Episode 209 Snippets: Blake Zimmerman of Texas Tech University

@njh287; www.dsmsports.net
On episode 209 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil
chatted with Blake Zimmerman, Director of Social and Emerging Strategy
at Texas Tech University.
What follows is a collection of snippets from the podcast. To hear the full
interview and more, check out the podcast on all podcast platforms and at
www.dsmsports.net.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 209: Blake Zimmerman

Blake’s Career Path
“I started [at Oklahoma State University) as a pre-med major for two years; it took me a lot
longer than you would think to [realize] this is not what I want to do. I was walking out of
the dorm I lived in one day and heard somebody say they're going to a class called Sports in
the Media. And I was like, ‘That's a class? That sounds insane to me.’ I immediately went
and talked to my advisor and checked out broadcast journalism.
“I'd always loved sports growing up, like to an obsessive level and met a couple of people in
the college; it actually worked out to where a friend of mine was doing the public address for
Oklahoma State soccer. He had a game that he was going to miss and asked if I would fill in
for him. I'd never done anything like that in my life, but I was like, sure, like, I'll do the
public address for an OSU women's soccer game.

“[I sat next to] the SID (Sports Information Director) for Oklahoma State soccer...during the
game I was picking his brain, like, so what is it that you do? I had no idea about media
relations, sports information, anything like that. He directed me to Kevin Klintworth, who
was Oklahoma State's football SID at the time. I had an interview with Kevin and
immediately went to work in the office…So I did that and I kept the PA thing going too — I
did soccer and baseball up there at OSU and that was just so much fun.
“I loved working as a student at the office [and] eventually became a GA [graduate
assistant] and then got my first sport as an SID. I [covered] track and field and cross
country, and did a lot of stuff with football, men's basketball, women's basketball. I did the
normal student thing from that time, learning StatCrew for everything and whatnot, which
is almost pretty much useless now since they've completely changed [how stats are kept]...

“From there, I got my first job out here at [Texas] Tech as the volleyball and track SID. And
then just through just some shuffling around, I moved up to women's basketball the next
year. Then from there I kind of took on a secondary football role while being the women's
basketball SID. My strength had always just been on the content side of [the job] and the
social media side of it. At that time we only had Texas Tech Athletics Twitter and Facebook
pages, and then a gameday [account] where we did all in-game updates for all sports. And
you would have to [mark which sport] you were talking about in the tweet; there was one
gameday updates account for every season...it was called Tech Gameday. And you'd put,
like, even for football, it’d be like FB colon (FB:) what was happening (in the game)

“When I finished up at Oklahoma State — for my Mass Comm masters [degree] — I'd really been
studying social media and how it was changing college athletics, which is kind of funny to think
about now. But at the time we were really missing out on a lot here and I kind of led a charge to
create a bunch of different sport accounts at Tech. And then from there, it just kind of evolved into
‘Hey, the social media director position that's popping up other places [and] I think we could really
do it [here].’ So I put together a presentation, pitched it to our external director and everybody was
on board, and that's how I moved into the social media director role.
“And it just kind of went crazy from there. I started working with our broadcast services team, I
was just doing whatever I could. I was teaching myself Photoshop, Premiere, everything just to
crank out content. In 2015-2016, there were just a handful of schools who were doing it really well
and had their content armies up and running, you know?
“But that's where it started for us and then it just kind of blew up from there. Then about a year and
a half ago, I got presented with this [job] opportunity on campus [at Texas Tech] and I thought it
was the right move. So I came over here and that's what I've been doing [since].”

On how he evolved from SID to content/social to social full-time
“ I really cut my teeth in the traditional [SID role] — StatCrew, game notes, In-Design — all
that stuff. And where it really started [with] the content side of it is when I got my sport and
I was doing track and field cross country — that's when it was like ‘Hey, I'm going to a meet
‘...We had the number one market in the country and this event [and it] would be really cool
if we could do something to commemorate this, instead of just a story on the web.

“So that's when I really started getting into Photoshop and I would work with our publishing
director…there were a few of us on the student staff [and] we were trying to teach each other
what we knew about the various Adobe Creative Suite [products]. It's crazy, man; in college
I was [studying] journalism broadcasting [and] I was taught how to edit video on Final Cut
Pro. And then I did a sports internship with the CBS affiliate in Tulsa and we edited on Avid.
And then I came into this and it was all Adobe. So I feel like I've had to teach myself [video
editing] multiple times.
“But that's where it really started was going to meets. And then in my year (being SID for
track] at Tech..that was when Twitter allowed you to [post] videos and that was a big deal.
Or, liek, before Periscope or Twitter Live is even a thing, Meerkat was the app that we were
all playing around with... And then Periscope obviously folded into Twitter from there, but
that's where it starts, like, oh man, we can deliver this stuff to people immediately. And I feel
like just that class of us all kind of learned as we went together on that stuff.”

On the intersection of his SID role and then his full-time social media role he pitched for himself at
Texas Tech
“It was kind of interesting because we had some SIDs that were doing a lot of [content creation].
and then we had some that were focused on the more traditional side, and I thought a role like [the
social media director role] could really level the playing field where each sport was getting similar
attention in that vein. And that's kinda where it started.
“What I really wanted to do was bridge the gap between the SID communications office and some
of the other departments like broadcast services and some of those other areas, and our
photographers that we had on staff — just trying to (create) what is now today creative services
with everybody under one umbrella. Trying to move toward that. And what really sold it was on
[leadership’s] side was that I would be the liaison with Learfield-IMG, from a sponsorship
standpoint, helping with fulfillment on that side of things. So it was kind of a perfect marriage of
stuff that they were looking for and stuff that I was looking for and it really worked out in that
way.”

On creating a cohesive social media brand across sports at Texas Tech
“I'll never forget it. It was April of 2016, it was spring football and Patrick Mahomes was
coming into his junior year and it was just really easy to figure out that like, man, this dude
is a human highlight reel; we just need to be out here showing the ridiculous things that he's
doing at practice every day.
“And at the time Coach [Kliff] Kingsbury had just posted a video of Pat making a couple of
no-look throws at practice on his Twitter account. And I went over into the football office
and talked to the staff and worked on getting our football account creatives — like we could
be doing stuff like this all the time. It was kind of a perfect marriage — Logan Hawk was an
intern on our staff and he was so instrumental because he not only knew how to do photo,
but he knew how to do video. He was really passionate about doing that stuff. And then we
had hired a couple people in the broadcast services side that wanted to be out there and
doing that stuff every day.

“And that's where it started. We were just like, ‘Hey, let's put out 20 seconds of cool footage
from a spring practice. And let's do that a few times a week; and that's where it really
started. And then other sports started seeing that and that's when everybody realized that
there was a growing need and demand for this, and other sports were going to want it, so we
needed to increase our manpower. We needed to increase our resources. Everybody realized
very quickly that this is where it was going.
“We're still trying to take that approach today. Over here on the university side, in our
communications and marketing department, we're in the middle of a pretty aggressive
expansion hiring a lot of people, trying to kind of achieve that same thing from a storytelling
standpoint. Getting ourselves the manpower and resources to constantly be able to make
alums and potential students aware of what's going on here, and always doing everything we
can to always be improving the perception. And so that's what we're looking to do. And I see
so many parallels every day to whenever we first started doing this in athletics to what I'm
doing now, it’s pretty awesome.”

On objectives and KPIs for the university’s social strategy
“I mean, this is cliche, but it's kind of walking a line in between all of it. It's a pretty even mixture. I
remember one of the things that we were really harping on when we started on the athletic side,
when this position was created — brand perception was really important. We were always thinking
ahead to the next chapter of college realignment and where do we fit in and how can we improve
our perception between now and when that happens? And we figured by doing that, by setting our
sights on that, a lot of the stuff would just kind of fall into place. At that time, there were still a lot
of restrictions in place from a recruiting standpoint on what you could and what you couldn't do.
It's obviously a lot different now with personalized video and all that stuff.
“That was another thing — we were one of the first ones on board with Opendorse at Tech, realizing
the power that was potentially there. That was the thing that we knew would help from a recruiting
standpoint, like showing kids when they come onto campus ‘This is what we're doing for our
athletes that are already here, imagine what this operation will look like in two to three years for
you.’ So that's where it really started on the athletic side…”

Building a strong school brand for recruiting, for national perception, and also for potential
realignment move
“[Realignment] was always a big part of the conversation, because if you weren't thinking
ahead to stuff like that [then] you were behind. A big portion of it was showing things that
are happening here…What we wanted to do is when things are going well, and we have a
captive audience, we need to capitalize on that.
“And I think that all kind of came to a head at the 2019 Final Four and Tech’s run through
the NCAA Tournament. I feel like everybody that was a part of that can look back [and
know] we really capitalized on that. And as a result, applications went up, perception
changed, all these different sorts of things happened like that were really major positives for
Texas Tech. And it started three or four years ago with the vision to ‘We need to have this
setup in place for when something like this happens to make sure that we are maximizing it
100%.’”

On maximizing key opportunities
“It really started for us the previous year [when] we made it to the Elite Eight, and ended up
losing to Villanova in Boston…We hadn't been in the tournament in a couple years and we
had not had our current department that we did at the time where we had multiple
videographers , multiple photographers, and stuff like that all working as a cohesive unit.
That was our first brush-up with the NCAA Tournament video policies where you can't do
this and you can't use on-court footage for this or that or whatever.
“So the following year, we were really prepared. We had been working to really beef up our
photography side of things and we had just some super talented students come through
[with many working in pro sports now]…There were so many really talented people that we
had there at the time.

“So we just leaned into that; we knew that we could provide really high level photo content. And I
think that's part of it, right? You have to adjust to what you know that you can do well. I think
that's like rule number one pretty much. And we knew that we could take cameras with us
wherever and we weren't going to have any restrictions about what we could post. And we got
really creative, whether it was slideshow, stop-action where it's almost like a video, but it's a series
of photos. We did everything we could with our photo arm to really show off what was happening.
“We just wanted to give a window to our fans that weren't there and hadn't experienced anything
like this. It was Tech's first trip to the Final Four and we just really wanted to make sure that we
maximize it, so we made a very conscious effort with our photography content. And it showed out.
I mean, we ended up number one in total engagements for the Tournament and we were like 16th
in followers among Tournament teams. So that was the proof was in the pudding.
“For us, it was just a way to show our administration, like, ‘Hey, you gave us these resources and
look at what we were able to do with it. Let's keep this thing going…’”

“Just to go back, because I think it's hard to [talk about the plan to capitalize] without kind
of going back to 2019 and thinking about what we actually did and the plans we had in place
— I've just always been really hands-off. I just think the best work is done when you let
really talented people do what they're good at and you just stay out of their way. So we had a
pretty loose structure set up and it was like, ‘Hey, if you know things are going well, let's
make sure we're capturing this. In the event that looks like we're going to win, let's make
sure that you're over here and you're over here capturing this.’ We just want to make sure
that we're not missing anything. You know, this person's going to the locker room to capture
this. We didn't want to tell people what to do, but just put them in the situation to succeed.

“I think that's where we really did well. And we had to turn right around two months later for our
fourth trip to the College World Series in Omaha and Tech was one of the top seeds there and we
prepared the same way. It was let's go after this like we're going to win the national championship.
That was the thing too is [we were] talking to the baseball staff and being like, ‘Hey, this is how we've
attacked it before. Do you guys care if we kind of almost come in with this air of ‘Hey, we're here to
win it this time?’’ And I think that's important, too — the relationships you have with staff and the
buy-in to make sure that the voice that you're trying to portray aligns with the voice that your staff is
trying to portray.
“That was a very big deal for us too. It's easy to fire off a meme or, you know, you'll be joking around
all the time, but we wanted to make sure that [was okay] because when our football program is
coached by Kliff Kingsbury, we're going to have like a different tone and field than a basketball team
that’s coached by Chris Beard [where] we look a lot more like grit, toughness, stuff like that. And then
the baseball team under Tim Tadlock kind of felt the same way,too. There was a lot of everyman, blue
collar working mentality; not that the football team didn't have that hard-working mentality, but you
got the high flying offense and lots of points and stuff like that — that is where we just really tried to
make sure that our tone and voice was matching what people saw in the field or on the court.”

On the brand of Texas Tech teams, of Texas Tech Athletics, and of Texas Tech University
“I think it can at times [connect across teams]. I think a lot of the times we were telling
specific stories, whether it was athletes or teams — stuff like that— but then you have
periods of athletics department success that you really have to capitalize on and that's where
we talk about brand perception. One of the things that we really did was — I think it was
2018 where we had five different programs that made it to the final eight [of their
respective] NCAA postseason. And that was the moment where it's like ‘This is what we do
here at Texas Tech; we are visible at the end of the postseason. We are winning, we're doing
it the right way.’ That was the moment where we kind of married it across the board,
whereas like, yeah, each sport, they have these little intricacies and little differences and feel,
but overall, this is who we are as an athletics department. Those are the moments that we
would take the opportunity to marry those two things.”

On collaborating across the entire athletics department
“I think we did a really good job of striking the balance… On the athletic side [at Tech], I
think I was really trusted. I was really given a long leash to make the right decisions. But on
the other side of it, we also did a really good job of making sure that we had the correct — I
don't know, you call it stakeholders, if you will, from each department meeting pretty
regularly, but also when necessary outside of the regular meeting structure to make sure
that we were aligned on goals. We had [an example] in 2019 where we had a meeting and
just randomly thought of the idea of what if we did ‘This is SportsCenter’ commercial parody
thing.

“We talked about our [basketball team’s] defense and started spitballing ideas for it. It
turned into this really viral video, it got a lot of life. We posted it in February [and it got]
millions and millions of views and engagement; stuff that we had never gotten on that
account before. And it was still playing during the Final Four game against Michigan State
on the CBS broadcast, they showed it. And that was when it was like ‘Oh my gosh, the reach
of that [video] is tremendous’, you know?
“There was just such a really good balance struck and the people that were representing each
department in those meetings, whether it was football, basketball, baseball — they all
worked together really well and had an idea of what the others were trying to achieve. And I
think that was what was so important. We never really felt like there were too many cooks in
the kitchen. People understood what their purpose was, what they were going for, and it was
just a really open type scenario where any suggestion is welcome. Like let's throw stuff
against the wall and then let's mold it from there. That’s how we approached it.”

On Blake’s perspective on maximizing opportunities now from the university side at Tech
“I think it's about leveraging without overstepping your bounds. I think one area where we've done
that is Texas Tech University has partnered with the Kansas City Chiefs; [ith as] entered into a
corporate partnership. And part of that has been at kickoffs of Chiefs games at Arrowhead
[Stadium], there's an ad on the video board that says ‘Kick off your career with Texas Tech.’
“So there's a couple of different activations going on there and have been going on all season and
it's a multi-year deal [that will] continue to happen. But one thing that we've done is activated that
on social, as well. We've had paid social campaigns all season running on that. And the way we've
designed it to where the Chiefs are playing or who they're playing, hitting those markets that are
going to be getting the game on social with ‘Hey, the Kansas City Chiefs know best, kick off your
career at Texas Tech’ with a targeted link for admissions for prospective students [and] their
parents. I think those kinds of activations help spread awareness on a national level [and] improve
perception. That's kind of one example that we've been really attacking that area; just kind of
leveraging while, you know, kind of stand in your own way.

From the university perspective, what’s the ideal scenario for a prospective student Googling
Texas Tech after seeing their team on a national stage?
“I think that's a really good question. I think it's another example of striking a balance. I mean, I
don't think you need to inundate someone with the reason that they visited your site when you
know why they've visited your site, but at the same time there has to be that acknowledgement.
We talk about creating a journey-type experience where we, in whatever form or fashion, whether
it's with a targeted ad or something, we've gotten somebody to apply at Texas Tech..
“From that point on, it's continuing to retarget that person as they arrive in school, tell their story
while they're here, watch them grow, watch them graduate, watch them become an ambassador,
[and] continue to tell that story. We are focused on that journey and continuing to be a part of it.
So I think that's kind of the user story is — it's not about just getting you to our page to apply to
our school. What are we doing from there? How do we turn somebody from a prospective student
into like a Red Raider for life? So, that's kind of the approach that we take to it.”

On taking the Opendorse / athlete marketing concept to the university side
“I think there's a lot of opportunities for something really similar, you know? And why
wouldn't there be? You have a much larger pot to pick from [with] 40,000 students; there's
gotta be stories out there. There's gotta be influencers like that. One area that we've looked
at, too, is high-level administration on campus. Like, does this piece of content work better
coming from Texas Tech’s account or does it work better coming from the university
president's account? These are all things that we've taken like that athletics [and that
Opendorse] approach to that, like ‘Hey obviously we want a lot of good content from our
platforms, but are we really maximizing the available plethora that we potentially have?’
“And that's an area that we talk about a lot. Like I said, we're still building out our team and
trying to add manpower and resources, but that's definitely a place we want to get to where
we are identifying influencers and partnering with them and doing everything we can to
enhance both our brand and theirs through sharing the Texas Tech experience.

On the setup for Texas Tech social on the university side
“When we got in, it was a bunch of different accounts kind of doing their own thing…Most of
the colleges and units and departments [at Tech] have their own social media accounts.
Some of them have communications professionals operating them, some do not. I think
what we have been trying to do for a good first step is creating guidelines and policies,
making sure that they're all aware of them. And then trying to enforce brand standards…
getting logos, correct colors, correct templates and stuff in the right hands, making sure that
we are creating a more cohesive look even if our strategy isn't super centralized, I think
that's a really good first step to take.”

Blake’s favorite piece he wrote or worked on during his time at Oklahoma State.
“That is a tough one. Okay. When I was doing track and field and cross country, we had a
girl win the 1500 meter outdoor national championship. And she was like in seventh with a
hundred meters to go and just had a major kick and won it. I ended up in the following days
writing a feature on her completely. And at the time, this is crazy, we were able to embed the
YouTube video from the race, which in 2013 was unheard of doing that on your website. But,
from my time at Oklahoma State that was probably my favorite piece worked on.”

Blake’s thoughts on the future of SIDs and their roles in college athletics
“I really think it depends on where you are. My initial idea when I pitched my position in the athletic
department was that we would have content creators slash social media people. Like they were SIDs
— people that were responsible for each sport. You know what I mean? That was where I thought it
was going. But I think there has to be a buy-in from the athletic department. I mean, that's a really
large amount of resources and manpower. So I think for the places that aren't doing that, that there's
going to have to be some kind of give and take.
“You see places [where] media guides are kind of going by the wayside because that's the one thing
about media guides, especially when you print them — the second that you tip off or kick off your
season, it's obsolete. So I think people are adjusting to that. I think game notes are really important
for, you know, TV, radio, print media, but I think they can be condensed. And I think that's going to
be one area where you might see that ‘Hey, part of my role is I need to make sure I'm going to get.
Practice. So maybe I will get rid of these three or four pages of notes that [we] would usually update,
but are pretty obscure facts.’ You know what I mean? I think you're going to kind of see that give and
take, I think.”

What it’s like living and working in the two college towns Lubbock (Texas Tech) and Stillwater
(Oklahoma State)?
“So Lovett can still work. Water as towns themselves out to the pretty different Stillwater. One of the
things I really liked about Stillwater was the proximity to Tulsa and Oklahoma City. So one thing I
did while I was at Oklahoma State is on the side I would drive down to Oklahoma City for Thunder
game days, and I would do stats for visiting radio crews and TV crews, and that's how I would make
cash on the side. That was a really fun gig because that was when Westbrook, Harden and Durant
were all there. So I got to see some really cool stuff doing that. That was one of my favorite things
about Stillwater.
“I mean, I loved the small college town atmosphere; I wouldn't trade my college days for anything
there. I'm not so sure I would live there as an adult just because it's so centralized around the
collegiate experience. Whereas Lubbock, you have about 300,000 people. I've had a wonderful time
raising my family here. It's not like Texas Tech is the only show in town from that standpoint. I think
that's what I would say the difference is. I feel more comfortable living in [Lubbock] post-college than
I would in Stillwater. That'd be the main difference.”

The pro sports team whose social media Blake admires and why
“There's quite a few…I'm biased, but I'm a Chelsea fan and I think specifically their graphic
design is amazing. Their gameday graphics, their one-off things that they do for their
athletes is just really outstanding. I think they're kind of handicapped because — I don't
know if it's an agreement with NBC that they can't share in-game highlights or stuff like
that, but the design work that they do is very admirable.”

The main metrics Blake pays closest attention to day-to-day in his role
“It changes depending on what's going on. If it's like we're doing an activation where we're trying to
get people to apply it's link clicks for that particular thing, but as far as [in general], I don't know. I'm
a Twitter guy and I really look at retweets, likes, stuff like that, but more than that, I like the
interaction rate [metric]. I think sometimes we can kind of get into a situation — and we ran into this
when I was on the athletic side at Tech — where it's like why aren't we ranked higher on this
SkullSparks list or whatever?
“And I think SkullSparks has done a good job of adjusting to this. You know, it's not just the same
teams that have millions and millions of followers that are pumping out content to those millions of
followers and getting however many hundreds of thousands of interactions, but the rate per capita,
compared to how many followers you have. I think that's something that's really important.
“I like to look at interaction to post ratio, [too], like a quality over quantity. That's something that's
always really interested me. Can you not just clog people's timelines all the time and manage to still
stay in front of them to stay relevant?”

About the national champion dynasty Texas Tech meat judging team
“It's truly unreal and something that I did not know about until I got here. But back in
November, Tech won its third consecutive meat judging national championship and it was
their eighth since 2010, which, if that was a run that was happening in any major sport, it
would just be absolutely unreal.
“To be honest, I don't know the ins and outs of what actually goes into a meat judging
competition confidently enough to talk about it on here with you. I just know they are not to
be messed with. They are outstanding…
“Technically [the meat judging team is] within the college of [Agricultural] Sciences here. So
I'm sure there's a good mixture of coming here to do that, knowing the pedigree of the
program while also the normalcy of a student at the same time. I think there's a good
balance…”

The most memorable game Blake has been at
“That's a really tough one. I feel like I've seen a lot of wild stuff during my time in Texas Tech
athletics. Just the years that Patrick Mahomes was the quarterback for the football team, not to
mention everything else; obviously the 2019 national championship against Virginia [in men’s
basketball], I mean, we were 12 seconds away from a national title. That was something that I'll never
forget, any game in that run really. The NCAA Tournament was always my favorite thing growing up
and so the fact that I've got to work it multiple times and I've seen eight or nine wins for my team —
that's something that I'll always take with me.
“But there's so many meetings, so many of the games that Pat was quarterback here; like 55-52 type
games, just like wild back and forth, crazy stuff for sure. The game that everybody always talks about
is probably the 2016 Oklahoma-Texas Tech football game where it was Baker [Mayfield] against [Pat
Mahomes]. I was 66, 59. I think we spent the entire fourth quarter kind of watching the game, kind of
looking up records to see what was the new one we broke in the last 10 seconds. The thing that I'll
never forget about that game is both teams finished with 834 yards of offense. Some teams don't get,
don't get that much offense in like four or five games.”

The best meal to get in Lubbock and where to get it, and same
question for Stillwater
“So for [Lubbock], there's a lot of really good steak places. I's kind of
one of the main things we're known for out here. There's any variety
of places where we can just get a really good ribeye, that would be one
of the meals. Barbecue as well — there's a placed called Evie Mae’s
just outside Lubbock, technically in Wolfforth, which is the suburb
that I live in. But it was just ranked number eight in Texas Monthly’s
best barbecue places in the state of Texas. It's an outstanding spot, so
that would be a place that we'd have to go to for sure.
“[For] Stillwater, I mean I feel like it's cliche and I feel like I probably
didn't go as much as I should have when I was a student, but you got
to get some cheese fries from Eskimo Joe's. That's a must if you're in
Stillwater. [A writer was in Stillwater for game and] had posted
something on Instagram, like had to get the sweet pepper bacon
cheese fries. I think it was Max Wilson from The Athletic. He posted
that and I was immediately so jealous when I saw that…”

The social network or platform feature that Blake thinks higher ed should be paying more
attention to in 2022
“I can't believe that [I’m saying] this, but it's TikTok. It's always [about being] where your
students and your potential students are, right? And that's where they are. And there's a lot
of fertile ground for higher ed to be doing stuff. We have been experimenting with our
TikTok on the university side, and there's so many different uses and so many different
things you can cover. There's always something going on on campus that you can do a quick
video for or something like that. Or there's always some kind of trend you can jump on. I
think that's the easy answer from a higher ed.’”

Who is on the Mount Rushmore for Texas Tech athletics?
“Oh man. If any Texas Tech fans that are older than me will listen to this, I'll be getting so much
trouble. I'm sure I'll forget somebody. I would say that this answer will be a lot more for the [last] 10
years, but I think Pat Mahomes has to be on there. Sheryl Swoopes would definitely be on there...
I mean, this is my personal [Mount Rushmore] so Andre, Emmett —he was the Big 12 all time
leading scorer when he was here. I was in middle school at the time and idolized him. I just thought
that even though he probably didn't like his career in the NBA… he didn't end up being the world's
biggest superstar. I just always thought even then he was one of the most pure scorers I'd ever seen.
Andre Emmett would be up there
“And then fourth, oh my gosh, this is really difficult. I'm trying to think of other coaches or other
athletes…I would say as of right now Tim Tadlock, the baseball coach — he's an alum and he's taken
Tech to the College World Series four times in the past decade. He would have to definitely be up
there because that's just going to continue going here [with] the baseball program.

Blake’s Social Media All-Star to Follow
Courtney Bay (@baycourtney12) → “She's in her first season as Director of Men's Basketball
Branding for Illinois. She came from Oklahoma State. We started together in the student
office there and just to see the content creator and social media specialist that she has
become is just amazing.
“The way that she has taught herself graphics, video, photos — he does it all. She's one of
those people that you have on staff and then she leaves and you're like, oh my gosh, we have
to hire three different people to replace her. She always is just stunning me with whatever
new thing she's doing.”

Where to find Blake and Texas Tech on digital/social media
Texas Tech is @TexasTech on Twitter and Instagram and elsewhere, except @texastechuniv
on TikTok
Blake is @BlakeZ_1908 on Twitter and Instagram

@njh287; www.dsmsports.net
Thanks again to Blake for being so generous with his time to share his
knowledge, experience, and expertise with me!
For more content and episodes, subscribe to the podcast, follow me
on LinkedIn and on Twitter @njh287, and visit www.dsmsports.net.

Episode 209 Snippets: Blake Zimmerman of Texas Tech University

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