Fox Sports conducts anonymous player poll at Big 12 Media Days

By Matt Tait     Jul 23, 2014

The guys and gals at Fox Sports Southwest conducted an anonymous player poll of all Big 12 football players in attendance at Big 12 media days earlier this week in Dallas.

The results, which they published Tuesday, had a little more KU football flavor than I expected.

Here’s a quick look at the questions and the noteworthy KU answers. Check out the link for the rest of the answers.

**1. Who is the Big 12’s best team?**

*Not surprisingly, KU received no votes.*

**2. Who is the Big 12’s most overrated team entering 2014?**

*Somewhat surprisingly, KU received 3 percent of the votes here, which means exactly one of the 39 players polled mentioned KU. If there’s one thing I would think Kansas would avoid being called it’s overrated. But, hey, to each his own. No explanation was given.*

**3. Which Big 12 coach would you most like to play for?**

*Players were not allowed to say their own coach here and KU coach Charlie Weis received 3 percent of the votes, with one player saying: “The first game we played KU, he was the first coach who ever found his way through the crowd and found me. He shook my hand and told me I did a good job and it was just shocking.”*

**4. Which coach would you least like to play for?**

*Weis tied with TCU coach Gary Patterson for the top honor here, with each receiving 18 percent of the votes, or the nod from seven different players. The lone explanation here was brief: “He just hasn’t been that successful.”*

**5. Which Big 12 school has the best fans?**

As you might have guessed, KU received no votes.

**6. Which Big 12 school has the worst fans?**

*This one might sting a little for some of you, as 40 percent (16 players) voted Kansas in a runaway. It doesn’t sound like KU’s reputation for having the Big 12’s worst football fans came from their vulgar behavior or nasty ways. Quite the opposite, in fact. Said one player: “Their fans don’t show up. They’re a basketball school.” … “They’re too into basketball.” … “The stands were like half full.”*

Check out the full results for more on which programs the players themselves think have the best, and worst, players, coaches and fans in the Big 12.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.