Sankey can't promise annual Texas-Texas A&M football game in the SEC
While I got ya, here are nine things and one crazy prediction:
Longhorns vs. Aggies every year, or every other year?
1. Commish commentary: Finally landed Greg Sankey for our “On Second Thought” podcast, and the SEC commissioner told us he doesn’t necessarily see further expansion for the SEC and that the Texas-Texas A&M football series would be only every other year and not annual if the league sticks with the eight-game conference schedule that the athletic directors approved for 2024 when Texas and Oklahoma officially join. That would be very disappointing. The 7-1 model with only one permanent rival would allow for the annual blood war between the Longhorns and Sooners in the Cotton Bowl to continue every October, but the Horns and Aggies would play each other every other year as part of the rotation with the other 12 teams. Sankey said the league will determine the format and number of conference games for 2025 and hopefully beyond between now and the 2024 spring meetings in Destin, Fla., and he wouldn’t predict the outcome of the vote. … Many of the SEC football coaches and athletic directors at Destin said they were hesitant to go with the nine-game model because of the unknown consequences for future qualification for the 12-team College Football Playoff starting in 2024 when the sport goes to six automatic qualifiers and six at-large teams. Sankey said when asked if a 9-3 SEC team would probably earn an at-large berth, “I do think it can.” Besides, if some SEC schools that voted against nine games are too scared of the extra competition, should they even be in the SEC? Sankey did say there was so much interest in the schedule reveal in mid-June that “all the (opposition) noise went away.” Not all of it. … While some have criticized the SEC expansion with Texas and OU, the furthest trip for any SEC member would be only 95 miles longer than before the additions while teams like USC and UCLA will travel cross-country and two time zones to Maryland and Rutgers. He also said, unlike other expansion moves, the SEC addition “restores a lot of rivalries” like A&M-Texas, Arkansas-Texas, OU-A&M and OU-Missouri. … Sankey told us in our hot corner interview that if he wasn’t a conference commissioner now, he’d probably have been a physical education or history teacher and revealed a couple of his hidden talents. The enlightening podcast airs Thursday morning.
Bring on the magazines
2. Talent overload: I always enjoy Phil Steele’s college football preview magazine, and the 2023 version doesn’t disappoint. A couple of interesting items concerning the Longhorns has four Texas players on his first, second or third All-America teams: wide receiver Xavier Worthy (first), tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders (second), left tackle Kelvin Banks and linebacker Jaylan Ford (third). The other 13 Big 12 teams have a combined four players on those teams — Kansas State guard Cooper Beebe and Cincinnati defensive tackle Dontay Corleone (first team), West Virginia center Zach Frazier (second) and TCU cornerback Josh Newton (fourth). … In the category of toughest 2023 schedules, Texas’ slate ranks 10th most difficult nationally. Texas A&M’s is 24th, and Oklahoma’s is 49th.
David Pierce's big coaching — and pitching — gamble
3. Too full a plate: Texas cut the cord with Woody Williams, marking the second consecutive year David Pierce has fired his pitching coach, and the American-Statesman reported that Pierce is expected to name himself as the replacement. The optics are less than desirable, and that would be a very risky move with all the responsibilities he has. Pierce has had three pitching coaches in his first seven years, has always coached from the third-base box and made almost all the moves to the mound for pitching instruction and changes. Cliff Gustafson always had a pitching coach, but he was heavily involved in that phase and made almost all of the slow strolls to the mound. Personally I don’t think it makes a lot of sense for Pierce to take on the extra duties. Others have done it officially or unofficially like TCU’s Kirk Saarloos and Oklahoma’s Skip Johnson, but the Horned Frogs boss pitched for Cal State Fullerton and for seven years in the majors and threw a no-hitter in college and (a combined one in) the pros. Johnson has always been one of college baseball’s top pitching coaches at Texas and other places before getting the Sooners job. And he’s been Clayton Kershaw’s private tutor. Pierce does have experience as Rice’s pitching coach from 2006-11 with good success, but he’s also been a hitting coach for much of his career as an assistant. But it is a gamble. … As for Williams, I hate to see him go. One could make the argument the Longhorns' pitching staff, and especially the bullpen, was a shambles for a big part of the season, but it stabilized in May and June behind the presence of Big 12 pitcher of the year Lucas Gordon, the transformation of Lebarron Johnson Jr. as the No. 2 starter and the re-emergence of Zane Morehouse at the closer. Texas fell one win shy of the College World Series. And everyone I talked to really liked Williams. I’m not sure how that will play out as far as Gordon, Johnson and Tanner Witt perhaps returning and in the transfer portal world where Texas has been very quiet. … Great news that former volunteer coach Troy Tulowitzki will return to the Texas staff as a director of player development. "I care about the program, and this gives me a chance to help them,” Tulo told me. “I know I can (be in the dugout) and I would say I may be at times.” His presence is and was a huge benefit for Texas.
A costly, but correct, decision for Northwestern
4. Fitz on the fritz: Stunned to read of the outrageously despicable hazing that reportedly was going on for a long time inside the Northwestern football program, events that included forced sexual acts. Incredibly, the school suspended head football coach Pat Fitzgerald for two weeks. Seriously? A two-week suspension in July isn’t a suspension. It’s a vacation. Northwestern came to its senses and fired him this week. Because the school deemed most of these charges to be accurate, Fitzgerald should have been fired. It’s always been laughable when a head coach claims he didn’t know what was going on — the Rick Pitino defense — because Fitzgerald was rightfully punished for approving the hazing or an equally intolerable sin of not being aware of something that sinister in his own program. Fitz was the Northwestern program. Could the Wildcats be done?
Dark times to be a Yankees fan
5. Sell, sell, sell: As a diehard Yankees fan, can someone please take Giancarlo Stanton off our hands? We’ll pay you. In fact, New York would have to. In any sane world, the Yankees should be sellers at the trading deadline with a slim chance at a wild-card spot and no legitimate shot of winning the World Series. They should give serious consideration to trading, well, everybody but Aaron Judge, the franchise cornerstone. If I were Brian Cashman, I’d put on the trading block recovering pitcher Carlos Rodon, Anthony Rizzo and anyone else in pinstripes. Can you imagine trading Rodon and even Gerrit Cole and getting a king’s ransom back? … Does anyone really expect Shohei Ohtani to land with any team other than the Los Angeles Dodgers? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Texas State has its work cut out
6. What’s with the Texas State football program?: Phil Steele’s preseason magazine ranked the Bobcats 127th out of the 133 FBS programs, ahead of only New Mexico, UMass, Hawaii, Louisiana-Monroe, Kent State and Western Michigan. That’s embarrassing for a school that once celebrated back-to-back Division II national championships under the late Jim Wacker. The school has had just six winning seasons in the last 27 years, only two of which included only seven victories. New Bobcats head coach G.J. Kinne has his work cut out for him since his two predecessors — Jake Spavital and Everett Withers — went a combined 20-64.
Gobbling up the summer
7.Summer fare: Watched a considerable amount of Wimbledon coverage but couldn’t get worked up over the sea of no-names in the competition without the retired Roger Federer and Serena Williams and the injured Rafael Nadal. Where’s the next wave of superstars beyond Novak Djokovic, who has looked bored at times but as dominant as ever. … I had a marvelous beach vacation at Cinnamon Shore in Port Aransas and pulled it off without severe sunburn. … Also caught the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating contest. In light of some of the contestants being the best in the field in everything from tamales to pistachios to buffalo wings to jalapeño peppers, I wondered if I had to try what eating contest could I possibly enter. Maybe try to eat 50 Hershey’s Almond bars at one sitting. Or 100 Chick-fil-A nuggets. Anyone else an eating champion in his or her own mind?
Where have you gone, Mad Hatter?
8. Scattershooting: While wondering whatever happened to Les Miles. ... I learned that former All-CWS second baseman David Lowery owns an artificial turf company and still attends Longhorns games.
Meanwhile, from the movie theater
9. At the box office: Heard that Harrison Ford’s final installment of the high-adventure series “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” was panned by some critics and, yes with a $300 million budget, it was far too expensive to make and recoup much profit. But my wife and I enjoyed it, and I think it will do fine in streaming. Ford at 80 carries the day in this nostalgic nod to a terrific series. It’s far too silly at times, and it may not whip you into a frenzy like the others. But it’s entertaining enough but would have liked it to delve more into the time travel sequence. Gave it 7 ducks.
On his way to history
Crazy prediction: Novak Djokovic will win Wimbledon for his 24th Grand Slam title and will obliterate the record with 34 major titles.
Covering Big 12 media days
All 14 Big 12 schools will participate in the annual Big 12 media days over the next two days at AT&T Stadium in Arlington on Wednesday and Thursday, and American-Statesman staffers Kirk Bohls, Cedric Golden, Danny Davis, Thomas Jones, Caleb Yum and Sara Diggins will be there to cover it. Follow their week-long coverage on Hookem.com.
