All the Big 12-2 Conference news that is and isn't fit to read.
"We’ve got to start over and we’re rebuilding a foundation at every
level: offense, defense, special teams, credibility, strength and
conditioning, swagger, body language, chemistry, everything,"
Brown told the Associated Press Monday.
Everything is different.
All of Texas' spring football practices are closed to both fans and the media this year, and in some places the secrecy wouldn't be considered newsworthy. Alabama's Nick Saban, for instance, has done just fine as a virtual coaching mute, and access to his team's workouts is so well-guarded not even the guys at WikiLeaks dare to intercept practice reports.
Maybe Bellmont should rethink this no information policy.
Once the season starts, all bets are off. Close the doors. Lock the gates. Keep air space clear so nobody knows what's going on. That's fine. But, come on. It's spring football. It's going to be basic stuff to get used to the new coaches. It's going to be lots of reps for the backups to try to show their stuff. It's a great time to get re-enthused about a team that was so embarrassing last year.
Is Mack Brown channeling his inner Bear Bryant?
You will hear some new voices on the football broadcasts in the fall.
Local sports reporter and Longhorns sideline reporter Roger Wallace will move into the role of radio color analyst for the statewide network broadcasts produced and delivered by IMG College and flagship station KVET-FM/AM, The University of Texas announced Friday.
In addition, former UT and NFL cornerback Rod Babers will take over Wallace's previous role as sideline reporter. Both will join long-time play-by-play voice Craig Way this fall for game broadcasts, which are also heard on Sirius-XM radio and on the Internet at TexasSports.com.
The San Antonio Express-News has a profile piece on Sam Acho.
The memory of Cole Pittman lives on.
NewsOK's Berry Tramel ranks the Longhorns’ top NFL careers.
Some off-season entertainment from The Bleacher Report.
Basketball
Baylor sophomore guard Nolan Dennis has left school.
Tech point guard John Roberson called out the Raider fans.
After the game Roberson, a four-year starter under both Bob and Pat Knight, called out the Texas Tech fan base for staying away from the arena.
"I haven’t complained in four years, but the crowd was awful," Roberson said. "We didn’t have anybody here cheering us. That’s ridiculous for this to be a winnable game and for us to be playing another Big 12 school and for nobody to show up."
Football
OU and OSU utilize the hybrid linebacker position.
It's a position that asks a lot of those who play it but also allows those players to be main playmakers in their defensive system.
"It's an attractive position," Oklahoma State linebacker coach Glenn Spencer said. "As a high school player (you see) you get to blitz, you get to play the run a little bit, you play the pass.
"He's got to be the most versatile player on the field for the defense."
Baylor starts spring practice on Monday.
Tech and Baylor will play their 2011 game in the Cowboy's Cathedral.
Texas Tech has a new athletic director.
Kirby Hocutt has resigned as Miami’s athletic director to take the same job at Texas Tech, barely two months after hiring a new football coach and speaking about his desire to see the Hurricanes chase national prominence in all sports.
Bob Stoops got a raise.
The Tulsa World is reporting that Stoops received a $1 million raise – his salary increased from $3.875 million a year to $4.875 million – after the Sooners won the Big 12 and won their first BCS bowl since 2003. It was the seventh Big 12 title in 12 seasons for Stoops, whose teams had lost their last five BCS games and hadn’t won a major bowl since the 2003 Rose Bowl.
(Music NSFW)
You know it is the off-season when a sports writer ranks the top college football stadiums.
Michael Avery is the poster child for what can happen when you ask eight-year-olds an eighth grader for a commitment.
Sports analytics is the hottest new job trend in sports.
Harvard sophomore John Ezekowitz, who is 20, works for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns from his Cambridge dorm room, looking beyond traditional basketball statistics like points, rebounds, assists, and field goal percentage to better quantify player performance. He is enjoying the kind of early exposure to professional sports once reserved for athletic phenoms and once rare at institutions like Harvard and MIT. "If I do a good job, I can have some new insight into how this team plays, what works and what doesn’t," says Ezekowitz. "To think that I might have some measure of influence, however small, over how a team plays is a thrill." It’s not a bad job, either. While he doesn’t want to reveal how much he earns as a consultant, he says that not only does he eat better than most college students, the extra cash also allows him to feed his golf-club-buying habit.
Ohio State knows how to work the system.
Quite a few people were angry last December when Ohio State used an obscure, almost never-before-seen procedure to get six football student-athletes reinstated for the Sugar Bowl.
And finally...
If you are going to get ejected, go all out.