Kirby Hocutt and TCU AD trade jabs on social media over TCU ticket policy

There's no denying that Texas Tech and TCU don't care for each other. On Friday, that growing Big 12 rivalry added another fun chapter when Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt took to social media to take a shot at a TCU policy that infuriates many Red Raider fans.

This fall, the Red Raider football team will play the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth. That's an opportunity for the massive Texas Tech following in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to see their team in person.

However, TCU knows that Tech's passionate fan base could easily fill up 40% of Amon G. Carter stadium on any given Saturday. So to try to keep Tech fans out of that game, TCU has decided not to sell single-game tickets for the Red Raiders' visit. Instead, the only way to get a ticket to that game through the TCU athletic department is to buy season tickets or a special package that includes tickets to other TCU games.

Of course, Red Raider fans will still buy plenty of tickets to this game through the secondary market. However, being singled out by TCU has not made the Texas Tech faithful happy.

Obviously, Hocutt is aware of this TCU policy and he decided to poke fun at it with a posting on X on Friday. Posting a copy of a statement from TCU that, in part, reminded fans that the Texas Tech game won't have single-game tickets available, Hocutt tagged TCU's AD Jeremiah Donati in a post that said "Red Raider nation, at Texas Tech, our season tickets are sold out. Single-game tickets (for ALL 7 home games) are going at a record pace. Hey, @JDonati_TCU, we can fill your stadium too if you let us."

Of course, Hocutt decided to capitalize the word "all" when talking about single-game tickets being on sale for all seven home games to take a shot at TCU's policy. And naturally, Donati had a response.

He posted in reply, "Plenty of good bars and restaurants around Fort Worth for them to watch. The stadium will be purple."

What's funny for Tech fans is that everyone knows that TCU often struggles to fill up its own stadium. Despite needing only 46,000 fans to fill Amon G. Carter Stadium and living in a metro area of some seven million people, TCU often plays in front of large swaths of empty seats.

Therefore, the Frogs' plan to try to keep Red Raiders out of the stadium this fall likely won't work. This policy was in place when Tech played in Fort Worth in football in 2022 and there was a significant chunk of red in the stadium that day.

As for the exchange between Hocutt and Donati, it's another log on the fire that is the rivalry between the two schools. It is reminiscent of the cactus movement of the summer of 2022 when Red Raider fans were offended when TCU recruiting coordinator and offensive analyst, Bryan Carrington, posted a tweet calling out Texas Tech for "attempting to 'build their a brand' in a desert."

After that, the cactus emoji became a rallying symbol for Texas Tech fans. What's more, a group of Red Raiders even ordered dozens of cacti to be delivered to Carrington's office in Fort Worth.

Ultimately, this is great for the Red Raiders and the Horned Frogs. Both teams could use some extra rivalries in the new landscape of the Big 12 and the more dislike and jabbing there is between the two schools, the more this rivalry will grow.

So Red Raider fans would love to see Hocutt keep firing away at Donati whenever possible. Of course, it is going to be imperative that Tech also takes care of business on the field when this game rolls around, or else all the barbs and jabs could backfire.