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The Best From Day 1 of Big 12 Media Days

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7 years ago

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The first day of Big 12 Media Days is done, and there was plenty to talk about.

TCU coach Gary Patterson took a stand, which wasn’t shocking. Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury was berated with questions about his job safety. And Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley made his media day debut.

That was just some of what was on tap though. Here are some more highlights.

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby

• At last year’s event, Bowlsby was absolutely crushed when he talked and was questioned about the Baylor scandal. This year, there wasn’t too much controversy.

• He did have to address the whole Oklahoma State-Central Michigan fiasco, which he drilled right through.

“I think most of you are aware that we’ll be implementing a remote replay command center this year, and it will be staffed up beginning with the first game,” said Bowlsby. “We have high capacity to manage all of our games at the necessary times. We’re excited about it, but I also think we have tremendous officiating on the field. … We want to make sure that we never make a mistake, and replay at the stadium and replay on a command center basis are just ways we employ more tools to try and get it right.”

• Bowlsby also gave a nice little shoutout to former Sooner coach Bob Stoops, but he did it in a way that mildly undermined the conference as a whole.

• This was not mentioned in the main press conference, but Blair Kerkoff of the Kansas City Star was in Frisco on Monday and dropped this nugget about Bowlsby, who is 65.

TCU Coach Gary Patterson

• TCU finished at 6-6 last season, Patterson’s second worst season since 2004 when the Horned Frogs went 5-6. The following season, they racked up an 11-1 record in their first Mountain West season. Patterson was asked about what changes in his coaching style when things go south, and he went on to tell quite the story about a conversation between a few of his former players and his wife.

“‘Mrs. P, I have a question.’ He was having a hard time because of what I put him through in spring and summer and two-a-days. ‘Do you really love Coach P?’ They had a hard time thinking anybody could like me after what they went through. Then he found out what Gary is like, and they’ll tell you, she didn’t hesitate. So the key is we all have to get back to doing what we have to do. We have an obligation to our university. Sometimes we lose our way a little bit. I felt like I hurt my team a little bit.

• Patterson has a way of calling out his own coaching styles, philosophies and tactics that works. He went on later about an early signing period and the paradigm of high schoolers and recruiting.

“My biggest problem I have with kids right now, maybe even parents, I do more coaching of parents than I do of players,” said Patterson. “Our job is to prepare them for what’s going to happen when they get out of college, and I’m not really sure.

“… I ask people all the time because we say, well, what does a student-athlete think? I just ask them one question, at your home, your kids growing up, do you let your teenagers decide what we do in the family? I don’t know about you because mine don’t. Do I ask them what they think? Yes, I do, because I want them to be happy. But they don’t decide how I run my household, and I definitely don’t think they should decide how I run my football program.”

Preach. Patterson might have lost a recruit or two Monday with how he classified essentially all of top-level high school football players, but he is right — at least in his eyes — and if that is what gets more of the right types of players to his program vs. the best players, I think that’s something you have to respect.

Kansas Coach David Beaty

• Here is your monthly reminder that Nov. 19 in Lawrence, Kansas, the Jayhawks beat Texas in overtime. Still can’t believe that, and that was a lot of the talk while Beaty was at the stage. The first question he got was from an Austin American-Statesman reporter who asked about the momentum of that game. So, yes, even in Austin people are still talking about it.

• Kansas has a quarterback battle on its hands. Carter Stanley finished the season high (for KU) and Peyton Bender has come in from a community college and previously Washington State. Oh and, just to make things awkward, Beaty said they’re roommates. Certainly, nothing will go wrong.

• Beaty finished his presser with the highest of praise for his new offensive coordinator and former OSU lineman and coach Doug Meacham. Just read this:

“When I first got to Kansas, I called him ten times and offered him so — I told him, look, look, you can have all the money,” said Beaty. “I’ll hire everybody else for a dollar. You can have it all. What’s it going to take to get you here? Because I just think that much of him.”

Texas Tech Coach Kliff Kingsbury

• Somehow, this is Kingsbury’s fifth go-round at Big 12 Media Days. He has a sub-.500 record in four seasons and just lost his first-round quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Also, the Red Raiders have the worst statistical defense in the NCAA, and this guy absolutely knows it.

• That was the biggest highlight, but that was also just a sample size of what Kingsbury had to go through atop the stage at The Star. Also, he was introduced with a Justin Bieber hit while no other coach had any sort of walk-up music.

Iowa State Coach Matt Campbell

• It’s probably old news for most people, but Campbell reiterated that last year’s Iowa State quarterback Joel Lanning (the one who got hurt in the OSU game last year) has moved to linebacker. Jacob Park (the hippie-looking dual threat) is the full-time thrower.

(Iowa State Athletics)

• Also, receiver Allen Lazard is back after deciding to stay away from the NFL Draft for now. In an interview with FOX, he said he was going to go out there and show why he is “worth a first-round pick and go get that money.”

• Finally, this was a pretty standout quote from Campbell:

Oklahoma Coach Lincoln Riley

• The first guy to represent OU as coach since 1999. Wow. There was plenty of Stoops-flavored Kool-Aid going around, but Riley was exuding his own level-headedness.

• And that was about it. He spoke highly of Baker Mayfield post-arrest in Fayetteville, his running backs post-Perine and Mixon and Stoops. But he wasn’t too high or too low. He talked a lot about leadership from his entire team which he’ll need given how much they lost.

• To judge for yourself, here is the full Riley press conference.

Still to Come

Mike Gundy takes the stage at 12:25 p.m. Tuesday. He is the last coach to speak for the masses at Big 12 Media Days, and he and his players will sit for a non-televised breakout session from 2:30 p.m.-4 p.m.

To get the full Tuesday schedule, check my primer. Also, make sure to follow @pistolsguys and @HK_Barber on Twitter, as Kyle Porter and I will be there to cover everything tomorrow.

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