Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury is known as one of the “cooler” figures in the world of college football. The 37-year-old former quarterback is a popular figure based on his charisma and unquestioned good looks. However, Kingsbury’s latest reveal when it comes to social media and his players is sure to create a stir.
In an interview with former NFL linebacker and Ohio State star A.J. Hawk on The Hawkcast, Kingsbury was asked about the process of monitoring the social media activity of his players and he gave an interesting response:
We have fake accounts with cute girls that they add right now, so we can kind of see what’s going on, who’s tweeting what. Those are heavily monitored for sure.
This portion of the interview occurs at the 21:39 mark and Kingsbury did not shy away from the idea that his coaching staff is creating misleading accounts in order to, effectively, “Catfish” his players. From there, Kingsbury went on to draw a line somewhere prior to “Catfish”-ing, but not by a wide margin (h/t Mediaite):
Hawk: So you’ve got, like, undercover cops posing as girls.
Kingsbury: Posing as cute, co-ed girls, yes.
Hawk: The players know this, don’t they?
Kingsbury: I think they do. But, you know, they can’t resist that.
Hawk: Of course they can’t. They’ve got five million 18, 19-year-old girls reaching out to them.
Kingsbury: That friend request from a cute girl is an automatic follow.
Hawk: Do you guys ever, like, troll them with those fake accounts and ask them to send pics and see what their judgment’s like?
Kingsbury: We probably could get there. Catfish them, all that deal. But no.
Because Kingsbury and his staff are not actually following through with any sort of “meeting” with the players, this policy could be seen as passable for some, but on the other end, it is certainly creepy. It does not seem to be a bold declaration to suggest that Texas Tech isn’t the only program in the country executing something like this on a regular basis, but Kingsbury isn’t being shy about it, indicating that he believes there is nothing out of the ordinary happening in Lubbock.
Social media evaluation is an ever-evolving practice in the world of college sports and Texas Tech’s head coach just doesn’t seem to care how his staff gets the job done.
