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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 2, 2011Kirby HocuttCHANCELLOR KENT HANCE: Thank you for the turnout. This is excellent. On behalf of the people of West Texas, I just want to tell the Hocutts, today's not a very good day of weather; this is one of our worst days. Thank God you weren't here Sunday. We'll get his family all seated. And we're happy to have them, a lot of future Red Raiders. On behalf of Texas Tech, this is a very joyous occasion for us to announce our new Athletic Director. Kirby Hocutt is an outstanding individual. We had a process that we went through. And we picked one of the great candidates that would ever come up. I think one of the selling points to me -- I talked to Bill Snyder, head coach at Kansas State. He could not have said enough good things about Kirby Hocutt. So we appreciate that. We do have two of our regents here John Scovell and John Steinmetz. We appreciate them being here. And I'm not going to start introducing people other than that because it would take a long time. But we're excited about this. Our athletic program has done well, and I'd be remiss if I did not say a special thanks to Gerald Myers for the outstanding job he's done. We have our facilities are, if not the best, we're close to being the very best in the country. And at this time I want to turn the program over to our president, Dr. Guy Bailey. (Applause) DR. GUY BAILEY: Chancellor, thank you so much. And thank you for your support and help throughout this entire process. It's been absolutely crucial to us and important to us. I want to thank you for being here today. This is a great day in the history of Texas Tech University and one I'm very proud to be associated with. Before I get started, I have a couple of gifts. Kirby, I have for you and for both of you. As Chancellor Hance said, we went through a process. There was great interest in this job. And we found one candidate that we thought was head and shoulders above everybody else. You know about his background, and it's there in the press release. He's a sitting AD at a BCS school. He's had six years of experience as an AD. He was an associate AD at the University of Oklahoma. He has a lot of experience in that respect. He worked for the NCAA. Before that, he was a player at Kansas State University, and all Big Eight, remember, before the Big 12, I think he led the Big Eight in tackles one year. And before that, a native of Sherman, Texas. He had everything we wanted: BCS experience, experience as a sitting AD, experience in the Big 12, Texas roots, experience as a fundraiser, everything we could have wanted. Kirby Hocutt, I think, is prepared to take us to the next level. As the Chancellor said, Gerald Myers has done great things for us. We're in a great position because of what he's done. And I think Kirby is the ideal person to take us to the next level. Without further ado, I introduce you to Kirby Hocutt. (Applause) KIRBY HOCUTT: Thank you. Good afternoon. And it's an honor to be with you this afternoon. I'll tell you, we've been looking forward to this for a long time. And it is with great pleasure that I formally accept the position as Athletic Director at Texas Tech. I'm so excited to come home to the great state of Texas, and have to say I have been so impressed and overwhelmed by the extremely warm welcome that we have received from the entire Texas Tech family, from the e-mails to the tweets that I've received over the last three or four days, it's been tremendous. I was born in San Antonio, Texas, grew up in North Texas, and I spent my whole life here, prior to leaving for college. And it's been 21 years since I left. And it's so great to be able to come home and to raise my family in my native state, and we're looking forward to it. I had a surprise just out in the hallway. One of my good friends from high school, Bill Wiley, a proud Texas Tech graduate, surprised me, flew in for this this morning. I appreciate you being here. I want to thank Chancellor Hance, President Bailey for that very kind introduction and their support and opportunity they've afforded me here. When I had the opportunity to see the passion, the desire for comprehensive athletic excellence that President Bailey, Chancellor Hance, the members of the board of regents had for intercollegiate athletics, I knew this was an opportunity I could not pass up. And I want to thank each of them for welcoming into this position. The desire to be the very best in everything that we do, the desire to compete for championships, is something that we share. And it's a shared commitment that I look forward to pursuing each and every day and to working with each and every one of you as we pursue here in Lubbock, Texas. Speaking of championships and excellence, I had an opportunity last night to have a dinner at Jones AT&T Stadium. And I'll tell you, there's not a finer football facility, a stadium, in this country, as Chancellor Hans mentioned. The facilities that I've had an opportunity to see, that we sit in here today, is tremendous and speaks to the vision of excellence and the vision of championships that is here at Texas Tech University. I've also had a chance last night and today to meet some members of our athletic staff. I had an opportunity this morning to meet with all of our head coaches, and I look forward to working with them in the months and the years to come to continue the great work that they're doing here at Texas Tech. And I, too, would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the long history, the tremendous success that Gerald Myers has had here at Texas Tech. Coach, I look forward to building a relationship with you. And I know that in the months and the years to come I will benefit greatly from your counsel and your assistance. And I want Gerald Myers and Carol, his wife, to know that they have an open invitation to anything that we do here within this athletics family. They've had tremendous, tremendous success here and will be a part of this athletics program forever. And I look forward to getting to know Gerald Myers better. I spent the last 21 years involved in intercollegiate athletics, five as a student-athlete, 16 in administration. And I've had many great experiences, and I've learned many lessons. One of the lessons that I've learned is to keep speeches and situations like this short and brief and to the point. So with that in mind, I want to take just a few minutes to share with you four thoughts that I have as I come to Lubbock, Texas, as I begin my transition to Texas Tech University and then happy to open it up to questions. My first thought is that we will work each and every day to be the best intercollegiate athletics program in the state of Texas. We'll work harder and smarter than all of our competitors and we will put our coaches and our student-athletes and our programs in a position to have success. Being the best in Texas will position us at the top of the Big 12 conference. Being at the top of the Big 12 conference puts us in a position for national prominence. My second thought is we will continue to pursue comprehensive excellence in all that we do. As I was talking to Chancellor Hance, to President Bailey, to members of the board about this tremendous opportunity, it became very evident that great things are happening in Lubbock, Texas. We'll continue to be proactive in pursuing our path to excellence in all of our business endeavors, we will embrace the mindset of excellence. We'll make sure that we have our plans in place as an athletics department to guide us and to ensure that we're in alignment with this great university, and we will continue to make sure we're in alignment with the fulfillment of the educational mission of Texas Tech University. And most importantly, the well-being of our student-athletes will always -- will always -- remain our focal point. My third point, third thought for the day, as I make this transition, is that we will be champions in everything that we do. We will be champions in the classroom. We will continue to be champions in the community. And we will be champions in competition. We will continue to pursue national championships and hold ourselves to the highest of standards. My fourth thought is, as we focus on -- that we will be committed to focusing on and continuing to build healthy relationships with all of our stakeholders. We have a great story to tell in intercollegiate athletics. We have extremely talented young men and women representing us in intercollegiate athletics. We must share that story. We must share our successes, be proactive in our communication, be proactive in our marketing and make sure that our constituents know the great things that are happening within the Texas Tech athletic family. While we'll be proactive in communicating in marketing we'll embrace, continue to embrace a stewardship mentality in all of our affairs. And in doing that we'll be continuing to build relationships and inviting those to come in and share in our experiences and to invest into the future of Texas Tech athletics. My four thoughts: Texas, excellence, champions, healthy relationships, if you take the first letter of each of those four words you get TECH. Texas, excellence, champions, healthy relationships. It's an honor to accept this tremendous opportunity. I look forward to getting to Lubbock, to getting to know each and every one of you, to settling in. And the first thing I'll do is I'll listen. I'll listen to our staff, our coaches. I'll listen to our key constituent groups. And in doing so we'll be strengthening our relationships with each of those groups. And then we'll begin outlining and formulating our plans for the future. So in closing, I want to again thank President Bailey and Chancellor Hance. I want to thank the members of our board of regents for this tremendous, tremendous opportunity. It's a pleasure to be with you. Thank you for being here today. And we're going to share many great times and many successes together. And I look forward to celebrating those with each of you. Before we open it up for questions, I would be remiss if I did not share with you and introduce to you what's most important to me. And that is my family. Diane is here. And Diane and I have known each other for 15 years. And we've been married for 12. (Applause) And we've got two beautiful, beautiful boys. Drew, who is nine years old. He's in the third grade. And Brooks, who is six years old. Brooks is in the first grade. And when we told them about this opportunity that we had and this move that we would be making as a family -- they're baseball players. In Miami, you play baseball year-round, and that's a sport they've really gravitated to. So their first question was: How is the baseball team at Texas Tech? So I told Coach Spencer this morning that I've got two future Red Raiders for him. We're excited to be here. And I'm also very fortunate this morning, over the course of my life, to have the support of my great parents, Larry and Karen Hocutt, are here, and appreciate them being here. And then my sister, Wendy, and her two girls, Addy and Logan, are with us. This is coming home for me. This is where we want to put roots down. This is where we want to raise our family. And for those of you, you know, it's Texas. And to be back in the state of Texas, to be at Texas Tech University, is tremendous. And I appreciate again the opportunity. I look forward to getting to know each of you and we say: Guns up. Right? Guns up. (Applause) I'm happy to answer any questions or anything that anybody may have. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Can you talk about -- it seems hard, whether it be nationally or people in Miami to wrap their head around, but why Texas Tech? KIRBY HOCUTT: Well, it's what I said. It's home. And it's a chance for me to come to be part of a program that has so many positive things that are going on. I was sitting with Coach Myers this morning, and he was sharing with me -- I believe the figure he said -- I didn't write it down -- but since 1996, I think over $200 million of investment into the athletic facilities here at Texas Tech university. As I had a chance to meet with the President and with the Chancellor and heard of all the great things that are going with the growth in research at Texas Tech, with the tremendous philanthropic success that's been achieved here, even in the last year, ranking No. 2 in the Big 12 conference for the philanthropic support to the university, there are great things going on here. To come back, to be a part of the Big 12 conference, to be a part of an athletic program that is doing great things, is on the cusp of making itself known nationally, was a tremendous, tremendous opportunity. For me it was coming home and being a part of something that is truly special and is in a position really to take off. Q. Since we're introducing you today, are you officially taking over the day-to-day duties as athletic director today, or is that a process still? KIRBY HOCUTT: It's still a process. We're in a period of transition. President Bailey and I spoke yesterday. And there's still a couple of things at the University of Miami that I've been asked to oversee. So I want to finish those. At the same time, we're excited to get here. So I would anticipate, although he and I still have to finalize it, coming onboard the latter part of the month of March. So hopefully the middle to the latter part of March I would be here full time. Q. Can you talk about, once you do get on campus, what that transition period's going to be like, what do you anticipate? I know Coach Myers' contract is officially up the end of May. How is the transition going to work? KIRBY HOCUTT: Well, it will be exciting for me, personally. And I look forward to getting here. I look forward to getting to know the people of Texas Tech, getting to know the people of Lubbock. I look forward to getting to know our coaches, getting to know our administration and our staff, and really understanding and learning about what's been done here and what foundation is set right now and what plans are in place for the future. And then, working together, we will lay out the course of our future. So, for me, I'll come in and I'll listen. I'll do a lot of listening from all the constituent groups, then begin formulating plans or ideas of setting the vision for the future. Q. Will you meet with each coach individually and evaluate their program and going forward and where they stand on each thing like that? KIRBY HOCUTT: Yeah, I'll come in and meet with each individual coach separately. I had a chance to meet with them as a group today. And as I told them collectively, nobody has a greater influence on a young person's life during their four or five years here in Lubbock than our head coaches and our assistant coaches. And these are role models. They're educators, they're professors that we call coach. And their positions are so important and critical to our success. So I look forward to getting to know them and setting the goals for our future for each program. Q. Can you talk a little bit more about taking over for someone like Coach Myers has been associated with Texas Tech for decades? KIRBY HOCUTT: It's a tremendous, tremendous honor. Also, it's a tremendous opportunity for me to come in and to get to know somebody who has had a 50-year career at one university. That doesn't happen very often in these days and these times. But to come in and to build a relationship with coach, you know, you think as time as a student-athlete and then coaching and then administration, as the athletics director, what a tremendous, tremendous career. So big shoes to fill. At the same time, I look forward to building a relationship with him and seeking his counsel and getting to know him as a person. I mean, you talk about tremendous institutional knowledge and ideas and thoughts and what's been done here, what I've seen in the last 12 hours since -- 24 hours since I've been on campus, getting to have dinner last night in the stadium, getting to walk around the athletic facilities a little bit today, I mean, tremendous points of pride and areas to be proud of here in Lubbock. I look forward to building a relationship with him, excited about that. Q. While you were playing there at Kansas State, what was it that led you to want to go into athletic administration versus, say, coaching; and in the last 20 years, even longer, who have been your biggest influences? KIRBY HOCUTT: Well, when I was finished playing, I had a tremendous experience as a student-athlete. And I wanted to remain in the profession. And I saw that we had 17 sport programs. And all sports worked just as hard and put the same amount of time in as we did on the football field. And a lot of times the other sports would not get the exposure or the attention that we did as a football program. And I looked at administration as a way to give back collectively to intercollegiate athletics, to stay involved and make sure that young men and women that were participating in all sports had the same opportunities and had the same type of experience that I did and just felt that that was the avenue that I wanted to pursue and haven't regretted a day of it. The biggest influences professionally for me over the last 20 years, you know, probably two individuals. One, Chuck Neinas, right after I graduated from Kansas State, I interned with the College Football Association. Unfortunately, it doesn't exist anymore. But I interned with Chuck for about 14, 15 months, and built a great relationship with him, and he's somebody who has helped me professionally every step along the way. And probably the most significant mentor I've had professionally has been Joe Castiglione, the Athletics Director at Oklahoma. I think the best athletic director in the country. I worked with and for Joe for seven years, and he took me under his wing and really gave me professional advancement opportunities and has been a true friend and mentor for me. So those are the two individuals that I would say have helped me throughout my professional career. Q. Obviously Texas Tech is moving in the right direction in a lot of ways. But what would you point out as some of your emphasis of things that you would like to change or maybe improve on, and maybe some of your first duties on the job once you are here officially? KIRBY HOCUTT: That's a good question. But it's a question that I don't think I can answer until I get here and spend some time and get to know our people. I want us to be one of the premier intercollegiate athletic programs in the country. Every arena, every stadium that we compete in has a scoreboard. Winning is important or we wouldn't keep score. We want to win and win the right way and do things the right way. And I want to continue to work with these coaches, with these administrators and the university to build a premier intercollegiate athletics program that is nationally recognized across the country. So it's hard for me to talk details until I get here and spend some time in Lubbock. Q. What's your assessment of Tech compared to the other schools in Texas as you want to make Tech number one in the state? KIRBY HOCUTT: I'll say this: I think I've experienced that the Texas Tech alumni base and graduates are as passionate and supportive of Texas Tech University as any university I've seen in the country in Texas, or across. The passion, excitement has been tremendous. So I think, you know, we've got to continue to advance. And the media age we live in today is so different than it was five years ago. We've got to use those social media channels, we've got to use creative methods to get our brand, to get our message out there, so that our alumni base, our fan base can get our message, get our product directly from us. We've got to be proactive in communicating with our fan base. And I think that will continue to provide that engagement. And then continue to invite them back. There's nothing more important than them being back here seven Saturdays a year in this football stadium to support these young men. There's nothing more important than this community being right here in this arena to support these young men and women as they compete in basketball and in baseball and in volleyball and all of these arenas. It's a teamwork effort. We need the West Texas community, we need the Lubbock community to support the Red Raiders. I know they do, and we've got to continue to strengthen and enhance those partnerships. Q. What do you see your job being? I know that the title says Director of Athletics. But in your mind, can you define that from whether it's fundraising or it's deciding if we're going to play a game in Dallas, or how it's going to work with conference realignment, how do you see your job working? KIRBY HOCUTT: At the end of the day, the two gentlemen sitting here have delegated to me, entrusted me with the day-to-day guidance and direction and leadership of this intercollegiate athletics program. And it's my job to make sure that we have a solid foundation, that we have the plans in place to guide us in the future, and that we have the correct team here to guide us into the future. So everything that you said is a part of it. I think there's nothing greater than operating with integrity in all of our affairs in everything we do from continuing the tremendous commitment of rules compliance and commitment that has been here to continuing the investment into our resources and our program that's been done here since 1996 and before with the facilities and the staff, to making sure that we continue to engage and invite those that have graduated from this great university and those in this community back to engage with us. So it's setting the course for the future and making sure we have all the appropriate pieces in place to move forward to where we become a nationally relevant, on the tip of everybody's tongue across this country, a recognizable intercollegiate athletics program. Q. I was sitting here next to Coach Tuberville, who likes to talk about defense. Have you noticed that about him? And we heard that you led the Big Eight in tackles. He wanted me to ask you this question: Do you have any eligibility left? (Laughter) KIRBY HOCUTT: Thank you for being here and your support. And as I mentioned to somebody, I think I got pretty good that year of pushing people out of bounds or jumping on a pile after somebody had been tackled for the coach to give me the mark. I had a great experience as a student-athlete. And we had a lot of fun. And I look forward to coming here. And obviously the excitement that Coach Tuberville has brought to our football program, what he's achieved in his first year was tremendous. And there's nobody in this country that has had more success as a head football coach than the man we have at Texas Tech University. And I look forward to supporting him to come in and building that relationship and continuing to take Texas Tech football higher and higher. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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