tim Tadlock. There were obviously some Aggies that were not convinced, why would Tadlock leave a program that’s already set, but there were definitely Aggies that had convinced themselves that Texas A&M is a better program and even trying to distinguish between a program and a job . . . or something. It was quite the backbend.

Then, yesterday afternoon, Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt tweeted that Tadlock had agreed to a lifetime contract with Texas Tech and any offseason rumors would essentially be put to bed for the foreseeable future.

A Red Raider true to the core! Excited to share @TimTadlockTTU has agreed to a lifetime contract to remain the head coach of @TTU_Baseball! pic.twitter.com/132m1brgQT

— Kirby Hocutt (@kirbyhocutt) May 24, 2021

So, when I wrote above that yesterday could have been more eventful, we could have had a coach become the heel and leave for another program, but that’s not what happened. This completely robbed Staking The Plains of numerous clicks from anxious fans concerned that Tadlock would leave.

I get that this is exactly the opposite of what played out with Chris Beard and Texas and we probably don’t need to re-hash that. Maybe the takeaway here is quite simply this is Tadlock’s dream job and as long as the money is right, which I think Hocutt probably has taken care of, then he’ll stay. I’m sure there are other parts of it too, like continued investment in facilities, raises for the staff, etc.

It sounds pretty easy. Tim Tadlock loves Lubbock and Texas Tech. It probably isn’t more difficult than that.

Jace Jung was named the Big 12 Player of the Year.

Jung leads the Conference in five categories: OPS (1.279), slugging percentage (.779), walks (45), RBIs (65) and home runs (20). He is the first freshman to lead the Big 12 in home runs since Nebraska’s Matt Hopper in 2000. Jung ranks in the top five nationally in five areas: RBIs (1), home runs (4), RBIs per game (5), slugging percentage (5) home runs per game (6) and total bases (8). He is the fifth Red Raider to win the Player of the Year honor and fourth since 2016. He joins his brother and TTU alum Josh who garnered the accolade in 2019.

In addition to that a handful of players were named to the various All-Big 12 teams:

First Team: Cal Conley, Jace Jung, and Dru Baker
Second Team: Braxton Fulford and Micah Dallas
Honorable Mention: Patrick Monteverde and Ryan Wublette

For the Big 12 Tournament, I’m probably just going to do a game day thread rather than a series thread. They’ll probably be pretty short and sweet in terms of conent, but figured that a series thread would get pushed down the page pretty quickly. Texas Tech opens against a somewhat depleted Baylor program at 9:00 a.m. in Oklahoma City.

INJURY NEWS: Bubble team @BaylorBaseball will be without starting pitchers Tyler Thomas (COVID protocols) and Blake Helton (minor arm injury) in this week’s @Big12Conference tournament. 3B Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo is doubtful to play in OKC as well. Thomas/Helton back for NCAAR.

— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) May 24, 2021