Joey McGuire breaks down ‘fun’ Texas Tech offseason, ‘aggressive’ moves

It’s no secret that Texas Tech was one of the biggest winners of this 2025 offseason. The Red Raiders enter this fall having acquired the No. 1 transfer portal class, and all signs point toward Joey McGuire’s squad being at team that can make a major splash in the Big 12 this season.

Prior to this offseason, McGuire has led the Red Raiders to three-straight seasons of seven wins or better to begin his tenure. However, Texas Tech is trying to break past that glass ceiling in 2025.

Their effort toward that goal started in the transfer portal, and only time will tell if their fierce presence on the recruiting trail pays off. To McGuire, it already seems like it has behind the scenes.

“It’s been a fun offseason,” McGuire said on stage at Big 12 Media Days. “We were really aggressive whenever it came to the portal and meeting some of our needs for the football team. I’ve been really proud of those guys. You always look at what’s the feel in the locker room, culturally, the standard that we practice at. But then other things like, this is the third semester in a row that we’ve had a 3.0 or better as a GPA.

“We brought in all those new guys. A lot of them have already graduated from college, but are still taking 12 hours (of courses), and we’re able to do that in the classroom.”

With many programs taking more than a dozen players from the NCAA transfer portal each offseason — in Texas Tech’s case, 21 — it’s not easy to have each player buy into the culture McGuire has embedded into the Red Raiders program.

It appears that McGuire’s players are bought in, and Texas Tech’s recent wins in the transfer portal and on the recruiting trail are a testament to that. With those victories, success is expected to follow.

“I know there’s a lot of expectations on the team — we look at it as opportunities,” McGuire continued. “… Expectation or opportunities. It’s all perspective, and we look at it like we have a great opportunity. I think this conference is really strong. There’s a lot of teams that have some big opportunities this year to really make a statement, and we’re planning on being one of them.”

The Red Raiders will begin their 2025 college football season on Saturday, Aug. 30 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. After a three non-conference matchups, Texas Tech will begin Big 12 action against Utah during Week 4.

Their conference slate features the likes of Arizona State, Kansas State and BYU. It also includes interesting matchups against West Virginia and UCF, both of which have new head coaches.