Brett Yormark tells Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire 'you'd better take care of business' against Texas this season

Texas Tech football fans hope to have as much fun at the expense of Texas this coming school year as Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark and Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire had Wednesday on a banquet stage.

Both took rhetorical jabs at the Longhorns before an announced crowd of 1,200 attending the annual Red Raider Club kickoff luncheon.

Texas and Oklahoma, charter members of the Big 12 and winners of 14 of the conference's football championship games, negotiated an agreement in February to depart for the Southeastern Conference in July 2024.

"Candidly, we were able to get Texas and Oklahoma out a year early. That was a big deal for us and I think all of you," Yormark told a gathering of Texas Tech supporters at the Memorial Civic Center. "And coach (McGuire), I'm not going to put any pressure on you, but I'm going to be in Austin for Thanksgiving, OK? And you'd better take care of business like you did right here in Lubbock last year."

Texas hosts Texas Tech on Nov. 24 in a regular-season finale. The Red Raiders beat the Longhorns 37-34 in overtime last year in Lubbock.

Commish open to Friday Big 12 football: Not bound by tradition: Brett Yormark has Big 12 TV deals in place

When Pac-10 threatened Big 12 survival: An inside look at how Texas Tech's 2010 talks to join the Pac-10 fell apart

Having a conference commissioner publicly endorse one of his teams over another is an uncommon occurrence, but these are uncommon times in college sports.

Oklahoma and Texas in July 2021 accepted invitations to join the SEC in 2025, beginning an awkward multi-year parting. The Big 12 under former commissioner Bob Bowlsby extended invitations to Brigham Young, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston in September 2021. Those four will begin Big 12 play this year, and Yormark recently reached into the Pac-12 to annex Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah, effective next year.

McGuire, without naming the schools, referred to OU and UT as "these so-called bluebloods — and I really question that. One of them's really good in Olympic sports."

McGuire credited Yormark with thinking outside the box and stabilizing the Big 12.

"I know he has a plan to close the gap," McGuire said, "but part of my job is to close it even faster. He said it: Part of my job is to make that team in burnt orange — if that's really a color — if that team leaves, then make sure that they're going to a conference that they can no longer compete in this conference with teams that are in this conference."

In the Big 12 preseason media poll, Texas is picked first, Oklahoma third and Texas Tech fourth among 14 teams. The Red Raiders don't play the Sooners this season.

"There is an opportunity to put the Red Raiders at the forefront of this conference," McGuire said, "and I don't want to wait 'til 2024 when it's a new conference. It's more important to do it in 2023 when those old two are still here so they can understand exactly who runs the Big 12."

Red Raiders' expected three-deep: What will Texas Tech football depth chart look like for the season opener? Our projection

One step closer: Jones AT&T Stadium's new turf installation complete for Texas Tech football

Yormark started as Big 12 commissioner on Aug. 1, 2022. Within his first three months, the Big 12 reached an agreement with ESPN and Fox on a media-rights deal worth nearly $2.3 billion, to run through 2030-31.

By pouncing early, the Big 12 soaked up dollars from the media-rights pool and put the Pac-12 in a tough spot.

"We know there's a (revenue) gap between us and the Big Ten and the SEC," Yormark acknowledged, "but our strategy was two bites of the apple. Let's gain stability and certainty for this conference, and then go back into the marketplace in '31 before the SEC and before the ACC and narrow the gap, and that's what our intention is and was when we were going through this process.

"Getting ahead of the Pac-12 and solidifying that deal with the two biggest distributors in the business gave us momentum for the last year. It was really the catalyst for everything we did."

The Big 12's additions of four Pac-12 schools put the latter, for decades the anchor conference of West Coast college sports, on the brink of extinction. After Colorado moved on July 27, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah agreed on Aug. 4 to join the Big 12, hours after the Big Ten announced it will add Pac-12 members Washington and Oregon.

Yormark made no apologies.

"I don't think about any other conference," he said. "I don't want to be that direct, but I guess I am. I wake up every morning thinking about the Big 12 and how do we become the best version of ourselves. I've been thinking that way since I took the job, and I'll continue to think that way.

"It's my singular focus: realizing our potential, amplifying, elevating everything we do and truly becoming a national conference, which we're becoming. Yes, there's been some consolidation, but I think consolidation brings stability, and no industry is immune to consolidation."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Brett Yormark tells Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire 'you'd better take care of business' against Texas this season