Faith, Leadership, and the Power of Relationships

Dr. David Fraze: That's you do it a little bit more. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Mr.
Holcott, Kirby Hocutt to the stage. Thank you.
So I told you Monday that one of my first calls was to Ryan Young because I've known him for a
long time. And then when I moved to town, Ryan Young said, do you know my friend Kirby? And I'm
like, I think his sons go to school. So I came over to your house and then I realized, hey,
Kirby's a big deal. He's the athletic director. And then his office is better than mine and he
has good coffee. So I go over there every once in a while. But here's what you want to know before
we ever begin. What Ryan remembered about Kirby is the kind of man that he was. He goes to church.
If you go to Monterey, he goes to church with us. I'm going to ask you about his faith here in a
just awesome. And those are his first priorities. And so the second call I made, I told him,
actually the first call, we got to get you in chapel to talk about your faith. So before we
get going further, we were in the same conference in high school. He's a little bit younger. And I
want you to show those pictures if you would. Go ahead. Oh, look at that. That's Kirby as a
Sherman Bearcat. And I'm pretty sure you do have, you know, CTE because those helmets were awful.
and uh where did you have half shirts we had half shirts but look at the forearm pads right
Kirby Hocutt: and that's roll yeah those are those are uh not in style anymore neck rolls forearm pads uh we
Dr. David Fraze: did beach off but over here um he got his master's at ou but he was a three-time big eight if they
remember that's the old conference at kansas state now i got one more picture and we're going to play
wears Waldo just for fun. Look at this one.
Now, just look at him
and I'm going to go.
Which one do you... Point at the one that you think is
Kirby. Who started Raider?
Who was that?
Okay, which one's Kirby?
Bottom right.
Kirby Hocutt: What did he say? He said bottom right.
Dr. David Fraze: That's...
No.
I wish.
I wish.
You see the guy, Kansas State XXL?
Look at him.
Oh, my word.
He was jacked up.
Still an amazing specimen of a man.
This is not off to a good start.
No.
I don't know where this is going.
I did warn you.
And thank you.
We did have an idea.
Okay.
We're not going to talk about this, but I told him you were so nice
the day of the press conference, I didn't watch a press conference about tortillas.
And I said, hey, we think it'd be fun. I'll even clean it up. Josh and I were going to give her
my tortillas. We're like, well, this is going to be a lot of fun. He goes, okay. But for the first
time in a long time, we have our best team, FBS contention, and we're talking tortillas. And I'm
like, oh man, this is so funny. He goes, but whatever you want to do. And then Josh and I,
that night about 1030 or 11, watched the press conference. And we were like, oh no, don't,
don't do that. Don't do that. And I will say the man who prayed for you today, um, actually brought
a pack of tortillas and Josh is like, we're two packs of tortillas and he apologized. And then we,
um, we prayed over you. So, uh, that's the only thing we're gonna say about tortillas
right here, Kirby, in front of all these people. I know a lot about you, but can you tell us
about coming to faith in Jesus and you're walking with Jesus. How did all that begin?
Kirby Hocutt: Well, you got to give me a chance first to...
Tortillas.
Tortillas.
Dr. David Fraze: Okay, go ahead.
You went there.
I tried. I know.
Kirby Hocutt: We've talked a lot about tortillas the last couple of weeks. We've even talked about pocket knives.
If you've followed Texas Tech football and the game against Kansas and how they accused us of
throwing a pocket knife and hitting one of their staff members, but we have it on video of the
object falling from one of their staff's pocket on the ground.
And I heard somebody yell, Arizona State?
Surely there's not a Sun Devil in this crowd, is there?
Somebody was just harassing me.
Dr. David Fraze: Y'all are – we have various denominations, even Sun Devils.
Even Sun Devils.
So that's – we have a conversion process.
Kirby Hocutt: So I wanted to say, I talked to my counterpart here at LCU this morning,
Andrew Sorrells, who I think a lot of.
Andrew was a student athlete at Texas Tech since I've been the athletics director.
We talk frequently.
So I was coming in peace to say horns down tonight, right?
With the Chaps in Austin.
Yep.
So much respect for what Coach Gomez has built here
and hope they go down and give the Longhorns the best shot tonight.
It's good.
Look how clean we're being too.
Dr. David Fraze: That's good.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
Kirby Hocutt: so faith yeah so you know i was born i was raised in a christian home uh faith was always something
that was priority for our family i grew up in the church of christ i grew up going to church
on sunday mornings on sunday nights on wednesday nights grew up active in the youth group grew up
going to Bible bowls and competing there. And so it was always an aspect of our family and of my
childhood. Obviously, my parents raised me that way. I had a grandmother who was very committed
to her faith. I was close to her. I would go stay with her at times. You know, she was always
reading the Bible. She was singing songs. I mean, it didn't matter 24 hours. Did you still hear
Dr. David Fraze: those songs? I'm not going to ask you to sing it, but you remember. I do. They were the old
Kirby Hocutt: traditional Church of Christ hymns and remember it well. So for me growing up, it's not a,
it's really not an exciting story, but it's my story, right? And I think around the fifth grade,
I lived in Sherman, Texas, as you saw up there. And it was one Sunday afternoon after church.
I don't remember a lot of things that happened two days ago, but I remember certain things.
And I remember this. I was in the backseat of my parents' car. We were driving home after church or we were going to lunch.
And I just felt inside of me it's time. It's time to make my faith my own. It's time to get baptized.
It's time to take that step and officially claim that Jesus is the Savior.
And so it was that afternoon that I was baptized, and I remember so clearly after that, leaving the church and driving away, just the peace and the joy that you feel in your heart after that, and just the calmness and the confidence that set over me.
So that was my story. I was raised in the church and around that time in my life, it was just something that I knew it was time and continue to feel that same joy and peace, you know, inside today.
Dr. David Fraze: And why I wanted them to hear that story is getting to see, you know, we met in our 50s, which is different.
and to be able, before I even knew what you were doing
and who you were, if you will,
we talked about a mutual friend.
I'm like, man, these people are hospitable.
And I love leaders that they hold their position lightly
and they serve.
And you could just tell
there's a higher calling on their life.
And you're one of those, I'll just have to say.
And I'd seen your kids, kids don't lie.
And I'm like, these kids are way too good
to have what they have.
Diane is way too sweet for you, like Lisa's too sweet for me.
They, you know, God blesses people like us.
But I'm going to read a few things here because I joke with you all the time.
I'm not so sure I would have your job.
And not just Tortilla Gate, but NIL.
And I don't mean to have post-traumatic stress at NIL.
Oh, my gosh.
Everyone, give money.
But we have a campaign that you're involved with, more than $500 million initiative.
That wasn't just football.
It's 17 programs.
And then the South End Zone, which is $242 million.
And, of course, our mutual friend, that Dustin Wambaugh, I'm not throwing a name.
He's a Lubbock Christian product, and he's a philanthropist, all of that.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
You were Under Armour Athletics Director of the Year, which is a big deal.
Now will you be – is there an Adidas Under Armour – Adidas person of the year?
Kirby Hocutt: Not that I'm aware of.
Well, Patrick can do that.
Dr. David Fraze: So anyway, all of that.
And I have to ask you the question, how does your faith,
that faith that seems so simple but I can testify permeates everything you do,
Marcy, your staff, they like you.
Okay, and how weird is that, that you walk into your office
and people have respect for you?
That's not always the case for high-level leaders.
So your faith has permeated all of these discussions, all of the stress.
How has your faith informed you?
How does that impact your leadership?
Kirby Hocutt: Yeah, that's a good question, David.
I would say this, that I would go back to probably a time early in my professional career.
So it was probably 25 to 28 years ago.
And I continue to be a strong believer on purpose, on mission, on values.
In leadership positions, that is what has to guide you because you do encounter turbulence, right?
Tortillas or this or that or this coach that you hired is not working out
or this segment of your fan base is upset with you for something in particular.
So probably 27, 28 years ago, I said, I've got to identify, I've got to develop a personal mission statement, something that is going to guide me and my actions and how I treat people each and every day.
And, you know, at that time I said, okay, well, Kirby is a Christian husband, father, and professional who consistently focuses on serving and leading while aspiring to achieve God's word.
So Kirby Oket is a Christian husband, father, and professional in that order who consistently focuses on serving and leading while aspiring to achieve God's word.
Dr. David Fraze: You wrote it down, but you haven't memorized.
Kirby Hocutt: Well, I've had it for 25, 30 years now.
And so every couple of years, I will take some time and step back and say, OK, let's update it, Kirby.
Let's reflect.
Let's think about where you are today.
And, you know, I will say that I haven't changed it, even though every couple of years you step back and you think, OK, how can I make this more applicable to where I am in life today?
And, you know, at that time, maybe being engaged to now being married for 26 years and having, you know, a 23-year-old and a 21-year-old son, it's more applicable today than ever.
And it doesn't matter what I encounter in my personal life, in my professional life, in my, you know, in my home.
I'm going to be guided by that same purpose statement each and every day.
And then, of course, you've got your purpose statement for Texas Tech Athletics.
you have your guiding principles, core values for Texas Tech athletics.
But I try to keep my compass pointed north.
I'm not perfect by any means.
I struggle with that purpose statement.
It gets bumpy at times.
It gets rough.
It gets turbulent in any particular situation.
But those are my guideposts.
That's my boundary.
And I make sure I stay within those boundaries and move forward
and try to treat people consistently with that.
Dr. David Fraze: of the things I've been impressed by and I'm going to talk about Wes Kittley for a second Wes is um
I mean if we were a track state there would be like a side of a mountain made up of his face
I mean he is incredible and unfortunately I mean I'm going to say fortunately we love football
but you know I don't think people understand what an incredible coach he is but he spent years
at Abilene Christian. And so he's a person probably like you. I would imagine you just
call him every once in a while and go, give me some wisdom because he just, you know, you call
him and he will shoot straight. He'll say, you're too good of a friend for me not to tell you this,
or I've been down that road. Don't do this. And a lot of us have that kind of connection
with Wes and stuff, another believer over there. But I love his passion to be light,
in a dark place and he just navigates it and being around that staff being around joey
joey has a prayer list and we just pray for things and he's spiritually trying and that comes
from hiring people like that but uh i know it but i just want to know your passion of it is
you got to win championships or you don't have a job that's kind of the business
but y'all really are interested in the whole person when they come whether it's a big NIL
deal or their fourth stringer you want their life to be changed so at the end when they leave
what do you want your student athletes to be like when they leave Texas Tech Athletics what are some
of those values you were talking about yeah and I'm lucky right I get to work with Wes Kittley
Kirby Hocutt: and Joey McGuire every day, and Coach McCasland is obviously very committed
and outspoken about his faith as well.
Simply, I want our athletes to be better than they were when they came.
And college athletics has continued to evolve and change.
I tell our coaches, I tell our athletes, you know,
Nyjah Kennedy, our softball pitcher, she may only be at Texas Tech for two years,
But I want her two years at Texas Tech to be more impactful for her as an athlete
and as a person than her two years were at Stanford.
And so in 10 years, I want her to closely associate
and reflect more fondly on her time as a Red Raider
and be associated with the Red Raiders more than her time as a Stanford Cardinal.
So, you know, with that, it goes into developing the whole person.
And in the NIL landscape that we exist in today, we can't forget about it.
It's about the individual, right?
Nyjah will know what her NIL deal was.
She will know, you know, how many championships she won at Texas Tech.
But that's not what's important.
It will be how we made her feel during those two years.
The wins and losses will come and go.
You forget about those.
But how somebody made you feel, how they influenced your life, that never goes away.
And in today's world and age that we live with these cell phones in front of us all the time
and social media, what people are saying about you, that's nonsense.
It's about connecting in relationships and the impact that you have on others.
So quick story on how we make our athletes feel.
Michelle McCord is the superintendent at Friendship High School,
And she called me last week, and they're having 100 superintendents,
principals come to Lubbock for a meeting in February.
And she said, I want to come.
I want to have our breakfast in the North End Zone Club,
and then I want to take them on a tour through the Womble Football Center.
And she said, Kirby, I came for the Women Behind the Brand program
that Debbie McGuire put on.
And she said, I was so touched by y'all's commitment to the whole person.
And Michelle calls it the whole child.
and everything from nutrition to our equipment attention,
and just our attention to detail to the whole person,
not just who they are as an athlete, but who they are as a person.
And so that's what you want to hear from leaders within our community
and then with our student-athletes.
We're going to be committed to them as a whole person
and make sure that we grow and develop them to be the leaders in our city,
in our state, in our society, and in their families as husbands and wives when they leave us.
Can we applaud that? That's pretty awesome.
Dr. David Fraze: So everything we read on the cell phone is not correct?
I mean, did I hear you say that?
Kirby Hocutt: No. Yes, 100%.
Dr. David Fraze: All right. Well, I've got some things I've been collecting, so I'll keep sending them to you.
That's another random text.
So we have a little bit of time, and some of these individuals here,
We have some incredible students, as you know, and they are going to do great things.
Some of them want to be in sports leadership.
Some of them just want to lead in a business.
Some of them just want to be a good employee.
So here's your chance, okay, anything you would want to tell your kids.
Okay, we can cut the recording if you want.
If they actually just sit and listen.
I have a kid, those kids that age too, it's amazing.
Sometimes they don't hear things.
But here you got them.
What do they need to know if they want to lead with excellence
to the next level of their life when they leave college?
What would you tell them?
Kirby Hocutt: You know, I think the one thing, and I've told both of my boys this,
and I don't know if they heard it or not.
I want to believe they have.
But life is relational.
It's all about relationships.
People want to help people.
And never be afraid to lean in to the relationships that you have,
build and strengthen your relationships each and every day.
You know, people open doors for people.
And once that door is open, then it's up to you.
You will walk through that door and you will earn opportunities based on who you are and your performance.
But every job that I have had, from my first job as an intern at the College Football Association
to becoming the athletics director at Ohio University, the University of Miami, and Texas Tech,
it was all about a relationship.
Somebody helped open the door for me to have the opportunities that I've had.
So, again, just, you know, make sure you treat people good,
you treat people with respect.
I know all of you do.
And cultivate and nurture those relationships
because they will help you accomplish your dreams.
Dr. David Fraze: That's awesome.
And, again, the first thing Ryan said was,
I got a friend over there because I knew Ryan before I knew Kirby,
and that's what he remembered about you
because you were a big-time senior that looked yoked up
and you took care of him.
He was a pretty big knucklehead, he told us, when he was a freshman.
And people looked at you for a leader, and that's awesome.
Kirby Hocutt: I needed Ryan too, right?
You all see me.
How big is Ryan?
His hand is about as big as my head.
Dr. David Fraze: He's scary.
We're about the same size.
Yeah, Ryan was a heck of a football player.
Kirby Hocutt: Just so many stories.
So Monday night I had the opportunity to be in Kansas City,
and it was for Patrick Mahomes' gala.
And it's his foundation, and they raise money for the different communities
that he's been a part of.
And Lubbock, Texas was featured so prominently in those videos,
things that I did not know that his foundation, the 15 of Mahomes,
are contributing back to Lubbock, Texas.
And that's one of the things I've got to help facilitate change
so this community knows what Patrick's doing through his foundation.
But his priorities are Kansas City, Lubbock, and then Tyler, where he grew up.
And that night they gave away $1.5 million to different organizations for youth,
for, you know, food insecurities and the homeless.
It was really one of the most touching events that I've been at.
And I'm like, here's Patrick Mahomes,
who just had a heck of a game against the Oakland Raiders,
and the next night he's out here interacting with us
and raising money to help other people.
It's to give back.
That night I was sitting at a table, and we got seated.
We were seated with the Adidas people that were there
and then Patrick's personal trainer.
And his personal trainer and I started talking,
and before we finished the conversation,
we had put together that we played for G.A. Moore,
the very same high school football coach in the state of Texas,
and it was an instant connection.
And it was not – I don't remember how many games we won
when I played high school football,
but I remember Coach Moore's impact on my life.
Bobby remembered the impact of Coach Moore's impact on our lives –
on his life, and it gave us an immediate connection.
So, you know, how Coach Moore made us feel
that we're still carrying with us two or three decades later,
it just speaks to the impact of relationships.
Dr. David Fraze: Man, that is awesome.
I'm going to – is Steve here?
Gomez?
Oh, he's in Texas. What am I thinking? Thank you for reminding me of our schedule.
If you could stand, everybody stand. Can we turn the house lights up just a little bit?
We got a couple minutes.
I just want us to pray for him and his ministry.
And as we do every once in a while, I know there's something about laying hands on,
but just kind of you have a brother in Christ that is in the middle of this,
and he's given you a lot of information.
And I am just, y'all say this, you're one of us, but you're one of us as well.
And we love to say, recommend Peckham.
That's really good.
Recommend Peckham.
Sometimes people don't like to say Peckham, but it's really awesome.
So recommend Peckham.
Everybody just reach out your hand and let's pray God's blessing.
Father, thank you so much for Kirby and the work that he does for our city,
but also for Texas Tech.
Father, the impact that he has because of the relationships that he has
with people like Patrick Mahomes,
who what a story to give $1.5 million away to people who need things.
Father, thank you that his priorities and values are such that his faith is lived out.
Father, would you give him wisdom?
Would you give him courage as he stands between some really difficult situations?
And, Father, we are thankful that someone in that position,
that when his ministry is over in college and hundreds of years from now,
we're sitting around heaven, people will come to know you better
because of his work at Texas Tech.
So bless him, be with his family, and give him success for your glory.
In Jesus' name we all say, amen.
You are dismissed.
Applause