Big 12 issues fines to Texas Tech, Kansas after allegations of pocket knife being thrown at Jayhawks

The Big 12 has issued a public reprimand and fine of Texas Tech and a fine of Kansas following a spate of issues during a game over the weekend. The league announced the news on Wednesday afternoon.

Both programs have been fined $25,000 for the incidents. Texas Tech’s fine was for “repeated instances of objects being thrown onto the playing surface,” while Kansas has been fined for “disparaging comments” about the league and a member institution.

In particular, Kansas was fined for an inaccurate statement regarding a pocket knife by head coach Lance Leipold. There was a heated exchange following the game between Leipold and Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire.

“After a formal review, Texas Tech did not take sufficient steps to prevent and deter the repeated throwing of objects onto the field and team bench areas,” Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said in a statement. “Coach Leipold’s comments questioned the integrity and professionalism of both the Conference and a member institution. Both actions warranted a financial penalty. The Big 12 Conference prioritizes integrity and will have no further comment on the matter.”

University police at Texas Tech were investigating after a closed pocketknife was found on the Kansas sideline during Saturday’s game in Lubbock. The knife was discovered early in the fourth quarter of an eventual 42-17 win for the Red Raiders after Cameron Dickey scored a 55-yard touchdown. The athletics department was reportedly working with the Big 12 to review game footage to see if it could find an answer for how it ended up there.

Separately, the Red Raiders received a 15-yard penalty on two separate instances for their fans throwing tortillas on the field Saturday. The school issued a warning to fans on the Jumbotron stating not to throw any item on the field, but the crowd continued nonetheless.

Leipold got into a heated exchange with McGuire during their postgame handshake. It seemed that the throwing items on the field were a big reason why. Leipold appeared to say “That’s bullsh*t” about something, to which McGuire responded, “Coach, I can’t do anything about that. You want me to do something f***ing about it?”

Big 12 officials voted 15-1 this offseason to implement a new rule where a team can be penalized for fans throwing items on the field if they continue to do so after two warnings. Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt was the only one who voted against the measure.

The decision was seen by many as a way to preserve the Red Raiders’ longstanding tradition of throwing tortillas onto the field. Hocutt suggested to fans before this season that they keep the tortilla throwing to the opening kickoff only and otherwise refrain.

Clearly that didn’t happen Saturday and the team is now under plenty of scrutiny for it. McGuire addressed his confrontation with Leipold in his postgame press conference and urged fans to heed the Texas Tech warnings in the future.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “I’m frustrated. I know (Leipold) was frustrated. We’ve got a new rule in this league and we know the rule and we didn’t follow it and we got penalized for it tonight two 15-yard penalties. He was frustrated on that side. We’ve got to be better. We’ve got to find a way to do a better job as a whole, all of us, and we will. …It’s frustrating because it’s kind of like, whenever I talk to the guys, make it about the football. So if you get any kind of extracurricular penalties, you made it about you.

“If you’re throwing tortillas more than once, now it becomes all about you. What really are you? Is that a Red Raider? If you came to the game and you love this team and you’re passionate about this team, but yet you’re gonna throw another tortilla and you know it’s against the rules? So we’ve got to do a better job and I’ve got to do a better job of expressing to the fans how important they are.”

On3’s Chandler Vessels also contributed to this report.