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Texas Tech Thursday Morning Notes - All Four Years Edition

By Seth C

Double-T Nation News:

I'm going to start working on some positional previews this weekend and I'll start rolling those out leading up to the Gator Bowl.

Texas Tech Football:

In Coach Mike Leach coaching rumors, Daily News' Brian Dohn discusses that the interest in Coach Leach is "lukewarm" and is not expected to be on the short list for the UCLA head coaching position. Here's Dohn on Leach:

UCLA is still in the exploratory phase of its football coaching search, but when the short list is compiled, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is not expected to be on it, sources said Wednesday.

Leach built the Red Raiders into an offensive force with his spread formations and affinity for throwing the ball. He is interested in the job, sources said, but UCLA is not reciprocating such interest.

Leach has a reputation as being quirky - and outspoken - and that might not sit well at UCLA, sources said. Also, sources said Leach, who is scheduled to make $1.85 million next season and $2.15 million in 2010, is not salary driven and would come to Westwood for under-market value. But finances could still be an issue with hiring Karl Dorrell's replacement.

Freshman receiver Michael Crabtree hopes to bring home the Biletnikoff Trophy, which goes to the nation's top wide receiver. Tune in at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN for the beginning of the awards show. Crabtree's competition is Jordy Nelson from Kansas State and Mario Manningham from Michigan. LAJ's Don Williams has talks with Crabtree about this year's experiences:

"I was just happy every game, happy just to be out there,'' he said. "I sat out last year. This year, every game is the same. I'm going hard every game, no matter who we're playing. I mean, I was just happy to be playing football, being in college and to be doing what I'm doing.''

Coach Leach had this to say about his wide receiver:

"Crabtree, even though he's an incredibly marked player, he's always open,'' Leach said. "Some of that is football sense - a sense of where there's space, where there's a spot he can utilize. He gets a lot of yards after the catch. Some of it is his running ability, but a lot of it is the space he starts out with.''

An excellent article on Crabtree, go read the whole thing.

One other Crabtree note, DTN reader Ayleein noted last night that Crabtree was part of a live ESPN chat and had this to stay about playing all four years:

Cody (Schenectady, NY): It's amazing what you've done as a Freshman. Do you plan on playing four years of college football?

Michael Crabtree: (8:40 PM ET ) Yeah, I plan on it.

I won't hold Crabtree to it, but that would be awesome if he did.

A little bit late, the FWST brings us their All-Big 12 Team, which includes Michael Crabtree as the Newcomer of the Year as well as 1st team recognition, receiver Danny Amendola, offensive tackle Louis Vasquez, defensive end Brandon Williams, and cornerback Jamar Wall all on the 2nd team. I applaud the addition of Wall to the 2nd team, he deserved that.

One other note from the FWST, John Miller takes a look at college teams that hire NFL coaches. Interesting.

Texas Tech Basketball:

Here's the official boxscore from last night's win over Louisiana Tech, 86-31. Perhaps this team's most dominating performance with 50 rebounds 20 assists, only 12 turnovers, and forcing 21 Bulldog turnovers. Still, Louisiana Tech was a really bad team and the Red Raiders should have done the same thing to the Gents.

LAJ's Jeff Walker has his game story from last night's win. Here's Coach Pat Knight on last night's game:

"Great game for us. We needed it. The last two days have been really tough," Tech head coach designate Pat Knight said. "From a staff standpoint, from a team standpoint because of what happened down at Centenary, for these kids to bounce back like that and play this well speaks a lot for them."

Coach Pat Knight also had a nice quote about Tyler Hoffmeister, who hit his second bucket of his career:

"I feel bad for him because he doesn't get the notoriety because he's from the TV show. He helps these guys in practice. He's always giving it full-go, which helps the starters. ... I think it's great too because it kind of sticks it to ESPN a little bit. They did not think we were going to keep Tyler, and then especially didn't think we'd keep him for a second year. ... When my dad is done and retired and I keep coaching, (Tyler) will always be talked about as one of our favorite players, not because we got him from Knight School, but because he's helped this team a lot."

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