Texas Tech University Athletics
Kirby's K-State Connection
October 14, 2011 | Football
Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt will reunite with K-State head football coach Bill Snyder this weekend. Hocutt played for Snyder for four years during one of the greatest turnarounds in college football history.
Oct. 14, 2011
by Britton Drown
Texas Tech Athletics Communications
Sitting at a circular table inside his office at Jones AT&T Stadium, Texas Tech athletics director Kirby Hocutt reflects with little difficulty upon his career and the foundations with which it has been built upon. He leans back, glances through the windows onto a pristine view of the south end zone, and begins the story.
For him, it all starts with the simple, yet powerful lessons he learned on a football field far away from the one he now looks out upon. Hocutt was a lightly recruited linebacker from Sherman, Texas in 1990 and found himself with just a single scholarship offer to play Division I college football. That one offer came from a head coach nearly 500 miles away in Manhattan, Kan.
Under a year into his position at Texas Tech, those invaluable lessons still firmly stick with Hocutt.
 | "The lessons that we learned were incredible, and lessons that still impact who I am today, and what I do today." |
"The lessons that we learned were incredible, and lessons that still impact who I am today, and what I do today." Hocutt recalls.
They were part of a vision. Like many of the players on the K-State squad, Hocutt was overlooked by several Division-1 programs.
"He (Snyder) was having to recruit, what I would define as overachievers." Hocutt said. "Guys who were not fast enough, were not tall enough, were not getting scholarship offers at other Division I-A schools. He was bringing these undersized, not as talented young men in, and developing them through his program and the assistant coaches he had around him."
When Hocutt arrived, K-State was an ailing football team. Sports Illustrated gave the program the infamous label of "Futility U" in 1989-- a year after Snyder took over as head coach. At the time, K-State was the only Division-1 college football program to have amassed 500 losses, and had just one bowl appearance in 93 seasons.
But Hocutt, a linebacker with a reputation of being a disciplined and committed player, bought into Snyder's system early.
"He was a hard worker," Snyder said. "[He was] very responsible and accountable and the kind of guy that you really felt comfortable would come in and give every effort that he could to continually get himself better and he did that."
 Kirby Hocutt (45) led the Big 8 in tackles during his junior season at K-State under head coach Bill Snyder. | |
That vision was contagious, and suddenly Hocutt and the Wildcats started winning.
"(Snyder) had a vision on where he could take the Kansas State football program, and he had a great group of assistant coaches around him," Hocutt said. "You saw the steps that we took each year. We celebrated the incremental improvements that we made."
Hocutt certainly made improvements himself. He led the Big 8 Conference in tackles during his junior season. However, the biggest step Hocutt and the Wildcats took was during the 1993 season when Kansas State reached the Copper Bowl. The Wildcats beat Wyoming 52-17 in Tucson, Ariz. for their first bowl win in school history.
"That was huge for Kansas State," Hocutt said. "I'll never forget running out onto that field and seeing the amount of purple that was in that stadium, and how excited the community and the university was to celebrate that success. It was special."
Now, Hocutt has taken those lessons, and the experiences he had as a part of the remarkable turnaround at Kansas State, and transitioned into a rising leader in college athletics.
Hocutt remained at K-State after his playing career to serve as the director of marketing and promotions. He then spent seven years at the University of Oklahoma where he led the Sooners' athletic fundraising to an all-time high in annual giving, increasing gifts by 400 percent.
"All of the things that made him a very fine player have served him well in administration," Snyder said.
Hocutt landed his first director of athletics position at Ohio University, and later was hired at Miami (Fla.) in 2008 where he oversaw $26 million in project renovations and helped the Hurricanes to a program-best Graduation Success Rate in 2010.
Now Hocutt is set to make the same impact at Tech.
"To have this opportunity to come back to my home state, to come to an athletics program that has had incredible success, to have the opportunity to raise my family in a community with the values and size of Lubbock, Texas is all I could ask for." Hocutt said. "It means a lot to be here at Texas Tech."
And on Saturday, Hocutt will be reunited with Snyder when Texas Tech hosts Kansas State at Jones AT&T Stadium.
"It means a lot," Hocutt added. "Because I have learned through that [experience], that anything is possible."
