Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe | 2011-04-05

DT's Caitlin Osborn reports that the state of Texas is asking for $16 million back from Texas Tech:

Kyle Clark, vice president for administration and finance and chief financial officer, said Tech’s operating budget for the 2011 fiscal year is $660 million. Of that, he said, 32 percent, or roughly $210 million, is appropriated from the state. Clark said the state has asked for 7.5 percent back, which is more than $16 million of that $210 million.

Clark said because the state of Texas notified the university in the middle of its fiscal year, reduction options were extremely limited.

"Obviously a $16 million reduction affects many areas of campus," he said. "However, we first try to look at things that are not a core part of the university and try to save any way we can."

So I'm sure that students are wondering, how in the hell can tuition be raised when budgets are being cut, but perhaps this is a situation where one thing affects another.  Texas Tech raises tuition in order to make up the deficit that the state has, which is $16 million now, but could be $20 million sooner rather than later. 

Thanks again to DT's Caitlin Osborn, who has quite a bit on the current status of Texas Tech's endowment, which is currently close to $800 million:

Texas Tech administrators reported a positive endowment return for fiscal year 2010, the first since 2008.

The endowment, which currently sits at almost $800 million — an all-time high for the university — was up 12.3 percent in returns last year. In 2009, the endowment returns were down 16.4 percent from 2008.

Gary Ratliff, associate vice chancellor and chief investment officer, said that in 2009, 11.5 percent of what was lost was recovered, leaving the endowment at $708 million. In 2010, the endowment was up another 11.5 percent, canceling out the losses of the previous years. That, along with outstanding fundraising, he said, took the account to nearly $800 million by the end of 2010.

Much thanks to TracySaulRulz for the FanShot, but thought I would link to a couple of additional sites, including Texas Tech's chess team coach, Susan Polgar's website.  The official site also has some info about how the Texas Tech chess team, the Knight Raiders, got their name:

The Knight Raiders were founded in fall 2003 by a group of students and and faculty members Drs. Hal Karlsson and  Eduardo Cabrera.  The name, coined by Dr. Karlsson, comes from the chess piece (no relation to former Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight) and from the Raiders part of the "Red Raiders".  The club logo was designed by John Houser, an undergraduate architecture student.  It is based on Tech's Masked Rider.  The club motto "Check'em Tech" was suggested to the club by the now defunct campus satirical publication Perversity Daily in 2004.   It is a spoof on the famous football slogan "Wreck'em Tech".

I am a sucker for these types of stories, thanks to the DT's Lauren Ferguson, but I always enjoy it when athletes reach out to kids, and over 100 Texas Tech athletes participated in a play day on Sunday with some Lubbock ISD students:

"Our fan base is not only the school but the community," soccer player Haley Fowler said. "I think it’s important for these kids to know that athletes are role models for them and (are) there to be positive influences."

Snip.

"It’s a good experience to be out here to play with all these kids and see them on the field," Graves, a sophomore general studies major from Tulsa, Okla., said. "I think its important to give back to any organization that you can. There’s always an opportunity out there, so you have to go out and look for it."

The official site has information on a midweek double-header with UTSA to be played in San Angelo.  but as some of you know, the baseball team was swept, in convincing fashion, in Norman this past weekend and LAJ's George Watson opines that Texas Tech just isn't ready to compete for a title yet, which is an obvious statement, but Watson goes into the "why":

The Coulombe injury brings up the biggest problem. At Oklahoma, Tech tried to match two veteran Sooner hurlers by throwing true freshmen in David Paiz and Trey Masek, and both crumbled. Paiz will likely get the nod again Friday, which is fine. Fridays will be a struggle to win regardless, facing the likes of John Stilson (2-1, 1.45 ERA) and Taylor Jungmann (6-0, 0.94) in the next two weeks.

But if not Neely or Paiz, then who? John Neely has experience but is struggling to keep runs from scoring. Jamen Parten, who starts the opener of today’s doubleheader at UT-San Antonio, and Ben Flora had their shot at the rotation and struggled. Jerad McCrummen and Brennan Stewart would be possibilities if they weren’t so valuable and effective in long relief, and none of the newcomers have shown more consistency than the starters.

Pitching, pitching, pitching. 

Not much to add here, the Beaumont Enterprise writes that Texas Tech former head coach Pat Knight is perhaps the leading candidate for the head basketball coach at Lamar University.