Big 12 media days in Frisco gave the league plenty to chew on, but one storyline kept hanging over everything else: Texas Tech and the Brendan Sorsby gambling scandal. That mess still has a long shadow, and it was impossible to miss how much oxygen it took up while coaches, players and commissioner Brett Yormark worked the room at The Star on July 7-8.
Yormark mostly ducked the sharpest questions tied to the situation, while Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire did address it and pushed the conversation toward what comes next. There was also talk of tension with other schools, including chatter about not playing Tech, which only added more heat to a story that does not look close to fading. The simplest read from Lubbock: if anyone needs motivation, the Red Raiders just found some.
The other big headline from Frisco came off the field entirely. Yormark announced a multiyear Monster Energy partnership that reportedly brings in $20 million annually and turns Monster into the entitlement sponsor for the Big 12 football and basketball regular seasons.
That means jersey patches, field and court branding, and the “Monster Energy Big 12” label. It’s a real money play, and it sparked the usual split reaction - more revenue on one side, more “NASCAR-ization” talk on the other.
The league probably should have squeezed more out of the deal, especially when UNLV reportedly landed its own $2 million jersey patch arrangement. Some people will make noise about BYU wearing a Monster patch because the drinks contain caffeine, but that argument doesn’t hold much water when caffeinated soft drinks have already been in campus dispensers for nine years.
Frisco also served as the introduction point for four first-time Big 12 head coaches: Collin Klein at Kansas State, Jimmy Rogers at Iowa State, Eric Morris at Oklahoma State and Morgan Scalley at Utah. Their podium work was under a microscope, and that’s what happens when a conference is trying to show off a new wave of leadership.
Scalley, though, looked less like a rookie and more like someone who has been around the block. After all, he’s spent so much time with Kyle Whittingham that he almost counts as a veteran, and he handled the media like one.
His upbeat tone stood out, even if it didn’t exactly light the room on fire.
The preseason buzz around the league still points to Texas Tech as the team to beat. The Red Raiders are defending champs, they’ve recruited well and they’ve already got playoff experience, which is why plenty of preseason outlets and magazines have them sitting at the top.
On3Sports, though, ran its own survey of the league’s 16 coaches and came back with BYU. The Big 12 itself didn’t put out an official preseason favorite list or coaches poll, which keeps all of this in the category of fun conversation rather than something with real teeth.
The playoff debate kept coming up too, and the Big 12’s position hasn’t changed. Yormark and the coaches are still pushing for a 24-team College Football Playoff, and the coaches had already voted unanimously in favor of that idea earlier. With the league sitting 0-2 in the current 12-team format, the argument is obvious from their side: more access, more money, less of the committee’s habit of boxing the Big 12 into one berth despite what the numbers say.
Colorado was another magnet for attention. Deion Sanders drew plenty of it, as always, and the conversation centered on getting the Buffaloes back on track.
Julian Lewis and other players added to the buzz, but Sanders is still the guy who pulls the biggest spotlight and the TV ratings that come with it. The bottom line around the league is simple: the Big 12 needs Colorado to be good.
Yormark also used the stage to talk about the bigger financial picture. He pointed to conference growth, including sponsorship revenue that’s up 182%, along with strong NFL and NBA draft numbers.
At the same time, the gap with the SEC and Big Ten remained part of the conversation, along with private equity, lines of credit and support for federal legislation aimed at giving athletes more protection and stability. The league wants more help, but unless the Big Ten and SEC give up some of their edge for the good of the sport, that remains more wish than plan unless the feds step in.
Quarterbacks were another major draw throughout the week. Bear Bachmeier at BYU, Julian Lewis at Colorado, Conner Weigman at Houston, Noah Fifita at Arizona, Avery Johnson at Kansas State and Devon Dampier at Utah all got their share of attention.
That’s no surprise in a league where the hottest quarterback - and the one who stays healthy - can tilt everything. In 2026, that figure could matter more than almost anything else.
There were also plenty of questions aimed at coaches who know what pressure feels like. Dave Aranda at Baylor and Scott Satterfield at Cincinnati both had to answer for job-security chatter, and the message around them was clear enough: nice guys don’t get endless time if the results don’t follow.
The transfer portal, coordinator changes and roster churn all matter, but in the end it comes back to whether the players and the culture are good enough to produce. If they aren’t, the seats heat up fast.
And while Texas Tech grabbed the biggest spotlight, BYU and Utah kept their names in the contender conversation. Other schools around the league view the Utah programs as real threats, especially given their reputation for toughness and the edge they get at home. Texas Tech, though, doesn’t play BYU or Utah this year, and it also has what looks like a very favorable schedule on top of the highest-rated recruiting marks over the past several years.
For those keeping score, Dick Harmon’s preseason Big 12 top five came out as Texas Tech, BYU, Utah, Houston and Arizona.
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