Game-Day Links
Texas Tech volleyball will kick off the season against Eastern Kentucky on Friday in Chestnut Hill where the Boston College Invitational will take place. Additionally this weekend, these ladies will take on Boston College and Iona University.
Texas Tech soccer will host Weber State at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday night, as part of a 3-game homestand where they will also play Oral Roberts on Sunday on Thursday and Oregon on September 5th, which will close the non-conference part of the schedule.
Campaign for Fearless Champions
Texas Tech announced that it is closing it’s Campaign for Fearless Champions as it has met its goal and raised over $500 million for facilities and student-athlete resources. It was a decade ago when this was announced although this seemed like a lot when this was announced, in retrospect, to stay competitive, it was absolutely necessary and would put up the facilities at Texas Tech with anyone in the country. Congratulations to Kirby Hocutt and the entire staff for seeing this through.
On the Gridiron
We’ve not heard Texas Tech football’s General Manager James Blanchard speak very much and you definitely get more insight here than any other interview I’ve seen him do. This was good and interesting.
A couple of small links from ESPN: the top 100 newcomers in college football with Josh Kelly making the list here and the preseason all-transfer team with Vinny Sciury and Jack Burgess getting some noteriety.
Five-star freshman Micah Hudson is going to play early and often, but Kelly has emerged as Texas Tech’s likely No. 1 receiver. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound senior spent four seasons at Fresno State before making the move to Washington State and breaking out with 61 catches for a team-high 923 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. Tech coaches are excited about Kelly, Hudson, Caleb Douglas (Florida) and tight end Jalin Conyers (Arizona State) all playing major roles in what should be one of the Big 12’s top offenses.
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Nathan Giese writes about Behren Morton’s focus on winning games:
“I’m not trying to throw for 400 yards,” Morton said Tuesday. “I just want to win the game. Whatever it takes. If we win 14-7, we win the game. If we win 56-7, we win the game. Just going out there, executing and doing our job.”
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams writes about how Texas Tech could generate revenue around Jones AT&T Stadium:
“Do we look at holding concerts in the stadium?” Tech deputy athletic director Jonathan Botros said this summer. “Do we look at tours? Do we look at utilizing our parking lots on non-game days for events? We’ve had multiple groups reach out to us and say, ‘We’d love to take a lot of these things to market, because you guys have a lot going for you from a facilities standpoint, even from your parking lots, that we can go sell.’ “
This includes concerts, corporate events at the stadium, logos and patches and of all things the naming rights comes due on June 30, 2026, so that could be extended or Texas Tech could find a new partner. Just a date to keep in mind if you are interested in that sort of thing.