Cody Campbell Takeover

I’m in Frisco for Big 12 Media Days, and day one was a whirlwind. Full transparency: I spent most of the day recording K-State interviews for the 3MAW podcast and interviewing players for the upcoming anonymous player survey, so I didn’t catch many podium press conferences live.

But man, oh man, did some juicy quotes come out.

I’ll get to the highlights in a moment, but first, a massive story from USA Today broke about Texas Tech mega-booster Cody Campbell.

The article reports that the Presidential Commission on College Sports is likely dead, but Campbell could now become the point person directly advising President Trump on college sports:

"There won't be a commission, as had been previously reported. A person close to the process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told USA TODAY Sports that it will follow much in the same way Trump deals with other problems: he finds a point person, and that person reports directly to him."

When asked if he were that person, Campbell said:

"I’ve been in conversations with President Trump for quite some time now, and the one thing I can tell you is he cares very much about preserving and maintaining college sports. Not just football, but women's sports and Olympic sports, and the opportunities they provide. It’s one of the best things we have culturally in this country."

I cannot overstate how significant this could be for Big 12 schools. I'm still holding out hope that my Project Rudy dreams come true, and while that wouldn’t exactly preserve the current Big 12 structure, it would significantly benefit Big 12 schools.

Campbell’s relationship with Trump doesn’t guarantee anything, but it’s infinitely better than the previous status quo where Greg Sankey and Tony Petiti were essentially the only voices in the room.

And that’s exactly why those guys can’t stand Campbell.

“There’s a reason officials in the Big Ten and SEC recoil at the mention of Campbell. It’s not just his brash use of existing NIL rules, but his public declarations that college sports is dying with a current caste system of winners and losers.”

A good rule of thumb right now: If the SEC and Big Ten dislike something, it’s probably beneficial for the long-term health of college sports.

Let’s see if Cody Campbell can work some healing magic.

Big 12 Media Days: Day One Highlights

Let’s start with Commissioner Brett Yormark.

You knew Yormark would push hard for the 5+11 playoff format, but the way he phrased it felt like a direct shot at Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petiti, the chief advocate for the 4/4/2/2 model that Yormark claims resembles the NFL playoffs.

I understand the security that two automatic bids would give the Big 12, as Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt continues to advocate. Still, you have to respect Yormark’s willingness to defend a model that might initially hurt the Big 12 but preserves the league's dignity and future potential.

It’s no surprise the preseason poll came up. I'm glad Yormark directly acknowledged the poll hurt the Big 12 last season, though he framed Arizona State as the primary victim. In reality, BYU paid the steepest price by being excluded from serious at-large consideration.

BYU AD Brian Santiago and coach Kalani Sitake continue to take the high road, but I’m still frustrated on their behalf that they didn’t get more playoff consideration.

The viral coach quote of the day goes to UCF’s Scott Frost.

Initially, I wasn't thrilled by the "don't take the wrong job" comment. If I were a UCF fan, I'd worry Frost was deflecting responsibility for his disastrous Nebraska tenure.

But additional context made Frost’s comments clearer:

The timing of Nebraska’s opening clearly rushed Frost into leaving UCF before he was fully prepared. It would have benefited him significantly to have more than two years of head coaching experience before jumping into a pressure-cooker job like Nebraska.

Ultimately, Frost's quote mostly serves as entertaining content that agitates Nebraska fans—and that’s something we can all appreciate.

Maybe Nebraska wouldn’t care so much if they had, you know, achieved anything significant in the past decade.

What You Need to Know

• One more media day quick hit: Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell raised some eyebrows with this quote about his player taking a pay cut. 

• K-State men’s basketball head coach Jerome Tang did an interview with Iowa State fan site, Cyclone Fanatic. Yes, you read that right. Kudos to that crew for an extending an olive branch to a coach much of the ISU fan base loves to hate. 

• Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt listed one Big 12 team on his list of top ten teams that could make their first playoff appearance this year.

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