Joey McGuire arrived in Lubbock as the new head football coach of the Red Raiders with one simple goal: to make Texas Tech the hardest working, toughest, most competitive team in the country. The first-year college head coach knows the end results won’t show up right away during his tenure.
McGuire, who won three state championships as the head coach of Cedar Hill High School south of Dallas, watched Matt Rhule go 1-11 in his first year at Baylor. He watched Dave Aranda go 2-7 in his first year in Waco. Both of those coaches played for a Big 12 championship within three seasons. Aranda won the Big 12 Conference in 2021.
“If you’re a Red Raider, you’re going to be proud of how hard we play,” McGuire explained. “And we’re going to play hard because of how much we care about each other. The results will come after the process.”
McGuire is developing the Red Raiders into his image. Players describe the new coach as energetic and upbeat. Texas Tech went 7-6 in 2021 with a bowl victory over Mississippi State and former head coach Mike Leach. McGuire, despite being the opposite of Leach in nearly every imaginable way, wants to return Texas Tech to those glory years under The Pirate.
McGuire is the fourth head coach since Leach’s exit from Lubbock. Leach won nine games in his last season at Texas Tech (2009). The Red Raiders haven’t reached those heights since. The Red Raiders won eight games in three of the four seasons after Leach left but haven’t topped seven wins since. The 2021 season was the first winning record for Texas Tech since 2015.
Sign In