Red Raider Fan Day: I think this came out on Friday, but on August 14th from 2 to 4 p.m. at the United Spirit Arena, head coach Tommy Tuberville, the football team and the vollleyball team will be signing autographs and meeting with fans. More details at the official site.
Finding 25: Later this morning, I have a new series set to debut called Finding 25, which is finding 25 players, both on offense and defense, that I think will make an impact this season.
Tuberville Talks - Gameplay & Strategy:
Tuberville Talks - Gameplay & Strategy (via PatProShow)
And don't forget to check out Patton Production's new short-film, The Country Drive.
Thomas Looking Forward to Meeting Tubs: Former Red Raider Zach Thomas and his brother-in-law, Jason Taylor, were in Amarillo this weekend and Thomas did a Q&A with Amarillo.com and he had this to say about meeting our beloved Tubs:
What's your impression of Texas Tech with Tommy Tuberville now in charge?
"I heard Tommy has a done a great job so far. I'm excited to meet him. I heard he has done a great job even with the high school coaches in the area. I think that's good. Hopefully, they won't change that offense too much because it's been so powerful over the years. Why change when it works? But Tommy knows what wins. He's a winner. I feel like you have to give him a chance. I'm giving him a chance and hope he does well for the program."
Tampa Bay Recruiting: I usually don't link to articles where players are considering committing to Texas Tech, but I ran across this SunStateFootball article about Tampa Bay area players that are still up in the air regarding their college football decision and three of them are considering Texas Tech. There are two receivers and a linebacker: WR Andre Davis, LB Ramik Wilson and WR Chris Moore. No real commentary here other than just something to watch.
Miscellaneous: Rock M Nation's Bill C. BTBS for the Oklahoma offense and defense . . . HuskerExtra's Brian Christopherson breaks down the key Big 12 defensive players and the offensive players. Only QB Steven Sheffield and K Matthew Williams make the offensive list and LB Brian Duncan makes the defensive list . . .
More Butts In Seats: LAJ's Courtney Linehan has part one and part two of a three part series regarding the sagging attendance for men's basketball. You've got to go read both articles first, but I think this is a good thing. Part one is about the athletic department getting rid of the Private Seat Licenses, lower the price of every seat and charge the same amount for every seat in the lower bowl. Part two is about the idea that Texas Tech has been paying some opponents to come play at Texas Tech and the hope is that by lowering ticket prices it will increase attendance and in turn, increase revenue.
Head coach Pat Knight recalled the NIT home game where Texas Tech faced Jacksonville and per the NIT rules, it's a general admission policy for seating:
"It was just a more rowdy crowd," men’s basketball coach Pat Knight said of the 5,465 people who bought tickets to his team’s 69-64 win against Jacksonville on March 20. Seven home games earlier in the season drew higher attendance figures, although usually the crowds spilled into the balcony and left court-side seats open.
"People were really into that game from the start," Knight said. "I think anyone who went to that game could see that. The other crowds were good, but there was just something different about this one."
In other words, the fans that showed up got the best seats rather than have all of those seats in and around the lower bowl empty.
Here's PK on decreasing the ticket prices with the hope that it will increase revenue:
Tech hopes to bring in more revenue by decreasing ticket prices for the 2010-11 season, a move announced this week. That could assuage a major financial imbalance the team currently faces: for each team Tech pays to play at United Spirit Arena, the program spends tens of thousands of dollars more than it makes selling tickets.
"A lot of these other schools only play one road game because they have the money to pay $90,000 and $100,000 to bring teams in," Knight said on Nov. 23, the day before his team played at Stephen F. Austin. "We just can’t do that. We have to get a little creative from a budget standpoint."
Whatever it takes to bring the students and the average fan closer to the game. I hope like heck this works, but as we all know, winning cures a lot of attendance woes. With that being said, if you remove the barriers for fans and students to get into a game and give them an excellent seat, then they're more likely to show up.
Top Newcomers: CT's Steve Walentik ranks the top newcomers in the Big 12 and PG/SG Javarez Willis gets the #11 spot:
11. Javarez Willis, G, Texas Tech: The guard from Humble, Texas, only stands 5-10 and tips the scales at 170 pounds. But Rivals.com analyst Jerry Meyer has called him perhaps the best freshman shooter this season. He’s listed as a point guard but might not start there with the Red Raiders, who already have John Roberson anchoring the backcourt. If Willis moves off the ball, he could quickly turn into a weapon running around screens in Coach Pat Knight’s motion offense.