The Big 12 Media Days kicked off and it started with a bit of a bang. The Big 12 announced that they have a deal with Monster Energy and that’s sort of hilarious all on it’s own. We are so close to Idiocracy.

One of the other big things that happened yesterday was this question by Sean Dillon of Rockin’ Pregame and I’m going to just post the whole exchange. I should mention that during these events a lot of times the whole thing is on something called ASAP Sports. Here’s the exchange:

Q. Commissioner, Texas Tech got fined over tortillas, and tortillas were banned outright. OSU paddles broken always (indiscernible) has a tradition (indiscernible) exemption. Sorsby never played a snap for the Red Raiders. Big 12 sued them anyway, while Cincinnati hasn’t been yet touched. You’re selling greater than 12. Why should Texas Tech fans believe it?

BRETT YORMARK: Can you say — let me come closer to you. Stand up and ask that question again, and I’m going to give you the answer I want to give you. So go ahead.

Q. Texas Tech got fined for tortillas, and tortillas were banned outright. OSU has had paddles that were given a noisemaker exemption back in 2012. Sorsby never played a snap for the Red Raiders, and yet there’s a lawsuit. Cincinnati has yet to be touched. You’re selling greater than 12. Why should Texas Tech fans believe that?

BRETT YORMARK: No, I didn’t say greater than 12. You misquoted me. I said we’re going forward as 16 strong, and that’s my answer to your question, but thank you for that question. Appreciate it.

Dillon usually gets the first question in Joey McGuire’s press conference so he’s been around for a long time. Sometimes his questions can be a bit difficult to follow. With that being said I found Dillon’s question not entirely clear and I think that I’m not completely sure the question he wants answered, but I do think that I get the idea. He’s trying to get out the idea as to why Texas Tech is being treated the way that they are. Yormark was also being obtuse a bit and he’s not going to answer a question about that today (or probably ever).

Head coach Joey McGuire also spoke at 1:20 p.m. and that link will take you to the full transcript. Here’s just a part:

Q. I understand all the reasons that Tech supported Brendan Sorsby the way they did, but did any of it come at a cost to your reputation or those things, or did you have to do any restoration in that regard?

JOEY McGUIRE: That’s a great question, man. It’s good to see you, too. It’s tough. You know, the thing for me that through all of this, my president and my AD, who are good friends of mine, who believed in me, who hired me, they went through a lot. If you look as a whole, there were not a lot of coaches that said really a whole lot.

There were some funny jabs taken by some coaches, but there wasn’t a lot of coaches that just really came out and said a lot of different things.

For my peers, I got a lot of support. Eric Morris, the first day any news broke, called me and said, Hey, man, I’m just doing a well check. He’s a good friend of mine. Kalani, a great friend of mine, said the same thing. Kenny Dillingham made a joke in a group text and called me and said, You know I was kidding. I said, Kenny, dude, I get it, man.

For me, my peers, I had so much support from my peers. And it was tough to see Kirby and President Schovanec have to go through that. I hate that for them.

The thing that we really try to focus on is the Red Raiders and our alumni base and our boosters. That’s who — whenever I’ve talked to, answered any emails, texts, or anything like that, those are the ones that I concerned to make sure they understand where we were coming from.

Q. Amidst everything going on this offseason, how has Will Hammond been? You give him high praise. How has he been in terms of keeping his head down and staying ready for the right time, the right opportunity?

JOEY McGUIRE: Yeah, man, again, we’re so fortunate. That young man, he’s one of the guys — he’s one of the first two or three people in the building. He’s one of the last ones to leave. Extremely hard worker.

He’s got great confidence in himself, and he’s prepared, prepared himself to be in the position he’s in. He’s got really an infectious personality that people just gravitate to. I think that’s why there’s a lot of confidence in Will.

Then the good thing is I think we have one of the top running back rooms in the country, if not the best. We have one of the top tight end rooms in the country. I think we’ve improved our offensive line. We’ve got a very deep wide receiver room.

You know, it’s not all on him. He’s going to have a lot of people around him to help him succeed.

Q. I want to ask about some of the jabs from Steve Sarkisian, Head Coach of Texas Longhorns, and how serious you were about getting that first game on the schedule and if we could see that in the future?

JOEY McGUIRE: Yeah, first, spike the ball, man. We’re ready to go right now. We’ll play tomorrow. We don’t need any film study or anything like that, man. I know they don’t either. They’ve got a great football team, one of the best teams in the country. They’re going to be really good this year.

You know, the thing, I have a lot of respect for Sark. For people that have covered the University of Texas for a long time, what he’s been able to do to be successful and sustain success, that is hard to do.

Mack Brown was the last coach to be able to do what he’s doing. Before that, y’all would have to help me of who was before that, other than Darrell Royal, that literally had the success that Sark is having. I have a lot of respect for him.

If you go back and you look on record, I’ve said continuously I think he’s one of the best play callers in the game today. Shoot, we were texting the other day. Jeff Traylor put me and Sark in a group text. There’s a Division I panel at the THSCA Coaching School, and he wants to sit between us.

I told Jeff he’s going to have to step up his sports coach game if he’s going to sit between me and Sark. Sark is probably going to have on the burnt orange sports coat, and I’m going to wear this one or wear a red one.

I want to play him. I’m a Texan. I was born in Texarkana, Texas, in Wadley Regional Medical Center in 1971. I grew up in the Southwest Conference. Texas and Texas Tech are supposed to play. Texas and Texas A&M are supposed to play, and they are playing. SMU is supposed to play. I’d love to play Rhett Lashlee.

If you are a Texan, and you’re a fan of the football in this state, then why would we go outside the state to play nonconference games and we’re not in conference anymore because you have such good football in this state? So I would love to play Texas, Texas A&M. SMU is not in the conference. I would love to play those guys just because I think it’s great for the state of Texas. It’s great for the high school coaches and the high school players in the state of Texas.

That might be one reason that we have so many kids leaving the state is because we’re not playing each other anymore. I remember whenever I was a high school coach growing up through the system that, you know, you didn’t have as many kids leaving the state. Well, it’s probably because the doors are open because we’re playing so many other out of conference instead of playing each other.

ESPN’s Max Olson, Heather Dinich, Jeremy Fowler, and David Purdum inside the Brendan Sorsby saga. I am sure that you are tired of all this and that’s fine. You do not have to read this.

This was Texas Tech’s impossible challenge following the injunction: There were no magic words that could make everyone OK with Sorsby playing this season.

The criticism of the 21-minute video was negative enough, not just from the public but also from some Texas Tech stakeholders, that sources said Schovanec had second thoughts the next day about whether Texas Tech could stay the course.

Texas Tech’s athletic council called a Sunday meeting on June 14 at Jones AT&T Stadium. Campbell and fellow regents Dusty Womble, Clay Cash and Tim Culp sat down with Schovanec, Hocutt, McGuire and Texas Tech’s general counsel. Sorsby joined the group for a portion of the three-hour session, Campbell told ESPN.

The topic: How much further was Texas Tech willing to go? Campbell and others were motivated to keep fighting. Others were feeling more apprehensive as they talked through strategy. The greatest fear at that time, according to multiple people who attended the meeting, was of the uncertainties beyond their control.

If continuing to back Sorsby and playing him in games could potentially result in the Red Raiders being deemed ineligible for the Big 12 championship game and the College Football Playoff, Campbell said all parties — including Sorsby — agreed that would be too unfair of a burden for the other 106 players in the program.

During that Sunday meeting in Lubbock, Schovanec stepped out to take a phone call from Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark. Two sources told ESPN that Yormark asked to set up a meeting with the Big 12 presidents in the hopes of working things out before the situation escalated any further.

Meanwhile, Yormark was convening his own private meetings with the rest of his Big 12 members and preparing what would be a course-altering legal maneuver.

/snip/

“I feel like they did not handle this particular situation well, but I have some confidence they’re going to be better in the future,” Campbell said. “Look, if you have a disagreement in your family, you need to handle things as a family internally. You don’t need to air it out publicly. I think that’s what we’re looking for in the future.”

Yormark can argue that, given the undisputed facts of Sorsby’s case, this particular issue would’ve been a 15-1 vote for conference members no matter the player or school. If Sorsby were still at Cincinnati this spring, would Texas Tech have supported his cause? After going through it, though, it’s not easy for Campbell and others to step back and see it that way.

Two months from now, the Red Raiders will take the field without Sorsby. It’s a squad that, at least on paper, still looks too loaded to fail. Texas Tech is the Big 12’s best candidate to make a deep College Football Playoff run. And if all goes according to plan, Yormark will be standing on a stage in AT&T Stadium in December, handing the defending champs their trophy.

In the meantime, can this uneasy truce endure?

“These things leave scars,” one Texas Tech source said.

Some additional videos.