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Joey McGuire's vision for Texas Tech football has come to fruition | Giese
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- Joey McGuire's vision for Texas Tech football has come to fruition | Giese
ARLINGTON — About four years ago, Joey McGuire was introduced as the new head coach of the Texas Tech football team .
His arrival didn't receive the pomp and circumstance treatment that coaches before him had. McGuire's introductory press conference wasn't held in a basketball arena or on the football field where he would soon roam the sidelines as the leader of the Red Raiders .
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While McGuire was officially greeted by Texas Tech fans in Jones AT&T Stadium, the event was held on the second-floor suite level, with enough space for about 100 Red Raider coaches, administrators, and supporters to get a look at the new guy in town.
Before he spoke of his vision for the program and what he brought to the table with his years of experience as a Texas high school football coach, McGuire started with a "Raider Power" call-and-response chant, which has since become a trademark of his at any public setting.
At the time he first bellowed the Texas Tech rallying cry, there was some question about what, exactly, the program would become under his watch. Mediocrity, McGuire said, wasn't going to be acceptable. He proved that in his first three years at the helm, but there was always more to be obtained.
Why couldn't Texas Tech become the new standard in the Big 12? With Texas and Oklahoma heading for high water with the SEC, shouldn't the Red Raiders go for it and become the model program of this new-look conference?
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It seemed fishy. Texas Tech? Really? A football juggernaut? Even with all the moves in the transfer portal, the NIL funds ponied up by Cody Campbell and The Matador Club, would this actually work? In Lubbock, of all places?
The answer was emphatic and boisterous. A 12th victory by 20 points or more. A defense that only strengthened as the game wore on. An offense that was able to take chances but not rely on big plays to keep up with the opposition.
For the first time in decades, it was the Red Raiders dictating the tempo, the speed, and physicality. All things McGuire set out to do on that riser in a suite at The Jones some 49 months ago.
McGuire returned to another AT&T Stadium, this one home of his beloved Dallas Cowboys , and took the victory lap he'll relish for the rest of his life. With the Big 12 Championship trophy nestled in his arms, McGuire didn't allow ESPN reporter Katie George to get a question in before his most powerful "Raider Power" chant to date.
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This one didn't come in a suite with a few hundred people on hand. It came in the stadium where he found his first great successes as a head coach, surrounded by a record-breaking 85,519 fans — the majority of them Red Raiders — and millions more watching on ABC. The Red Raider revolution is being televised for the world to see.
Earlier this week, McGuire said during his Monday press conference that he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. That became even more evident when he landed a new seven-year deal to tie him to Texas Tech through the 2032 season.
How many more "Raider Power" chants does McGuire have in store between now and then?
Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire stands with commissioner Brett Yormark (middle) and ESPN's Katie Georgie after winning Big 12 Championship football game, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2025, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: How much higher can Joey McGuire take Texas Tech football?
