Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt was in Dallas on Wednesday for an event with program supporters and sat down with FOX Sports Southwest, as well as reporters from the Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The former K-State linebacker and longtime college administrator has made stops at Oklahoma, the NCAA, Ohio and Miami before taking the job at Texas Tech. On Monday, he was announced as the Big 12's representative on the College Football Playoff selection committee, replacing former West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck.
This is a portion of his interview, covering his brand-new title.
I bet you've gotten very popular very quickly.
I'm excited about it. I feel very honored that commissioner Bowlsby asked me to serve in this capacity and appreciate the support and endorsement from the Big 12 athletic directors and presidents, so continue to work hard and look forward to being a part of a distinguised group that just got brought down one notch by my addition into the group.
So what does the appointment process look like? Who initiates contact or interest? Can you walk through that?
Commissioner Bowlsby reached out a number of weeks ago and asked about my interest in serving in this capacity and in this role and wanted me to give it some thought and consideration. Of course, immediately, I said absolutely. If that's his decision, I'd be excited to serve in this role.
I visited with Diane, my wife, about it and made sure she understood the travel and the time commitment and visited with my boss, President (M. Duane) Nellis, to make sure he would be supportive of it from a campus perspective and told commissioner Bowlsby, "Absolutely" if he deemed that was the right decision, I would welcome the opportunity.
We were in Dallas last Thursday and Friday for Big 12 AD, president, legal counsel, government relation folks meeting and he pulled me aside after the meeting and shared he was going to make his recommendation and selection to the presidents on Friday and he called me Friday at about 6 o'clock and said they endorsed his selection and went forward from there, so it went fast.
Is there a vote that has to happen between the presidents and ADs or is it just conversations?
It's commissioner Bowlsby. It's Bob's decision and I tell you, we feel so fortunate to have Bob leading us at this time. We couldn't have a better commissioner sitting in that chair for us from a national perspective.
What's your biggest issue in joining the committee?
It's probably the anticipation and the unknown. When you haven't gone through something and it's such a public process and you're joining such a distinguised group of individuals, the anticipation will be something I look forward to. For me to sit here and not believe that it's going to require and adjustment of my schedule and my calendar, I'd be fooling myself. I had a chance to visit with Bill Hancock at length yesterday and it's going to be a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday full-time commitment on those three days of the week and attention the other four days. It's going to require an adjustment of my schedule and my calendar, but I knew that going in. I feel comfortable that we've got the staff and coaches in place that we can move Texas Tech forward at the pace that we have and still be able to give appropriate attention to the CFP process.
Was deciding to be on board something you had no reservations about or did you have to talk to people and weigh it yourself?
I wanted to immediately. I just wanted to make sure my wife was comfortable and my boss was comfortable. After that, I was both feet in. When commissioner Bowlsby called me I was excited about the opportunity and the possibility and it was definitely something I wanted to do.
And if there isn't a conflict with one of your sports, you're probably watching a game anyway.
I can't watch enough college football. You find yourself disappointed when the season is over. There's nothing that I would rather do. I grew up dreaming about playing college football at a big time level and I only had one Division I offer and that was to go to Kansas State. At that time, Kansas State was known as Futility U, the worst college program in America. And to be able to play in the Big Eight Conference, I just love it. To watch more college football, I couldn't be more excited to do that.
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