How Texas Tech Recruits View Conference Realignment

Guns Up Nation put out an anonymous survey earlier to many recruits tied to Texas Tech either via scholarship offer or recent campus visit. Over 10 have answered and their answers are interesting, to say the least. We talked to football, basketball, and baseball athletes in this survey.

Does Conference Affiliation Affect Your Recruitment by Texas Tech?

Many recruits told me the conference Texas Tech is a part of has no bearing on whether or not they choose Texas Tech for their college careers. Both baseball players that answered this survey told me that the conference has no bearing on their recruitment by Texas Tech. That means no matter the conference; they would still consider the Red Raiders for their college careers.

This lack of impact by baseball recruits is most likely due to the National Relevance of the program. Let’s take the baseball players out of the equation. The majority of basketball and football players who answered the poll said that conference affiliation affected their recruitment by Texas Tech.

If The Big 12 Dissolves, Do You Still Want to Be Recruited by Texas Tech?

This was the only answer where all of the answers were yes. This is not very telling as some might think. These players have developed relationships with the coaching staff and would still like to maintain those relationships.

Is the Competition Level of The Big 12 Something That Draws You to Texas Tech?

This was also a resounding yes, although there was one no in the mix. This is not surprising to me in the least bit as the Big 12 has some of the best competition in the nation. This could affect future recruits if the Red Raiders move to a smaller conference, which is the topic of our next question to recruits.

If Texas Tech Moved to a Group of 5 Conference, Would that Negatively Affect Your Recruitment by Them?

This one was half yes and half no. Again, the baseball players who answered this poll said no; most football and basketball players said yes. This tells me football and basketball recruits might not look at Texas Tech as aggressively if they were to move to a conference such as the American or the Mountain West.

If Texas Tech Moved to a Power 5 Conference, Would That Negatively Affect Your Recruitment by Them?

This was a resounding no.

Overall Thoughts:

This was a decently telling survey. The baseball players threw off my data a bit. The football and basketball program could take a hit in recruiting if the school was to go to a smaller conference. Texas Tech must find a way to a Power 5 Conference.