Cody Campbell never called out Texas softball.
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Texas Longhorns pitcher Teagan Kavan (17) hugs Carly Northup after winning game two of the NCAA Women’s College World Series against Texas Tech at Devon Park on Thursday, June 4, 2026 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Texas Tech’s billionaire benefactor understands it’s smarter to go after the football team even if the Longhorns aren’t interested in renewing their old Big 12 and Southwest Conference rivalry.
Tech softball coach Gerry Glasco showed the Longhorns and coach Mike White great respect for taking down his team in the Women’s College World Series for a second straight year, especially with a roster with four new starters from the transfer portal who were brought in to join staff ace NiJaree Canady, who pocketed more than $2 million over her final two years in Lubbock.
A general view of kickoff between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Texas Longhorns at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on September 19, 2009 in Austin, Texas.
Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Campbell, a modern day J.R. Ewing, is the face of the Matador Club, a Texas Tech collective that has paid more than $60 million to Red Raiders athletes over the last four years, softball included. It’s the type of financial support that has moved the needle forward in the sport, but Glasco wanted to make one thing clear.
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“I think that anyone that understands our sport knows that you can’t buy a championship,” he said. “I think our investors are beyond surreal with where we’re at.”
Meanwhile, Campbell is hell-bent on buying a marquee matchup for September. He wants the Red Raiders to open the season against the hated Texas Longhorns, who aren’t even remotely interested.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Brittany Mahomes watch game two of the NCAA Women’s College World Series between Texas Texas Tech at Devon Park on Thursday, June 4, 2026 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Speaking of football, Red Raiders royalty was spotted in the interview room in the Devon Park basement in the minutes after the game. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who supports an NIL collective at Tech, strode past with his wife Brittany, friends and four burly security guards in tow.
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The three-time Super Bowl champion had hoped to witness his school’s first national championship in a traditional team sport since Sheryl Swoopes scored 47 points in the 1993 basketball title game win over Ohio State, but left OKC on the business end of a WCWS sweep.
I had to ask members of Texas’ two-time champs about the chirping that’s been coming from both football camps and the Mahomes appearance. The responses varied:
Catcher Reese Atwood, taking the high road: “Both programs are incredible sports programs.”
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Center fielder Kayden Henry, a Texas football fan, got hyped at the prospect: “Thanks for coming, Patrick Mahomes. Give the people what they want. Texas versus Texas Tech. Let’s go.”
Two-time WCWS most outstanding player Teagan Kavan had an interesting take: “I would like to have Taylor Swift at a game. If (Mahomes) is our route to her, let’s bring her next year.”
I’m sure Teagan was talking about a game at McCombs Field though she would take Tay-Tay at Royal-Memorial Stadium if she could get it, proud Swiftie that she is.
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Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian yells instructions during practice on fan day at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Aril 18, 2026 in Austin.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Red Raiders stalking a Texas showdown
Texas Tech’s hackles hurtled skyward after Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian took a not-so-veiled shot at the Red Raiders last month in a conversation at the Touchdown Club of Houston when he said his backups could go undefeated with a certain Big 12 team’s schedule. That team was determined to be Texas Tech, which will play only two games against opponents that finished ranked last season (No. 22 Houston and No. 25 TCU).
The Red Raiders, who went 12-1 and won the school’s first Big 12 championship before losing 23-0 to Oregon in the first round of the College Football Playoff, will do it without newly signed quarterback transfer Brendan Sorsby. The NCAA denied an appeal to have his eligibility restored after he admitted to betting on sports while at Indiana and Cincinnati.
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Texas, by comparison, will play eight ranked teams, including four that played in last season’s CFP and Ohio State, which is a preseason No. 1 in several post-spring rankings.
Tech’s 2025 Big 12 football title ranks second to Graham Harrell’s epic last-second touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree to knock off No. 1 Texas in 2008, which cost the Horns a chance to play for a conference title and, essentially, a national title thanks to a horrible conference tiebreaker system.
Texas Tech Head Coach Joey McGuire takes questions during the breakout press conferences on the second day of Big 12 Media Days in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, July 13, 2023.
Sara Diggins/American-Statesman
Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire has revitalized the program through four seasons, but the Red Raiders are without a tasty rival since the Horns left for the SEC. Sarkisian’s comments poured some $5.25-per-gallon super-unleaded fuel on the fire and McGuire couldn’t wait to clap back.
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“When you have a really great team. sometimes you say some stuff, and then your players have to go back it up on the field,” he said on Josh Pate’s College Football Show last Wednesday. “We’re working our tail off to get back to the playoffs again. I hope that Round 1 is against the University Of Texas.”
Campbell, a 44-year-old Lubbock-born Tech grad, hasn’t minced words when it comes to Sarkisian and Co.
“It’s become very clear that there are quite a few steers down in Austin. There aren’t very many bulls,” Campbell recently told ESPN’s Pat McAfee. “When Sark opened his mouth and he picked a fight with a bunch of West Texas boys, he should have known that he better get ready to pack a lunch.”
Texas Longhorns running back Quintrevion Wisner (26) runs down the field as he evades Texas Tech defensive back Jordan Sanford (28) during the game against Texas Tech at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023.
Mikala Compton/American-Statesman
Texas Tech stalks a traditional team title
Tech needs some new memories. Red Raiders fans are starving for a natty in a traditional team sport on the South Plains.The school began intercollegiate sports in 1925 — Campbell’s great-grandfather was in school that year — and while we should credit men’s track and field for its national indoor and outdoor titles in 2019 and 2024, respectively, Campbell and McGuire know real notoriety can only come with a football championship or at least a slaying of the state’s reigning flagship program.
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It’s why Campbell says he wants to pay Texas State and Abilene Christian step-aside money to allow the Red Raiders and Longhorns to knock heads in the Sept. 5 season opener. McGuire reportedly said Texas State and ACU coaches were both agreeable, a statement that has since been debunked in some circles.
Sarkisian, meanwhile, is taking the smart approach, veiled shots aside. The Horns will have their hands full this fall. A Texas death match against the Red Raiders doesn’t make sense, especially with Ohio State coming in Week 2.
“If the juice isn’t worth the squeeze at the end, that’s a big risk that we all are deciding to take to play (Ohio State), and so we are,” Sarkisian told ESPN’s Greg McElroy. “I can look across the country and look at some other team schedules and say they’re not playing one (ranked team), not one. And so the path for them to make the playoffs is just a little bit easier.”
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To his credit, McGuire has built a winner and no one can blame him for coming to his program’s defense by calling out the Horns.
The Big 12 title may finally run through Lubbock, but the Horns are seeking bigger game these days.