The Morning Stake: August 2nd

Texas Tech Tennis

Texas Tech Basketball

Texas Tech Football

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 A-J Media’s Don Williams has the latest on the the assistant coaches receiving a bump in pay, although as Don points out, most of the bump in pay went to Karl Scott, who went from receiving $165,000 to $225,000, and Emmett Jones received a $10,000 increase in pay. Don goes into good detail about the debt service and all but says that with increased success on the football field, the salaries for the assistant coaches will increase as well:

Tech also continues to be mindful of the debt generated by its many athletic facilities projects in the Big 12 era. The department’s annual debt service obligation was $10.4 million in fiscal year 2017 and $11.1 million each of the next three years, all part of $129 million in debt to be repaid through 2036.

“I would say with success comes the revenue streams to invest into your staff and your programs,” Hocutt said. “With that success and enhanced revenue streams, we’ll do just that.”

This really is a chicken-or-the-egg argument, with a bigger pool of money, you can attract better coaches and perhaps a greater chance of winning, right?

 Sports On Earth’s Matt Brown ranks the top 25 offenses in the NCAA and has Texas Tech at 11th overall:

11. Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are going to score a ton of points. We know this; the offense’s success is as predictable as the defense’s struggles. Replacing Patrick Mahomes at QB won’t be easy — and the transfer of top WR Jonathan Giles hurts — but new QB Nic Shimonek will undoubtedly put up enormous numbers in Kliff Kingsbury’s offense, and Texas Tech will be a safe bet to roll up a lot of points most weeks. Nearly all of Texas Tech’s worries reside on the other side of the ball, again.

This is behind Oklahoma at #1 and Oklahoma State at #3. We keep saying it, but if there’s the slightest improvement with the defense then look out. Like Brown, I don’t expect the offense to drop off that much, which seems crazy because Patrick Mahomes was a special player for Texas Tech. However, I think the offense will be fine, sure they’ll struggle at some point because that’s normal, but Kingsbury has always been able to do offense. Always.

 Miscellaneous . . . LandGrant Gauntlet’s Travis Guidry ranks the Big 12 running backs and I think they have the Texas Tech group as as the last of the position group . . also from LandGrant Gauntlet, this one from Brady Trantham and Chris Ross they podcast and discuss their Big 12 rankings and I haven’t had time to listen, but I think one of Brady or Chris has Texas Tech last in the Big 12 . . . Heartland College Sports’ Pete Mundo ranks the Big 12 quarterbacks and has Nic Shimonek 7th . . .

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