Matador Mailbag: The dog days of summer

Summer doesn’t officially begin until June 21st, but if you live in Texas, you know that summer begins once the temperature reaches 90 degrees and above. Time to get out your beach towels and head out to Galveston, plan your trip to Six Flags over Texas, and get your pool parties ready in Lubbock. It’s only right that we make the Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff proud, because it’s summer summer summer time, time to sit back and unwind.

Coach Beard and Kingsbury don’t get to relax however, as the summertime means getting an early start for the future. Both coaches have been making their rounds about the country trying to secure the final 2018 commitments, offering scholarships to 2019 hopefuls, and having their first meetings with 2020 upstarts. This is the golden time for star recruiters, and the time that can launch careers or break them.

Both Gach, the Austin, MN guard, announced he is deciding between San Diego State, Utah, and Texas Tech. Personally, I believe there is a very good chance Tech reels him in. His older brother is also currently playing at West Texas A&M, which only pushes the tide more in Tech’s favor.

In the off chance that he chooses to go west, Tech only has one offer left out there to an undecided player and that’s Keonte Kennedy. Since de-comitting from Xavier, Kennedy, the Austin Westlake product, has been one of the most highly coveted recruits nationally. Baylor, Oklahoma, Oregon, and SMU have all given him an offer in the past month, and though Tech is still in the fold, it seems as though the chances of getting him were slipping which is why Beard and company turned their attention to Gach.

If no Gach, and no Kennedy, then I expect Beard to spend another season with an extra scholarship. Having that extra scholarship can still prove valuable. This past season, Tech used their extra scholarship to give to CJ Roberts who was able to enroll in January instead of having to wait.

Much of this chatter is more speculation than anything. Al Pinkston was one of the main Texas Tech coaches that recruited Moore and now Pinkston is at Florida. A move like that more so makes Florida fans hopeful they can can steal a recruit in the process but I’d be surprised if it happens. However, it is important that Beard doesn’t lose sight of this potentially causing an issue. Moore still needs to be recruited until he steps foot on campus. A move like this could cause a recruit feeling a certain type of way and Tech does not want to alienate the best recruit in program history.

West Virginia has to be the shoe in to win the bug 12, I’ve seen Buckwild and that place looks like it breeds gnats and mosquitoes.

As far as the Big 12, Tech has about as good of a chance as they had last year coming into the season. Last year, Tech was projected to finish middle of the pack with a .500 record. I think the same projections will and should be made about this team that has more raw talent but is being thrown together.

That being said, last year Tech had those projections and were a Keenan Evans broken toe away from winning it. Though it is unlikely, it is still possible with this team and this coach.

Hala Madrid! The real Champions League final happened in the Semi-Final between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. This Saturday’s match is more of a “thanks for paying” game for Liverpool. Madrid has been here before, knows what to do, and has the greatest player of all time Cristiano Ronaldo (don’t @ me). I’ll take Madrid 3-1, with Ronaldo taking his shirt off twice.

I decided to post the father of Slothboy’s response to Cody’s question, because this would the response of about half of Red Raider nation if Holgerson was to get hired. I also find it hilarious that so many people would hate this hire. Not only would Tech consider Holgerson, they should jump for joy if he accepts the job offer.

While at West Virginia, Holgerson has posted a .589 win percentage including six winning seasons and two 10-win seasons. Kingsbury would have gotten a lifetime contract by now with those stats. Holgerson’s team has a legit chance to win the Big 12 next year, and possibly have a Heisman trophy winning QB, while Tech doesn’t even know which of our subpar QBs are going to start come September.

I will jump for joy if Holgerson comes to Texas Tech as should all of you.