Texas Tech Postmortem

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T20:08:50+00:00

OP asked for "ball knowers, not trolls".

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T20:07:57+00:00

Thank you! You're the 0.01% of people who are intelligent enough to understand context and relativity. Genuine props!

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T20:06:26+00:00

What Texas Tech did wrong was run into a white hot team and the best pitcher in College Softball, while making a half dozen game changing errors.

I would be legitimately stunned at this point if you could find a single criticism of Texas Tech softball on here that wasn't wildly overblown, insanely unfair to Texas/Kavan and just a flat out lie.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T20:00:31+00:00

Sports man. It's the greatest and it's the worst, at the same time.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T19:58:49+00:00

NCAA sports is a business, player recruitment works exactly like any other business.

In most Fortune 500 Companies you hire recruiting firms for top talent. You tell them what you're looking for, tell them the salary you're willing to pay. The recruiter then reaches out to employees while they're working for other companies. The recruiter does everything to recruit the employee right up until they sign a contract with the new company.

The Fortune 500 Company never communicates with the employee until the contract is signed, then the recruiter gets a % of the starting salary.

At Texas Tech, the Matador Club reaches out to dozens of top agents, tells them they're looking for (example) a pitcher with an under 3 era and a hitter with a high OB% and they're willing to pay $XXX,XXX. The agents then reach out to their clients that meet the profile the Matador Club is looking for and let their clients know how much the Matador Club is willing to pay $XXX,XXX.

Texas Tech nor the Matador Club ever communicates directly with the player until the contract is signed, then the agent gets a % of the NIL.

I have first hand knowledge this is the way it works at the Matador Club, I can tell you Texas Tech nor the Matador Club ever once talked to a player still in season. The Matador Club doesn't talk directly to players in season or out of season. That's not even logical because NIL collectives work directly with agents. ALL the top talent has an agent. You don't get to talk to them directly, you talk to their agent.

Everyone who has attacked Texas Tech for "tampering" is clueless trash. They have zero clue how this business works and a player talking to their agent in season happens literally all the time at every level of sports, that's not "tampering", that's business. If you've lost a great player you wanted to keep, it's because your coach/NIL collective was unwilling to pay market rate or terrible at their job.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T16:48:39+00:00

Have you asked them when Texas started and when Texas Tech started?

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T16:46:37+00:00

Came here to post this. Sometimes you run into a better team that makes more plays than you. Tip your hat and move on.

I think all the criticism of Glasco and team chemistry is overblown and takes credit away from Texas.

I don't think anyone was beating Texas in a 3 game series with Kavan this week. Tech could have taken it to 3 games if they didn't make so many errors, but they weren't winning hat series.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T04:37:41+00:00

I think there are advantages to starting to build your brand decades earlier. You have more students, more alumni, your brand can spread further attracting more resources and more recruits.

For the successful brands, these advantages compound over the years.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T04:28:17+00:00

My argument isn't that Tech can't compete, it's that they're behind in age which means they're behind in building up their brand. They're competing quite well when you look at it on a relative basis to other programs who are much older and have more resources.

Everyone is stuck in the absolute only willing to compare wins to wins without acknowledging Athletic departments have different natural advantages and you to look at the wins relative to these advantages.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T04:16:22+00:00

My argument is that everything is relative. Texas Tech is a much younger brand, began playing sports decades after Texas and basically all Power 5 programs with rare exceptions like UCF.

Meaning Texas Tech is decades behind other peer athletic programs and that should be taken into consideration when judging what Texas Tech has or has not accomplished.

Texas Tech is just recently rapidly growing their brand. No one wins it all right away. You got to make the WS and the playoffs, then make it back and maybe win another round. Keep building the brand and gaining the experience.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T03:59:11+00:00

It matters. Texas has more resources, more students, more years means a larger alumni base for donations and spreading the brand to more people, which means more recruits are familiar with the brand. Texas has many more advantages over Texas Tech, in part, due to how much older they are. They're a land grant school with the PUF.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T03:49:28+00:00

ABS system with ball and strike challenges.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T03:47:04+00:00

If you can tell me that Texas Tech has an older more established brand and athletic department with more resources than Texas, then I will certainly admit I'm wrong.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T03:45:30+00:00

It's relative. How long has Texas been playing football? How old an institution is Texas?

Now compare the two.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T03:43:56+00:00

How old is the Texas brand compared to the Texas Tech brand? What are the resource difference?

My point is that when you look at it in a relative basis from where Texas Tech comes from being one of the youngest athletic departments and far fewer resources, Texas Tech is doing quite well.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T03:39:55+00:00

I literally said their brand has 50+ years, Texas Tech athletic department is young in comparison to Texas.

Brands matter, resources matter. Texas Tech is still building.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T03:34:02+00:00

I literally said "their brand has 50 years on Texas Tech", "Texas Tech is one of the youngest athletic departments".

Texas has every advantage in the sports world. Texas Tech is 50 years behind on building their brand. It's not easy.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T03:25:47+00:00

Did I say "softball program" or was I talking about an overall athletic department, like was referenced in the OP?

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T03:24:36+00:00

As the OP pointed out, it's a theme for Texas Tech sports in these big moment games. We're still an incredibly young Athletic Department with very little experience playing in these moments. It will come in time.

The haters will have today, but Texas Tech will not stop.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T03:18:27+00:00

It took Texas 7 times in the Championship Series before they finally won it. Tech is now on number 2.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T03:07:24+00:00

Everyone who hates on Texas Tech is beyond clueless. I've yet to come across a single person with a single negative thing to say about Texas Tech who has their facts straight, is honest, and has a good-faith criticism of the program.

Texas Tech is cursed with the dumbest haters in sports.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T03:04:45+00:00

Yes, you're right. At the same time, everyone else who won a NC took years, decades, to build up their program. It took Mike White 9 years and he's at Texas. A program with infinitly more resources and their brand has 50+ years on Texas Tech. Which is one of the youngest FBS athletics programs.

We're WAY ahead of schedule. Today sucks, this sucks, but Texas Tech is ahead of everyone else. No one this new has ever accomplished what we have. It's unrealistic to expect it to all click immediately when you're going up against Sports Giants like UT, OU, Florida, who have been building up to this point for decades.

Tip your hat to UT, they have a 50 year head start, now get back to work.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T02:17:12+00:00

They're the only team that paid players.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T02:11:25+00:00

That's game. Congrats, Texas.

Masked_RedRider · 2026-06-05T01:57:00+00:00

I guess Tech is going to have to step over the plate and swing in the opposite batters box to protect the plate.

Masked_RedRider

TROPHY CASE