One of Texas Tech's most significant athletics accomplishments in January didn't happen on the court or on a field.
It happened on a spreadsheet. When Tech athletics submitted its annual financial filing to the NCAA, it reported a drop of $2.5 million in university funding it received. And in the process, the percentage of university dollars Tech used on athletics dwindled closer to zero.
That wasn't the case across the state. According to financial reports obtained through open records requests, the financial gap widened between in-state public athletic departments during the 2017-18 school year.
While the state's three public schools in "power five" conferences -- Tech, Texas and Texas A&M -- are mostly self-sufficient, more than half of the operating revenue for the five public "group of five" schools comes from university funding.