How an influx of NIL money changed Joey McGuire's job overnight at Texas Tech: 'It's time to win'

When Joey McGuire was 31 years old and promoted to head coach of Cedar Hill (Texas) High School, he replaced Robert Woods, a coach who is now in the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame.

Shortly after Woods was fired, the Dallas Morning News ran an article with a statement from Cedar Hill’s superintendent providing context on the move. The reason for the firing? Cedar Hill wasn’t winning enough games.

“That’s a coach’s life right there,” McGuire told On3 on Tuesday. “I’m 31 years old and it told me right there if you want to keep your job, you have to win. I look at it that way every year.”

McGuire has traversed his entire coaching career — through 20 years at the high school level and now at Texas Tech — understanding he’s not in the coaching business. He’s in the winning business. Which makes his unique situation at Texas Tech more emotionally manageable.

The unique part? McGuire’s job changed this offseason. Texas Tech went a program that’s fine with a slow and sturdy build and added jet fuel to the expectations. When McGuire was hired, he was brought in to lean on his high school connections in the state of Texas, identify under-valued prospects, increase the athletic level of the Red Raiders’ roster and slowly build a winner with staying power.

Now? Things are being sped up. Super-booster Cody Campbell, an oil baron who sold his oil and natural gas company Double Eagle in February for north of $4 billion, has infused money into the program through NIL. Now you could make the case Texas Tech has the most talented roster in the Big 12. That happened overnight.

Immediate expectations followed. The funny thing about wealthy people who make hefty investments is they want a return on that money. And in Texas Tech’s case, that means competing for the Big 12 title — and maybe a spot in the College Football Playoff — as soon as this year.

It doesn’t matter McGuire is only the second head coach in program history to get the Red Raiders to a bowl appearance in his first three seasons — joining the late, great Mike Leach. It doesn’t matter Texas Tech combined for 23 wins in McGuire’s first three seasons, matching Leach (again) for the most by a head coach in that span in school history. You’ll still hear statements like “Big 12 title game or bust” and “if he doesn’t win, he could be gone.”

This is the world of NIL, where a coach can see his circumstances change through no fault of his own. The goalposts moved quickly as it pertains to what’s expected of McGuire after he was hired. Yes, he always expected to win, but when he took the job, did he feel like it was CFP or bust in year four? Probably not.

Texas Tech, because of NIL, is a different job than the one he took.

“It’s time to win,” McGuire said. “Is there more pressure this year? 100 percent. But I’d rather be in this situation. I’d rather be in the situation I’m in than being the guy who is like, ‘man, we have to have a lot of stuff go our way.’ There are teams deeper than others where you can withstand some things, where in the past we couldn’t sustain them. We couldn’t handle losing our left guard last year because we basically had six linemen who could play at this level and now we have nine.

“I love where we’re at. I’m telling you. This is better.”

Texas Tech overhauled its roster through the portal this offseason, bringing in roughly 20 players. The Red Raiders attacked the lines of scrimmage in this portal class. It landed UCF transfer Lee Hunter, a second-team All-Big 12 honoree last year. It also added edge rusher Romello Height from Georgia Tech, cornerback Brice Pollock from Mississippi State, defensive lineman Skyler Gill-Howard from Northern Illinois and safety Cole Wisniewski from North Dakota State. Texas Tech beefed off their lines and bolstered a secondary that was pretty porous a year ago. 

The Big 12 is there for the taking. With Texas and Oklahoma now in the SEC, Texas Tech’s conference is filled with 16 teams who all believe they have a shot to win at the highest level. Arizona State, the favorite to win the conference this season, won it a year ago after being projected last in most preseason polls. The spreads of these games are usually 3.5, and unlike other conferences, it seems the worst teams beat the bet with more regularity.

Texas Tech has to rise above it.

Last year, the Red Raiders finished 8-5. McGuire isn’t shy about referring to that as a disappointment, even if Texas Tech beat both teams who participated in last year’s Big 12 Championship Game. He understands with this roster — and the money spent to acquire it — there’s no room for another one.

“We said we were going to take X number of DBs, then we took five or six,” McGuire said. “People at a high level kept saying ‘yes.’ I’m so fired up, but of course there’s pressure. People say different things to me and everything they say to me I’ve said to myself 10 times before they even thought of it. I don’t see the pressure as a bad thing, whereas some people would.

“Whatever happens, at least you know you have a roster where you can say you have the bullets in the gun to go friggin’ fight our tails off and see what happens. It’s all on me and us coaches to get this thing to come together. I’d rather have it this way than hoping we’re good enough to get to a bowl.”