Texas Tech University Athletics
A New Frontier
October 18, 2014 | Football
The landscape of collegiate athletics is changing by the day.
BY NICK KOSMIDER
Special to TexasTech.com
The landscape of intercollege athletics is constantly changing, but Kirby Hocutt can't remember any period in his career that has seen the kind of widespread evolution that is on horizon.
"We're in the midst of a pretty significant landscape shift when it comes to intercollegiate athletics," the Texas Tech Director of Athletics said. "As we talk about the future, how are we structured to best meet the needs of our student-athletes?"
In August, the NCAA voted to approve autonomy for the five high-visibility conferences in intercollegiate athletics -- the Big 12, ACC, Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12. The move allows those conferences and their member schools to form their own regulations on various student-athlete matters, including but not limited to cost-of-attendance scholarships, insurance benefits for student-athletes, recruiting rules and training time for individual sports.
In short, power-conference schools like Texas Tech will have more of a say in how to provide the best opportunities -- educationally, developmentally, athletically and otherwise -- to all student-athletes who step on campus.
Various items are currently being discussed and worked through by athletic directors and the commissioners of those five conferences, with voting on new rules set to take place at the NCAA Convention in January.
Hocutt said a major topic of discussion has been providing for scholarship student-athletes a cost-of-attendance stipend. Currently a scholarship provides funds to cover tuition, room and board, books and fees. A cost-of-attendance scholarship would help fill in any missing gaps to help student-athletes get the most out of their educational and athletic experiences.
In April, the NCAA deregulated restrictions on meal plans and student-athletes, giving schools their own control, to a certain extent, over the nutritional opportunities they can provide to their student-athletes. Texas Tech has taken advantage, through a partnership with the Alumni Association, by offering a "Hot A.M. snack" in the Fraizer Alumni Pavilion every weekday morning. The grab-and-go items -- such as breakfast sandwiches and instant oatmeal -- are designed to provide a quick, yet substantial, jolt to student-athletes as they begin their day.
Texas Tech and Sports Nutrition Director Dayna McCutchin also work with Top Tier Catering to provide the best possible nutritional options during the lunch hour to help student-athletes optimize their fullest physical and mental capabilities.
Texas Tech has taken its nutrition plan even further by bolstering their fueling stations, located at all strength-and-conditioning facilities, that provide post-workout nutritional shakes, sandwiches, fruits, nuts and nutritional bars for student-athletes to again help them maximize their abilities.
"We're very proud of what we've been able to do," Hocutt said of the comprehensive nutrition plan. That plan is just one example of how Texas Tech is seeking to enhance opportunities for its student-athletes in every way possible. The autonomy measures will further allow Texas Tech and its fellow high-visibility conference schools the chance to decide for themselves how to best improve those student-athlete experiences.
"I'm confident that the items on the autonomy docket for the NCAA Convention in January will establish a new covenant with our student-athletes," Hocutt said. "It will be a new relationship with those student-athletes we serve and an opportunity to further enhance their experience as a student-athlete while pursuing and receiving their degrees. I hope that we don't lose sight of the fact that as we form this new covenant, at the end of the day it's all about education. It's all about receiving that college degree."
-- Kirby Hocutt
One aspect Hocutt enjoys most about his position at Texas Tech is the opportunity to hear and learn from student-athletes about their own experiences, what they enjoy and what could make their time even better. Last week, Hocutt attended a meeting of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, a group that represents each of the school's 17 athletic teams. Eighty student-athletes were on hand at the meeting Hocutt attended, a huge representation of the overall Red Raider student-athlete population taking a proactive approach to their own college experiences.
"I continue to be impressed and inspired by our student-athletes here at our university every time I'm around them," Hocutt said. "A significant part of the discussion revolved around professional development and what opportunities there are to prepare them for success after college. They recognize that our goal is to be the very best athletic program in this country and that we want to compete and achieve at the highest levels. At the same time, I believe we can be the absolute best program in this country by preparing our young people for success after college in whatever degree field they choose."
With rule shifts on the horizon, education becomes paramount. Coaches and student-athletes must be made keenly aware of how changes in rules and policies affect their programs. That's where the Texas Tech compliance department comes in. The staff has numerous ways of providing that important instruction, Texas Tech Associate Director of Compliance Jennifer Brashear said.
"We meet with our coaches in a couple of small groups in person once a month," she said. "We do that, as well, with our student-athletes, and we call that educational program `Quick Hits.' Once a month we go out to their venues and visit with them about the rules that are going to relate to them at that specific time period and give them a chance to ask us questions."
In addition, the staff holds sessions with coaches four times per semester for interactive quizzes taken with their iPhones that test the retention of knowledge of NCAA rules. "They're very engaged with that," Brashear said.
With the opportunity for improvements on the horizon, and the proper systems in place to handle them, Hocutt has an optimistic view on the future.
"I think it provides an opportunity," he said, "for intercollegiate athletics to change for the better."
