FORT WORTH, Texas — You show up to work ... to receive a package of cacti in our office.
That's the reality for TCU recruiting coordinator and offensive analyst Bryan Carrington. The prickly plant's purpose stems from a back-and-forth joust that has culminated over the week.
There's a lot to unpack here and (of course) there are Twitter jabs involved in this tongue-in-cheek spat.
Texas Tech fans and TCU coaches and admins have been at odds with each other recently. Tech fans discovered that TCU would not be selling single-game tickets for the Red Raiders’ visit to Fort Worth this fall. Rather, the only way that you can buy a ticket to that game is to buy one through the Texas Tech ticket allotment or to purchase a season ticket package through TCU.
It's actually the only TCU home game not available to be purchased individually.
The Texas Tech game is listed as the "Keep it Purple Plan."
"Tickets for the Texas Tech game are only available as part of a full or mini-season ticket package," TCU's website says.
So, the official Texas Tech Athletics Twitter account tweeted that single-game tickets for all seven home games (the word “ALL” was emphasized by being capitalized and italicized). Next, fans gave TCU Athletic Director Jeremiah Donati some words online, which drew a response.
"Quite aware thanks. Expect it for hoops tickets too" Donati said referring to the package ticket buying policy.
Things were only getting warmed up, though.
Then, Texas Tech announced its NIL deal for Red Raider football players. The 85 scholarship players and 15 walk-ons would get a 1-year, $25,000 deal from the Matador Club, a donor collective, in exchange for players completing local community service.
TCU recruiting coordinator then chimed in. In a thread, Carrington wrote:
"Y’all really gotta stop romanticizing what appears to be ‘unique NIL deals!’ While they wave what appears to be a big number I urge you to ask these schools to quantify your brand potential as an individual entity, separate from the university in the same market! Then and maybe then you’ll get the real truth! Don’t make a life altering decisions over donut-seeds. An extra 2k a month ain’t maximizing off your NIL. It’s a glorified stipend check. The reality is that that extra 2k it’s gonna be a concrete ceiling for most players in scarce markets that are oversaturated with 85 scholarship players attempting to ‘build their a brand’ in a desert. Have you considered what will happen to your brand in the market when you’ve exhausted your eligibility and no longer have a name and number attached to your back? Is the market sufficient for you to continue to monetize your NIL after your career or is it #ReservedToThe85? Can you live in there? Start a family there? Grow a business there? The days of a HC promising to simply “make some phone calls” are over! *(mic emoji) drop*"
After Carrington's comments, Tech fans, players, coaches, and the Red Raider community started putting cacti emojis in there Twitter handles to "own" the desert dig.
But they couldn't just leave it there. They had to be sure to poke and prod. True to form, right? We are talking cacti, after all.
Now back to the cacti in the office thing. Apparently, subscribers to RedRaiderSports.com, a Texas Tech sports news outlet, raised $3,000 to send Carrington and the TCU staff cacti. The outlet posted it on Twitter on Wednesday:
In the photos, two men donning Texas Tech Red Raider apparel posed in front of Carrington's office with a box of cacti.
The note left with the cacti reads:
"Since you aren't coming to play in the desert this fall, we brought the desert to you. See you Nov. 5.
Best wishes,
Your friends at RedRaiderSports.com"
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