Big 12’s Yormark, Texas Tech booster bicker over Friday games

A West Texas-style showdown is taking shape in the Big 12 between prominent Texas Tech booster Cody Campbell, who’s the chairman of the school’s board of regents, and league commissioner Brett Yormark.

Campbell recently posted on X that the Oct. 18 football game between the Red Raiders and Houston is expected to be a Friday night game on Fox, taking issue with playing on a night Campbell said was “sacred” for high school football.

“Friday Night Lights are sacred in the Great State of Texas! It is absolutely absurd that the @Big12Conference and @FOXSports would consider scheduling @TexasTechFB and @UHCougarFB on a Friday night (October 18th)!! I know that @brettyormark is not a native Texan, but he’s been here long enough to know better! Come on, man!”

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In response, Yormark told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal on Wednesday that “Cody Campbell does not run the Big 12.”

Campbell poured more fuel on the fire with another social media post early Thursday morning, pushing back on a hot-button topic for Texas Tech fans, when the Big 12 banned their tortilla-tossing celebrations at Jones’ AT&T Stadium, with Texas Tech eventually asking fans to stop in the face of large fines threatened by the league.

He also repeated a phrase once caught in a locker room speech by head coach Joey McGuire after the Red Raiders beat Texas in 2022, and which now adorns a wall inside the Texas Tech football facility.

“Apparently Brett didn’t get the memo: EVERYTHING RUNS THROUGH LUBBOCK!!,” Campbell wrote on X. “Maybe we should bring the tortillas back??”

Campbell wasn’t done. He later told ESPN that Yormark’s job was not to be “the dictator of the conference.”

“As commissioner, he needs to remember that he works for the presidents, and the presidents work for the boards,” Campbell told ESPN. “He is not the dictator of the conference. That’s not his role. It is his responsibility to advocate for his members in all cases.”

Yormark’s statement to the newspaper said that the league’s board and athletic directors had approved 12 games a year that were not on Saturdays to raise Big 12 viewership, and that a Texas Tech game in prime time would deliver that.

Over the past five seasons, not counting the Friday after Thanksgiving, which often features college football games, Houston has played five Friday night games and TCU has played four. Texas Tech has not played a regular-season Friday game outside of Black Friday. Last year, the Red Raiders and Iowa State were the only Big 12 teams not to play on a Friday night.

“Friday night Big 12 football games outperformed the Conference’s average rating by 64% in 2025,” Yormark said. “All of our schools are treated equally during the TV scheduling process and this game fits within our scheduling parameters. I am thankful that our TV partners provide us with these opportunities.”

TV windows for league games have not been announced yet, but Campbell told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that he has heard this game was slated that date but he believes it is too late to change. He said he did not believe it’s in the school’s — or the league’s — best interest for Texas Tech to play on that night, particularly after playing Oregon State in Corvallis on the previous Saturday and returning from a long trip.

“I think Yormark could have gone to bat for us and didn’t, because, again, he wanted the ratings,” Campbell said. “I think FOX is not concerned about any individual team. I think, again, they also want ratings, so they picked the game that’s going to give them the most viewership for that weekend.”

Campbell has become an outspoken voice on college sports, including pushing for change in a series of national television commercials. He was part of President Donald Trump’s “Saving College Sports” roundtable at the White House on Mar. 6.

A former Texas Tech offensive lineman under Mike Leach, he is a billionaire oilman who co-founded the Matador Club, the collective that has spent big with a goal of making Texas Tech athletics a power across all sports. Campbell’s name adorns the field at Jones AT&T Stadium on the campus of Texas Tech.

Campbell has a son, Carson, who plays for All Saints’ Episcopal in Fort Worth and is considered one of the top offensive line recruits for the state in the class of 2029.