By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Each week, Big 12 coaches have their weekly meetings with the media at their press conferences during the college football season. Baylor head coach Dave Aranda’s comments have already been posted. Rankings are from the AP Poll. Here are some highlights elsewhere in the league. Quotes and notes are taken from those pressers if not specified elsewhere. All games are Saturday unless otherwise noted.
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech (4-3, 2-2) - The Red Raiders play host to Baylor: Obviously, a lot of emotions as McGuire faces his old program Saturday night. "There's going to be nerves before the game," he said. "I'm going to get to see a lot of buddies. I was part of recruiting about 95% of that roster, so I know those guys really well and care a lot about them, but it's a football game in the Big 12 that we need to go win."
"There's probably 10-plus people in this building that were at Baylor, that worked there last year," he said. "I told the players, 'You need to call us out if you think it is about (the former Baylor staffers). If it's anything else, we're going to put something that doesn't mean a whole lot in front of a team win."
Lance Leipold, Kansas (5-3, 2-3) – The Jayhawks have a bye: Leipold talked about the bye following the 35-23 loss to Baylor. “I don't know where so I'm making it up. But I would say it's one of the later open weeks in our country, I would say you know, so, but at the same time, you know, we have a conference game we too, would rather have it going up and then we have to auditions, if that was always offered as an option, but I definitely would. But, it’s not an off week. We’ve got a lot of work to do in a lot of different areas and things that we talk about and have to get better at.’’ Leipold said QB Jalon Daniels continues to make progress recovering from his shoulder injury.
Brent Venables, Oklahoma (4-3, 1-3) – The Sooners are at Iowa State: Through the Tulsa World, here are some of the details of Venables contract. Venables's salary breaks out to a $325,000 base, $6.075 million in "personal services" and a $600,000 payment toward his retirement fund. He will earn a $100,000 raise each Feb. 1.
Should Venables ever leave Oklahoma, he would owe $7 million through Jan. 31, 2023, $5 million through Jan. 31, 2024, $3 million through Jan. 31 of the following year, and then in amounts dropping $1 million per year, ending at $1 million through Jan. 31, 2027. The contract expires on Jan. 31, 2028.
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State (6-1, 3-1) – The No. 9 Cowboys are at Kansas State: Gundy talked about the state of coaching at this level. "Coaching, in my opinion, at this level is more challenging now and more important than it ever has been in dealing with personalities, coaches. 'How much money am I making? How long is my contract?' NIL, 'Why am I not playing? My parents said I need to go in the portal? How come I don't have more NIL money? It's a big challenge now. It's almost like being a general manager of an NFL team, would be my guess, because you're managing a lot of things and not a lot of football. That's what's different nowadays, in my opinion. Just from an outside looking in, I see inconsistencies and inexperience and things that can contribute to havoc based on all the different moving parts if you can't try to keep them all together at once. That's just my opinion.
"This stuff out here [on the field] is the easy stuff."
Neal Brown, West Virginia (3-4, 1-3) – The Mountaineers play host to TCU: There appeared to be some give up during West Virginia’s 48-10 loss at Texas Tech. "I can’t sit up here and say yay or nay, so I'll watch it,’’ Brown said. “I told them the same I'll tell you: Their asses will be held accountable to it, because there are a lot of things that we can tolerate. Not playing hard is not one of them. If people didn't play hard, their asses won't play next week, I can promise you that."
Chris Klieman, Kansas State (5-2, 3-1) – The Wildcats play host Oklahoma State: QB Adrian Martinez’s status for Saturday is up in the air. Meanwhile RB Deuce Vaughn has to be handled carefully during the week. Injuries are mounting. Yeah, I mean, it's part of it. I mean, sure. It's part of it's okay. I mean, that's why you got 85 . We got other guys who can come up and play we'll be okay. We're not gonna make excuses on who's playing injuries or not. We're gonna get them ready and we got a tough one against Oklahoma State. We'll be ready."
Matt Campbell, Iowa State (3-4, 0-4) – The Cyclones play host to Oklahoma: ISU may go more tempo with its offense. “I think we’ve got to continue to find the things that give our offense and our team the opportunities to have success. Obviously, we felt in this gameplan that it was certainly something that would give us some advantages. At times, it really did. All great things, that we’ll only continue to grow with. A lot of young pups playing on that offensive side. I think you saw a group that took a step forward, and we’ll need to continue to get better this week.”
Sonny Dykes, TCU (7-0, 4-0) – The No. 7 Horned Frogs play at West Virginia: While they are the sole leaders of the Big 12, Dykes likes what he isn’t hearing from his players. "I've kind of been waiting to start hearing some talk about ... conference standings or bowl games or rankings, and I just haven't heard it ever with this group," Dykes said. "I mean, never once. And that sounds absurd. I think the guys just have adopted that mentality of, 'Hey, let's just show up on Tuesday and have a good Tuesday practice.' I think these guys kind of buy into the whole thing."
Steve Sarkisian, Texas (5-3, 3-2) – The Longhorns have a bye: Sark made the big mistake of not staying for The Eyes of Texas following Saturday’s 41-34 loss at Oklahoma State. “I owe an apology to Longhorn Nation. I made a mistake at the end of the game in not singing the Eyes of Texas when the game was done. It was not anything intentional.
“It was not anything that had to do with our players. I think our players just followed me up the ramp into the locker room. Obviously upset by the way the game ended and literally walked off the field. So, I apologize to everybody for that. That will never happen again. But again, it was not intentional. It was not premeditated by any means. That was just a mistake on my part. It had nothing to do with the players. They just followed my lead on that. That won’t happen again.”
Publisher
Each week, Big 12 coaches have their weekly meetings with the media at their press conferences during the college football season. Baylor head coach Dave Aranda’s comments have already been posted. Rankings are from the AP Poll. Here are some highlights elsewhere in the league. Quotes and notes are taken from those pressers if not specified elsewhere. All games are Saturday unless otherwise noted.
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech (4-3, 2-2) - The Red Raiders play host to Baylor: Obviously, a lot of emotions as McGuire faces his old program Saturday night. "There's going to be nerves before the game," he said. "I'm going to get to see a lot of buddies. I was part of recruiting about 95% of that roster, so I know those guys really well and care a lot about them, but it's a football game in the Big 12 that we need to go win."
"There's probably 10-plus people in this building that were at Baylor, that worked there last year," he said. "I told the players, 'You need to call us out if you think it is about (the former Baylor staffers). If it's anything else, we're going to put something that doesn't mean a whole lot in front of a team win."
Lance Leipold, Kansas (5-3, 2-3) – The Jayhawks have a bye: Leipold talked about the bye following the 35-23 loss to Baylor. “I don't know where so I'm making it up. But I would say it's one of the later open weeks in our country, I would say you know, so, but at the same time, you know, we have a conference game we too, would rather have it going up and then we have to auditions, if that was always offered as an option, but I definitely would. But, it’s not an off week. We’ve got a lot of work to do in a lot of different areas and things that we talk about and have to get better at.’’ Leipold said QB Jalon Daniels continues to make progress recovering from his shoulder injury.
Brent Venables, Oklahoma (4-3, 1-3) – The Sooners are at Iowa State: Through the Tulsa World, here are some of the details of Venables contract. Venables's salary breaks out to a $325,000 base, $6.075 million in "personal services" and a $600,000 payment toward his retirement fund. He will earn a $100,000 raise each Feb. 1.
Should Venables ever leave Oklahoma, he would owe $7 million through Jan. 31, 2023, $5 million through Jan. 31, 2024, $3 million through Jan. 31 of the following year, and then in amounts dropping $1 million per year, ending at $1 million through Jan. 31, 2027. The contract expires on Jan. 31, 2028.
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State (6-1, 3-1) – The No. 9 Cowboys are at Kansas State: Gundy talked about the state of coaching at this level. "Coaching, in my opinion, at this level is more challenging now and more important than it ever has been in dealing with personalities, coaches. 'How much money am I making? How long is my contract?' NIL, 'Why am I not playing? My parents said I need to go in the portal? How come I don't have more NIL money? It's a big challenge now. It's almost like being a general manager of an NFL team, would be my guess, because you're managing a lot of things and not a lot of football. That's what's different nowadays, in my opinion. Just from an outside looking in, I see inconsistencies and inexperience and things that can contribute to havoc based on all the different moving parts if you can't try to keep them all together at once. That's just my opinion.
"This stuff out here [on the field] is the easy stuff."
Neal Brown, West Virginia (3-4, 1-3) – The Mountaineers play host to TCU: There appeared to be some give up during West Virginia’s 48-10 loss at Texas Tech. "I can’t sit up here and say yay or nay, so I'll watch it,’’ Brown said. “I told them the same I'll tell you: Their asses will be held accountable to it, because there are a lot of things that we can tolerate. Not playing hard is not one of them. If people didn't play hard, their asses won't play next week, I can promise you that."
Chris Klieman, Kansas State (5-2, 3-1) – The Wildcats play host Oklahoma State: QB Adrian Martinez’s status for Saturday is up in the air. Meanwhile RB Deuce Vaughn has to be handled carefully during the week. Injuries are mounting. Yeah, I mean, it's part of it. I mean, sure. It's part of it's okay. I mean, that's why you got 85 . We got other guys who can come up and play we'll be okay. We're not gonna make excuses on who's playing injuries or not. We're gonna get them ready and we got a tough one against Oklahoma State. We'll be ready."
Matt Campbell, Iowa State (3-4, 0-4) – The Cyclones play host to Oklahoma: ISU may go more tempo with its offense. “I think we’ve got to continue to find the things that give our offense and our team the opportunities to have success. Obviously, we felt in this gameplan that it was certainly something that would give us some advantages. At times, it really did. All great things, that we’ll only continue to grow with. A lot of young pups playing on that offensive side. I think you saw a group that took a step forward, and we’ll need to continue to get better this week.”
Sonny Dykes, TCU (7-0, 4-0) – The No. 7 Horned Frogs play at West Virginia: While they are the sole leaders of the Big 12, Dykes likes what he isn’t hearing from his players. "I've kind of been waiting to start hearing some talk about ... conference standings or bowl games or rankings, and I just haven't heard it ever with this group," Dykes said. "I mean, never once. And that sounds absurd. I think the guys just have adopted that mentality of, 'Hey, let's just show up on Tuesday and have a good Tuesday practice.' I think these guys kind of buy into the whole thing."
Steve Sarkisian, Texas (5-3, 3-2) – The Longhorns have a bye: Sark made the big mistake of not staying for The Eyes of Texas following Saturday’s 41-34 loss at Oklahoma State. “I owe an apology to Longhorn Nation. I made a mistake at the end of the game in not singing the Eyes of Texas when the game was done. It was not anything intentional.
“It was not anything that had to do with our players. I think our players just followed me up the ramp into the locker room. Obviously upset by the way the game ended and literally walked off the field. So, I apologize to everybody for that. That will never happen again. But again, it was not intentional. It was not premeditated by any means. That was just a mistake on my part. It had nothing to do with the players. They just followed my lead on that. That won’t happen again.”
