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Five of the ten current head coaches in the Big 12 took the podium Wednesday for Day 1 of Big 12 Media Days. Let's take a look at some of the best quotes of the day.

Dave Aranda - Baylor

Baylor head coach Dave Aranda at the 2022 Big 12 Media Days.

"To get where you're going, you have to start where you are."

"People in general have a way of getting in their own way."

"Just the strengths and power that comes with  living fully who you are and not trying to be anybody else and knowing that you're enough, I think that's such a strong thing, and I think football is a great vehicle for that."

"There's a book by Shawn Ginwright called The Four Pivots. it's about social change. it's really good. I think there's some points in there where he talks about going from transactional to transformational, and he talks about going from a lens to a mirror, where we're all kind of trained to critique  and label and look out, but the hardest look is looking in the mirror. As they say, the mirror doesn't lie. So that's a good one.

"What's real is what is happening in the day-to-day in your locker room, in your weight room, in your cafeteria, how the team is handling each other or how they're handling situations and all of it; are we becoming a player-led team? Do we still need to be a coach-led team?"

Lance Leipold - Kansas

Lance Leipold, Kansas head coach, at the 2022 Big 12 Media Days.

"What we took from that win and-well, I think the one thing, again, when you all know, or mostly know, these young men and some of the guys that are here with us today have gone through multiple head coaches, not just one or two. Some are on three. Some have had--Earl Bostick Jr., our offensive tackles had at least eight position coaches. That's not normal, and it's really not fair."

"it made it easier to walk in some Texas high schools, to be quite honest, that there may be that chance that maybe we didn't get on young men before. Now we have to build upon it, but it's definitely something positive. But I know that Coach Sarkisian and that program is going to be--we probably hit them at a time when they were in a struggle and were able to take advantage of it, but we know obviously this is a new year, new challenges."

Neal Brown - West Virginia

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown at the 2022 Big 12 Media Days.

"We're never going to lose what makes West Virginia special, and that's toughness. We really try to mirror the mindset of our state, and West Virginia. it's a blue-collar group that goes to work, and are really proud of their heritage."

"I should expect a Lubbock guy to talk about Graham [Harrell], right? No, here's what Graham has brought. He's brought a different energy about him. He's confident without being arrogant. he's extremely humble. It helps that he was a great player in this league, and I think the gets the players' attention on your current roster but also in recruiting. He's had great success at not only USC but at North Texas, as well. He's been able to have success with different types of players and different types of offenses."

"You know, I think that we live in an era now where there's a lot of pulls on our players' times, and the ability to manage time, not only for the student-athletes but for the staff, for myself, gets harder and harder."

Chris Klieman - Kansas State

Kansas State head coach Chris Kleiman at the 2022 Big 12 Media Days.

"Felix, a couple of things. One, he's as good a practice player as he is a game player in the fact of he goes and goes hard. He watched Wyatt Hubert during that COVID year, of how to train and how to work your body and how to play so dang hard play after play. He's got a lot of confidence now, and I'm excited because I think Felix had a breakout season last year. And I think fi you ask him, I think he can be better, and he thinks he can be better, as well, especially when you put the surrounding pieces around him, because we have most of our defense line back that it's hard to just double somebody. But Felix is so smart and understands the game. I give a lot of credit to Coach Wyatt and Coach Tui for putting him in positions, and then Felix in making sure that he's watching enough field and seeing tendencies. But I'm excited, Felix is a terrific football player and one of our better leaders as well."

Mike Gundy - Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy at the 2022 Big 12 Media Days.

" Still to this day at times when I wake up in the middle of the night, games such as a championship game will come across my mind, more so than even games where we had a lot of success for whatever reason. "

"There is a power struggle for long-term television money. The Big 12 is better of today than it was at this time last year."

"Well, we all know, conference realignment, it's kind of almost the old Karen Carpenter, 'We've only just begun' concept. I think it's just getting started, in my opinion. 

"Rob Glass [strength and conditioning coach]  could very well be the single most important part of Oklahoma State football, and that's including the head coach."

"Adapt and adjust or get out of the game."

"Things are changing. I really never wanted to go from the flip phone to this phone. I liked the flip phone better but they said you had to get text messages so I made the change."


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