Big 12 School Driving the SEC Insane

Texas Tech has officially broken the brain of the SEC.

The Red Raiders flawlessly executed a plan to grab most of the top softball talent available in the transfer portal, pairing them with $1.2 million superstar Nijaree Canady. It has left SEC softball coaches, fans, and parents in absolute shambles.

Tech now has four of the top six portal transfers, landing highly coveted players from Tennessee, Florida, Ohio State, and UCLA.

All of this comes on the heels of reports indicating Texas Tech spent $55 million on its athletes this year—likely more than any other school in the nation.

Predictably, the criticism of Texas Tech’s portal conquest has come loudly from SEC country.

Much of the backlash focuses on money. There’s always a vocal group upset by student-athletes earning six- and seven-figure deals. But in the SEC’s case, it seems the anger is mainly because someone else beat them at their own game.

If Oklahoma had landed a handful of top-ten portal prospects, would the SEC noise be this loud?

Ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the gun, is it, Sooners?

Some criticism also centers around alleged tampering, notably from Tennessee softball coach Karen Weekly.

I don’t follow college softball closely, but I can confidently say in football and basketball, everyone tampers.

Even so, this piece from Softball on SI says Tech has cleverly exploited a loophole by using a third party—in this case, a travel coach connected to the transfer players—to handle recruitment conversations. According to SI’s investigation, it’s technically legal.

Whether it’s legal tampering, illegal tampering (which absolutely happens everywhere anyway), or simply big spending, my reaction is simple:

Deal with it.

Texas Tech is playing within the rules. Right now, those rules allow for a wild west atmosphere, where money flows as freely as Busch Light in Ames, Iowa.

If you want someone to blame, direct your anger at decades of incompetence by NCAA leadership that brought us here. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

On what planet is it fair to criticize Texas Tech for leveraging its advantages? Schools nationwide have been doing exactly that—legally or illegally—for over a century.

Ground zero for that has always been the SEC. League commissioner Greg Sankey is literally trying to gerrymander College Football Playoff selection criteria as we speak.

Lubbock often takes heat for being a boring city in the middle of nowhere, West Texas (their words, not mine…Lubbock is a helluva time once you get there). That’s a disadvantage Tech has to deal with.

But guess what else West Texas has? Oil. Lots of it. That means wealthy donors like multi-billionaire Cody Campbell.

That’s Tech’s advantage to flex, just like Georgia, Alabama, and Texas have always flaunted their football traditions and brand value to dominate recruiting.

Is this a cautionary tale of what college athletics might become if the House Settlement’s NIL guardrails aren’t enforceable?

No doubt.

Texas Tech has already dominated the transfer portal in football and softball. Oh, and they’re about to roll out a preseason top-ten men’s basketball team, too.

But I won’t criticize a school for absolutely going for it within the current rules when they have the resources.

It’s not even a guarantee of success. K-State basketball coach Jerome Tang embraced the same aggressive transfer portal strategy heading into last season.

Spoiler alert: it didn’t work out well.

I’d still rather be a big spender than not, and Tech has ensured all of its programs will fall in the former category.

Honestly, Big 12 fans should be applauding a fellow conference member for going all-in to win championships. The league needs every title it can get right now, especially when it comes at the SEC’s expense.

What You Need to Know

• Brett Yormark revealed publicly why he’s been pushing for the 5+11 playoff format that would almost assuredly result in fewer Big 12 teams in the playoff over the next six years. 

• Yormark also gave updates on the Big 12’s pursuit of private equity. Honestly, I came away with the impression that the Big 12 is absolutely going to end up partnering with a private equity or private capital partner at some point. Here’s why. 

• SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey appears to be succeeding in his quest to further skew the College Football Playoff’s selection criteria in the SEC’s favor. Here’s the latest from Yahoo!’s Ross Dellenger.

• Is UNLV a legitimate Big 12 expansion candidate? According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, there are “growing whispers” about the possibility. That seems like some real wishful thinking from the hometown paper to me, but it’s interesting to read nonetheless. 

• Shout out to Iowa State play-by-play voice John Walters for posting the coolest Big 12 video I’ve seen on the internet in a long time. Bring back live mascots!

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