Wednesday morning, the Big 12 Conference announced it would be fining Kirby Hocutt, Texas Tech’s athletic director $25,000 following his comments regarding the controversial overtime call in the game against Baylor.
In case you missed it, here’s what happened: during overtime, the Bears’ center snapped the ball, which hit the inside of his thigh. Then a Tech defender went on to recover the fumble - or so we thought. The refs then called it an illegal snap. *Cue Twitter Tech frenzy*
As usual, the controversial call spurred videos all over the internet after which Texas Tech fans demanded an answer from the league office. As usual, the conference made no comment. But Hocutt did (see the 25K statement below YIKES).
”It has been confirmed that the ruling on the field of an Illegal Snap was incorrect. The play is not reviewable by rule because it is a dead ball judgement call by the official. I am confident that the Big 12 Conference will deal with the matter internally as they complete the review of the game in its entirety.
“While this is a very unfortunate circumstance, I could not be more proud of our team and the competitive fight and effort with which they competed.”
Basically, the Big 12 didn’t like looking like a fool (too late) and decided to punish Hocutt. They were wrong, admitted they were wrong, but didn’t like that they were put on blast. Should they have addressed the situation themselves? Yes. Did they? HA, no. So then, should they have fined Hocutt? Well I can’t say that he didn’t undermine their “authority,” but if the league wasn’t so notorious for having questionable officiating and a lack of control on these situations then maybe I would (maybe?) understand the fine.
So you don’t agree with the conference’s decision, don’t worry - Chancellor Kent R. Hance has you covered. He tweeted out a link to help get the fine paid. The petty person inside me hopes that they pay the full fine in pennies, but that is here nor there.
The Big XII has just reprimanded & fined Kirby Hocutt $25,000 for his statement about the “fumble” at the TT v Baylor game. As a private attorney I’m raising the money to pay the fine. Support Raiders & Kirby. Send to: Red Raider Club
— Kent R. Hance (@KentRHance) October 16, 2019
ATTN: Andrea Tirey Box 45055 Lbk TX 79409