FRISCO – Watching Monster Energy Big 12 Football Media Days™ on TV is quite a bit different from the experience in the arena. On television, it’s canned and smooth, a segment producer’s dream. On site? It’s (semi) controlled chaos. After some time away from covering UH Athletics, I jumped right back in for last week’s Monster Energy Big 12 Media Days™. Here’s my day in the life:
6:15 – Wake up. Slept late (for me) after spending Monday playing golf at Texas Star, then a working dinner with the 4 Quarters guys. We went to III Forks in Frisco, which was excellent. Try the bone-in ribeye. Just fantastic.
6:30 – Coffee downstairs at the hotel. Oof.
6:35 – Coffee at Circle K next door. Slightly better.
7:00 – Prep work for the day. Monster Energy Big 12 Media Days™ is spread over two days, and UH is in the middle of the more interesting day: Willie Fritz, new Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris, Deion Sanders, Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham, and Joey McGuire, who will face a non-Lubbock media for the first time since the Sorsby stuff broke. I plan to speak to a few coaches 1:1 and need to be ready.
Willie Fritz and the players have a detailed, minute-by-minute schedule for the entire day, but something always changes at these events. You have to be ready for the curveball. A lot of times, you’re on the schedule, and there’s a locked-in time (and a hard break for that person to get to their next interview). Sometimes, you’re ‘on the schedule,’ but no one knows when something will actually happen.
7:45 – Prep for the 4 Quarters podcast. Kenneth, Daniel, Joseph, and Cullen create and manage their own show, but since this is their first time going live at an event, especially one like Monster Energy Big 12 Media Days™, I need to be prepared for everything. I built the stream (cover image, get it on YouTube/FB/X, grab their intro, publish on GoCoogs, put out some social media promos) and jotted down notes/questions on the players they might talk with. They’re going live at 11:45 and plan to compete against UH players in the EA College Football 27 game.
8:45 – Get ready to head to the Star. Shave, shower, shenanigans.
9:15 – The Star.
Interview stations occupy almost all of the arena. The ESPN set is around the 50-yard line on the left side, and another, more relaxed set is on the right side. The stage for press conferences is on the opposite end, while the foreground is radio/podcast row (4 Quarters is on the goal line/right hash).
9:22 – Run into Willie Fritz, who flew in this morning with six UH players and is just starting his day in the facility. Just some small talk.
9:47 – Spoke to Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham for a bit. He’s wearing a goofy rust-brown checkered suit, but has the Pat Tillman statue pocket square like last year.
10:02 – first curve ball of the day. UH Communications tells us Willie Fritz will be available to go live with the 4 Quarters guys at 1:15 – an unexpected bonus. I discuss it with the guys, and they decide to push the show back to a 1 p.m. start. I update our marketing stuff and socials.
10:15 – Brett Yormark takes the podium to open Monster Energy Big 12 Media Days™ and to make some announcements. One is the new deal with Monster Energy, which will rebrand the league to Monster Energy Big 12 Football™ and basketball to Monster Energy Big 12 Basketball™. The deal will add a patch to the teams’ uniforms and logos on fields/courts and will pay approximately $20 million total. This announcement will be the most covered part of the two days in Frisco, drowning out most everything else.
10:30 – Shasta sits down to play Kenneth Bowman in the EA game.
10:45 – The six UH players who made the trip to Frisco are ushered to the Ford Center floor for some photos.
They’ve been going through the carwash – meeting with ESPN, Fox, and TBS, shooting for in-game graphics, doing radio hits, taking pictures (lots and lots of pictures), and doing some interviews with the media.
As the photographer sets up between shoots, I walked over to Conner Weigman. He says they’re going to do some more media in uniforms, then change and do even more in their suits. I laughed, thinking there’s no way that’s true. I asked him if this entire day was a huge waste of time for the players. He glanced over and smiled.
11:04 – I wander over to where the school helmets and the Big 12 trophy are displayed. The day before Monster Energy Big 12 Media Days™ began, Willie Fritz made it clear that he believes UH can contend for a College Football Playoff berth—using the media to plant the idea in his players’ heads. To get there, the Coogs (at least) have to play for this trophy.
11:15 – I’m told we’ll be getting a few players this hour. We’ll tape those interviews and use them on the podcast.
11:20 – Willie Fritz is on the dais. He’s taking some, uhhh, bad questions. Every year he’s done this, that’s what he has gotten. Willie likes flying under the radar, and he always does with Big 12 media.
11:45 – UH players start trickling to the GoCoogs table over for short, taped interviews. They are in their uniforms.
11:55 – As each player finishes his interview, I start trimming them (the unnecessary parts of the pre- and post-interviews) and load them onto the podcasting site for easy use.
12:15 – Lunch. I have a bag of pretzels and lukewarm coffee. Still, it might be the best coffee I’ve had today.
12:40 – Final prep for the podcast. We go over a few things, the guys confirm a few guests, and we’re ready to roll.
1:00 – 4 Quarters podcast.
1:15 – Willie joins the 4Q podcast. He coaches the guys through a few plays on the EA College Football game.
1:30 – I join the podcast in a fairly forgettable segment. The Houston Chronicle’s Joseph Duarte joins, too. The 4Q guys excel at talking to guys their own age, and that’s where they should focus. Not on us old guys.
2:15 – With my segment over, I walk off the arena floor to talk to a few people. Somehow, I get drawn into a conversation with two league head coaches. Neither know about the Monster Energy Big 12 Football™ deal the league announced. When I offered specifics – about $20 million (about $1.2M per school) a year for patches, on-field ads, and rebranding for FB, MBB, and WBB, both thought it was too low. Later in the day, discussing it with another head coach, he said that even if the $1.2 million was just for football, it was too little.
2:50 – The players return to the 4Q set, this time to play some EA CFB on the podcast. Conner nailed it: they’re in their suits again.
3:05 – After he wraps up with the guys, I speak with Conner again. I ask about his mentality as opposed to a year ago. He’s pretty confident he’ll take another step this season and says the ball is coming out quicker and he’s seeing things faster, too. Notably, he says that decisions are clearer and that he’s making them without thinking. That all comes with familiarity – with his team, his head coach, his OC, and his position coach. Keisean Henderson is the future, but this 2026 team is Conner’s.
3:26 – 4 Quarters wraps up their show from Monster Energy Big 12 Football™ Media Days. It was a success. The guys disperse – some to network and others to talk to a few players that seem to have a little bit of free time.
4:05 – There’s still one more media breakout session, but I decide there’s no point in hearing the same questions for the 5th time (and probably for the 10th time for the players). So I take off back to the hotel. We had a super-productive dinner Monday night and a great day Tuesday covering UH in Frisco. And now, I never have to write Monster Energy Big 12 Football™ or Monster Energy Big 12 Football™ Media Days ever again.
