Four years may not seem like a lot of time in the grand scheme of things – although I suppose the older you get, the faster time tends to fly. But when I looked back and realized that it had been that long since I was on a college beat, the number of years sure seemed imposing.
That’s a lot of big plays, bunches of memorable players and coaches and too many intriguing storylines to remember that have come and gone since my last spin around that block in a college press box.
The drought is over, and I am back in cozy familiar surroundings, covering Texas Tech athletics, although it has been quite a while since I could write that.
To say that I am proud to join the star-studded crew at RedRaiderSports.com as the Managing Editor is a huge understatement. Of all the things I have tried to be good at in my almost 30-year career as a sports journalist, one is knowing how to identify good people to be around. At RRS, I have hit the bull’s-eye in that department with Chris Level, Aaron Dickens, Brandon Soliz, Mark Moore, Ben Golan, Matt Clare and Chase Seabolt. These guys do it right and now I am blessed to join the party.
Officially, the last foray as a full-fledged beat writer was at the 2017 College World Series when Florida downed LSU in the national championship series. When the final out was recorded, I had no idea that would be it for a while for me – the final event of a 13-year stretch covering LSU sports that took me to a lot of cool places and allowed me to check a bunch of stuff off my professional bucket list.
Not long after that, I pulled up stakes in Baton Rouge and moved back to Lubbock with my wife and daughters – I can promise that you will hear about those three often – to begin a full-circle kind of thing that led to the here and now.
Back to Lubbock. For a long time, I wasn’t sure those would be words I’d ever type, but man am I glad I can. I first arrived here in 1997, met the love of my life when Jenny Hall from Plainview turned my head, began a family when Mallory Marie was born at Covenant not long after the then-United Spirit Arena opened and plugged away at The Avalanche-Journal for six years as part of what is still the best sports staff I have ever worked with. Venerable old Don Williams was a mentor back then and continues to be, though he’d wave off that notion, rock back-and-forth a few times and then unload a bunch of questions at whatever coach is in front of him.
That first time around, I covered Texas Tech basketball for the final four years of James Dickey’s tenure, then switched over to covering the early portion of Mike Leach’s run. Blended with those duties, I was heavily involved in high school sports coverage and built relationships with some folks that have stood the test of time. So much so that when I launched HubCityPreps.com to focus on high school sports in Lubbock, those bonds made the transition a lot smoother.
For the record, HubCityPreps.com will remain a major part of my daily grind – a labor of love. But I can’t wait for my days to get a little longer and more intriguing when I jump back into the Texas Tech waters.
What you need to know about me, and what I think you will realize very quickly, is that I will approach my coverage like I have every other beat or job I have done: With passion, integrity and fairness.
I am not a rip-the-coach-every-chance-I-get writer, nor do I spend a lot of time or digital space sugarcoating things. I am a big believer in players being hugely responsible for how a game or a season plays out, although I fully understand it’s on their coaches to mold them and put them in the position to be successful. Doesn’t mean the best-prepared and/or best-coached crew is always going to win. Talent between the lines tends to mean a lot more than who wears the headsets on the sideline or in the dugout.
For full transparency, my connection with the recent history of Texas Tech sports isn’t all that deep. That’s where I will lean on Level, Dickens and Soliz. I am a big believer in celebrating the history and traditions of a program but also learning from the struggles and mistakes from the past – heck I am very much a second-chance guy myself!
There will be some hiccups that are hopefully only minor. I don’t expect that you will agree with my opinions all the time and that’s OK. We’ll figure out how to co-exist.
What I am acutely aware of from my three years back here as a casual but interested observer is that the passion of Texas Tech fans is wonderfully fervent and stacks up with any fan base anywhere. Simply put, I dig the chip-on-the-shoulder feistiness and can’t wait to see how that evolves in the current world of realignment shakeup.
So let’s do this thing and have some fun along the way. I’ve been glad to be back in my adopted home for quite a while, and this underscores that feeling more than ever.
Randy Rosetta is the Managing Editor of RedRaiderSports.com
Contact him at (806) 407-0188 or RandyRosetta67@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter | @RandyRosetta or @RedRaiderSports
Listen to him on The Press Box on The Score 100.7-FM from 1-3 p.m. Monday-Friday.
