Topic: Big XII Media Days

[gochneaur645]

I had the opportunity to cover the Big XII media days in Dallas on Monday and Tuesday for Reddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/cfb) so I thought I'd share some of the more interesting details here.

For me, the highlight was getting to talk to Jim Grobe. If there's a guy who can pull Baylor out of their mess, it's gotta be him. One of the first things he mentioned at his press conference was that he was a WV hillbilly with the belief that if it ain't broke, don't fix it (in regard to Art Briles' aggressive style of coaching).

When I got to speak to him personally, it just happened to be right as somebody covering WVU (blogger, I think?) was talking to him. They spoke about the late Bill Stewart, who Grobe obviously had a fondness for and shared a love of golf with (both of them were on Marshall's staff in 1980). I of course knew he was from Huntington, and he seemed to be really excited to talk to someone else from the area. He had a lot of great things to say about Marshall (his son is our golf coach for those who don't know). He called me and the WVU guy his fellow hillbillies and asked if we were wearing shoes. Also found out he graduated from the old HHS the same year as my dad.

I also got to talk briefly to Bill Snyder who is every bit as awesome and courteous in real life as you would imagine. A college-aged guy was interviewing him and then asked to take a picture with him because his own grandfather was such a huge fan and it would mean a lot to him so of course Snyder obliged, and I offered to take their picture for him.

Iowa State WR Allen Lazard was my favorite player interview. He's first team Preseason Big XII and a breakout superstar in the making, and so is their new coach, Matt Campbell from Toledo. Campbell has been a winner everywhere he's been as player and coach, and I think he's going to turn them into something good much sooner than you would think.

As far as WVU was concerned, I let one of our other guys handle interviews with them because I wanted to stay as objective as possible. Plus it's much easier to hate the enemy if you don't get to know them personally  ;)  I will say that Holgorsen's press conference was more interesting than most. He gives good honest answers. I was surprised he had water at the podium instead of Red Bull.

I was also able to sit in on the conference call at the end of the day Tuesday regarding expansion. Bowlsby and Boren were careful to say all the right things, but reading between the lines, it's pretty obvious they're looking to expand. Whether it's by 2 or 4 seems totally up in the air. They said having it done for 2017 is theoretically possible but also that the process could take years.

Former C-USA commish Britton Banowsky was there to give a short speech on behalf of the CFP Foundation, of which he is now Executive Director. It was only about their mission to raise money to combat the nation's teacher shortage. Those who remember him as bumbling will find it funny that it took him awhile to get the microphone on.

Finally, Mike Gundy now has a mullet, and it is amazing.

[coalherd]

Interesting stuff, gochneaur645.  Only comment is that I saw a close up pic of Holgs at the podium during his spiel.  Despite well dressed, he sported a 2 day+ growth of whiskers.  So I surmise that his "handlers" managed to ply him with enough black coffee and suited him up so he could get through his presentation time reasonably "sober" and coherent.   Imagine he then spent the rest of his time in Big D trying NOT to fall off the stools at various watering holes!! :)