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Oklahoma State coach dishes on massive Texas Tech NIL program

Joe Cox

Oklahoma State interim coach Doug Meacham spoke about Texas Tech's massive NIL boosters in a press conference.
Oklahoma State interim coach Doug Meacham spoke about Texas Tech's massive NIL boosters in a press conference. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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One of the unofficial rules of NIL is that, not unlike fight club, nobody talks about NIL. Apparently nobody told the rule to Oklahoma State interim coach Doug Meacham. Meacham spoke about Texas Tech's NIL situation in a press conference.

Not using it as an excuse, because every school is doing the best that they can to do and come up with what they can come up with. But I think they have a couple of individuals that have given them, I don't know, five times more than anyone else on the planet. So it helps. So that's impressive.

- Doug Meacham

It's not readily apparent exactly who Meacham was referencing, but Tech certainly has some high-wattage backers who have infested massive sums in supporting Tech sports. Cody Campbell (who is depicted in the post above below Meacham) is an oil billionaire who has personally donated $25 million and founded The Matador Club, which has raised an additional $63 million for Tech sports.

John Sellers is another big Tech backer who has worked in business with Campbell. Sellers and his wife Tracy, both of whom were athletes at Tech, donated $11 million to the University in 2022 to help fund athletics. Campbell and Sellers sold their corporation, Double Eagle, for just over $4 billion earlier in 2025, so that particular well of donation is probably going to remain active.

With their massive fundraising, recent reports indicated that Tech spent $28 million in NIL deals in the offseason, ranking second in the nation behind only in-state rival Texas.

If Doug Meacham seemed a bit at a loss for the brave new world of college football funding, it's because he's an interim coach with his feel still firmly planted in the old era. The 60-year old Meacham is an Oklahoma State alum who is in his third stint coaching at the school. He had been hired as the offensive coordinator under coach Mike Gundy, but after Gundy's 1-2 start, he became the interim head coach. While Meacham is trying to keep up in the Big 12, his comments make clear that keeping up with Tech would involve some financial heavy lifting.

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Joe Cox
JOE COX

Joe is a journalist and writer who covers college and professional sports. He has written or co-written over a dozen sports books, including several regional best sellers. His last book, A Fine Team Man, is about Jackie Robinson and the lives he changed. Joe has been a guest on MLB Network, the Paul Finebaum show and numerous other television and radio shows. He has been inside MLB dugouts, covered bowl games and conference tournaments with Saturday Down South and still loves telling the stories of sports past and present.

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