Eric Morris talks Cody Campbell before Texas Tech game

Leave it to Lubbock to make a coaching rumor out of a reunion. The week Oklahoma State plays Texas Tech, the Oklahoman started with the wild version of the story.

Oklahoman Sports

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Texas Tech football booster Cody Campbell could make crazy choice, run at OSU's Eric Morris t.co/QqU5dZGmA8

It's a column, not a report. Nobody is saying Campbell has made a call. But you can see where the idea comes from. Campbell is the billionaire West Texas oilman who pays for a big chunk of Texas Tech athletics, and he wasn't quiet after the Red Raiders lost 37-24 to Cincinnati. "There is no excuse or reason to lose a game like this," he said, and that set off the usual guessing about who could replace Joey McGuire. Eric Morris was one of the names people threw out.

Campbell walked it back a few days later, and he didn't hedge. "Absolutely nothing is going to change at the head coach position at Texas Tech. Joey McGuire is a perfect fit for our program," he said, and he added that McGuire is more likely to get an extension and a raise at the end of the year. So the guy writing the checks has already shot this down. Hot-seat talk in Lubbock never fully goes away, though, and a game against Morris brings it right back.

When Morris got asked about Campbell, he didn't dodge. He gushed.

Oklahoman Sports

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Oklahoma State football coach Eric Morris has 'great relationship' with Cody Campbell t.co/UMb6FjNSrX

This goes back about 20 years. In 2004 Morris was a freshman receiver at Texas Tech and Campbell was a senior offensive lineman, one of the older guys who helped bring him along, with Clay McGuire and John Sellers. Morris went on to coach under Mike Leach in Lubbock, and his ties to the current Tech staff are everywhere. Clay McGuire, Tech's offensive line coach, is his best friend. Offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich used to work for him, and receivers coach Justin Johnson played for him.

Morris knows those people well enough that Oklahoma State reportedly changed its signals and terminology for this game, since Leftwich knows the system. He also doesn't want the week to be about him: "I think anytime you try to make anything about yourself or the past, bad things happen to you." That's the right answer for a coach whose old teammate just got linked to his job in the paper.

In Lubbock, the focus is the game itself, and Drew Mestemaker is the name the Red Raiders are thinking about.

A-J Sports

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Drew Mestemaker front of mind for Texas Tech football against Oklahoma State t.co/jwM2XPHEku

Here's the bottom line. Campbell has publicly backed McGuire, Morris is talking about friendship and not a job, and the "run at Morris" idea only exists as a hypothetical in a column. Still, Morris is a Leach-tree Red Raider with a booster this rich in his corner, and he's coaching against the program that made him. If Tech loses this one, that hypothetical is going to come up a lot louder in West Texas.