Pac 12 - Texas Tech analytics - Printable Version
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Pac 12 - Texas Tech analytics - PermianPanthers - 07-26-2021
With all the speculation regarding conference realignment, thought I would provide some of you with a little more info regarding Texas Tech. You might find it interesting, or not ;)
Population & Alumni:
Texas Tech is the premier university of a vast geographic area including West Texas and half of New Mexico (the side that cares about sports). In landmass, this area is equivalent to the size of Utah, twice over. In population, the region is home to over 2.5 million people (roughly the same as Nevada). While that might not sound impressive at first glance, remember, this is football crazed West Texas. Not many high schools in other parts of the country can boast playing in front of 20,000 spectators - see Friday Night Lights. So audience engagement here is much higher than other places of the country.
Speaking of urban population, due to the remoteness of Lubbock, most alumni live in the closest metropolitan area, Dallas/Fort Worth. This should not come as a surprise, but Tech has more alumni in Dfw than any other power 5 school. This can be seen when Texas Tech plays Tcu in Fort Worth, half the stadium is wearing red (see on YouTube). Based off these population figures, adding Texas Tech to the Pac 12 is equivalent to adding New Mexico, the western part of Texas, and Tcu.
University:
Returning to the Tcu comparison, Texas Tech's enrollment of 40,000 is 4x larger than Tcu's at 10,000 (this helps explain the previous statement regarding Dfw market position). In addition to the main campus, the university has two medical schools, one law school, one veterinary school, and four sister schools. Being that Tech has a mission of bringing higher education to a brobdingnagian region, the national rankings do not accurately reflect the value of the institution. However, Tech maintains a respectable institutional endowment of $1.3 billion (similar to private schools like Baylor and Tcu albeit Tech is much younger).
Texas Tech is one of 86 public institutions classified as "Tier One" in the Very High Research Activity category according to Carnegie. The university also is ranked no. 41 among public research institutions with 349 doctoral degrees conferred in 2018, and with 72 National Merit Finalists enrolled, Texas Tech is among the top 50 nationally here as well. The beautiful Spanish Renaissance architecture on campus was described by author James A. Michener as the “most beautiful west of the Mississippi until you get to Stanford.” When it comes to both academics and atmosphere, Texas Tech places favorably among peers.
Athletics Program & Financials:
In 2019, Texas Tech finished 3rd in the men's Capitol One Cup, a trophy presented to the nation's top athletic program. The basketball team made the Elite 8 in consecutive years from 2018-2019, and played for the national championship two tournaments ago. The university arena, if added to the Pac 12, will become the largest in capacity at 15,100. The Red Raider baseball team has appeared in 4 of the last 7 College World Series. Tech track won a national championship in 2019, and numerous other athletic programs have won conference titles over the last decade (soccer, tennis, golf).
The football program, while it has been subpar recently, has still managed to appear in the AP Top 25 poll 12 of the last 19 seasons dating back to 2002. The all-time program record is 544 wins to 438 losses or (.570). Jones Stadium if placed among Pac 12 stadiums would become the 5th largest by capacity at 60,500. The 2018 NFL Mvp is a former Red Raider quarterback, and Texas Tech teams and players have claimed the largest number of offensive NCAA records over the last two decades. So the "Air Raid" brand is still viable and a marketable one. In 2018 Forbes ranked Texas Tech no. 25 among college football's most valuable teams, averaging a $31 million dollar annual profit over three consecutive seasons. Tech's athletic program if compared to the 60 or so power 5 teams, maintains a position somewhere in the middle as reflected by the numbers.