Texas Tech University's top booster, Cody Campbell, is this era's Nick Saban. That's the comparison On3 CEO Shannon Terry made, without saying Campbell's name, while comparing the current Red Raiders to the Alabama Crimson Tide of yesteryear in response to a top defender's official visit.
In the rev-share era, Campbell, the co-founder of Double Eagle Energy Holdings in Fort Worth, is paying the players directly to sign on the dotted line in Lubbock. Saban was NIL before NIL with his various car dealerships in the Birmingham metropolitan area. No offense to Joey McGuire, but he wasn't bringing in top recruiting classes before Campbell's checkbook came out to play on the trail. TTU had the No. 28 recruiting class in 2023, with the No. 59 transfer class.
Terry gave a disclaimer not to take aim at him for saying it, knowing many Gumps would get on him for comparing the formerly mighty Tide with a Red Raiders team that spends big, but doesn't win big beyond the Big 12.
"Please don't shoot me, but Texas Tech feels like Alabama when Saban arrived. Different era, but same tactics," Terry said.
Tide losing ground on even playing field, while Texas teams are rising
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is not the place all the top recruits want to be when money is involved, as the last few years have shown us. When there was an uneven playing field and recruiting happened in the shadows, the Tide was reeling in the top guys. That time is no more.
Now, schools in the Lone Star State, like the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies, who are in a bidding war for Cam Coleman, in addition to the Red Raiders, are acting like the New York Yankees of yesteryear and the Los Angeles Dodgers of today, stacking free agent classes via audacious spending.
It's a new age. While Saban was the Cult of Personality when the "Mullet A" ran the sport, Campbell and his financial passion for Texas Tech could be what's remembered if the Red Raiders start winning championships.
It feels like the system is against Campbell doing that in the expanded CFP era, though. We'll see if there will ever be another Saban. Quite frankly, that sounds like a longshot.