Techspys: This is a really good thing that the athletic department does, which is to honor those student athletes that have done good things as student-athletes (via Texas Tech):
Jaye Crockett (Men's Basketball), Taylor Powell (Softball) and Haley Haagsma (Soccer) took home the coveted prizes of Student Athletes of the Year as part of the 2014 TECHSPYS held on Monday night at the Allen Theater.
Cross Country's Kennedy Kithuka and soccer's Jaelene Hinkle were named the Male and Female Athletes of the Year for their outstanding athletic contribution.
A total of 225 student-athletes were bestowed awards based on their academic standing while 16 other awards covered athletic achievement and community involvement. Texas Tech also honored its top graduating seniors from each sport; Haley Haagsma (soccer), Taylor Powell (softball), Miara Cave (volleyball), Ryan Erxleben (football), Brennan Moore (baseball), Toddrick Gotcher (men's basketball), Haley Schneider (women's basketball), Drew Dorsey (men's golf), Rafael Pfister (men's tennis), Samantha Adams (women's tennis), Kennedy Kithuka (men's track & field), Caitlin Waters (women's track & field).
Baseball Gets Back on the Winning Track: Welp, could have used some of these runs this past weekend, but whatever, this has been a fantastic season for Texas Tech baseball and in their last non-conference game of the year, the Red Raiders hammered Dallas Baptist 18-3 (via Texas Tech and LAJ) and moving their record to 37-16 o the year. Dylan Dusek go the start, going 4 innings without allowing a run and Jonny Drozd got the win without allowing a run. Anthony Lyons went 5-6 for the day and Eric Gutierrez hit 2 home runs, bringing his total to 12 for the year and was 2-4 with 6 RBI.
Hocutt on Cost of Attendance Increase: Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt said that he is in favor of increasing the cost of attendance from $2,000 to $5,000 (via CBS Sports):
Just within the Big 12, the cost-of-attendance number per athlete ranges from approximately $2,000 to $5,000, Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt said. That raises the question of whether conferences will mandate cost of attendance within their league, or allow each member to decide.
"I think you've got to allow the schools to make their own decisions," Hocutt said. "Although within a certain league we have certain similarities and shared interests, we are all different and have different scopes and sizes of our budgets and resources."
Hocutt supports cost of attendance stipends for every Texas Tech athlete. "I don't know how it cannot be across the board — for Title IX and also because it's the right thing to do," he said.
This seems consistent with what Hocutt has said before, but I don't recall him discussing how it should be across the board due to Title IX issues. I think that's something that the athletic directors feel strongly about.