James Blanchard reveals why he turned down Notre Dame GM role

In late January, Notre Dame made a run at Texas Tech general manager James Blanchard. The Fighting Irish looked to take a big swing after losing former GM Chad Bowden to USC, and Blanchard played a key role in putting together the Red Raiders’ top-ranked transfer portal class.

Blanchard met with Notre Dame during the pursuit. However, he ultimately chose to stay in Lubbock under Joey McGuire – and he cited “unfinished business” as a reason for his decision.

Blanchard told Adam Breneman the connection he has with McGuire and the staff, as well as the highly rated transfer class, led him to turn down Notre Dame and other interested programs. He chose to remain at Texas Tech and wants to see the plan through.

“It’s because of the people in Lubbock, because of the people in the community around my children and the people I work with,” Blanchard said on Up Next with Adam Breneman. “Turning down the Notre Dame job was hard. You walk in there, you see Marcus Freeman, this guy’s like a rock star. … He has, like, a glow about him when he walks in the room. You can just tell why he’s so successful. But, man, we had unfinished business here. We had just signed, like, 85% of what became the No. 1 portal class in the country.

“I came here to do something that had never been done at this program before. We’ve never even been to the Big 12 Championship before. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night if I hadn’t accomplished that mission with Coach McGuire.”

Texas Tech landed 21 players from the transfer portal this year as part of a group that ranks No. 1 in the On3 Team Transfer Portal Rankings. The Red Raiders’ most notable addition is former Stanford EDGE David Bailey – the No. 10 overall player and No. 2-ranked EDGE in the On3 Industry Transfer Rankings. All told, Texas Tech has four Top-50 players coming on board.

James Blanchard was a big reason that class came together. As Notre Dame and others pursued him to be their general manager, he opted not to leave. His goal is to help lead Texas Tech to heights it’s never seen.

“People are going to have many times to take other jobs and opportunities,” Blanchard said. “You’re not going to have a lot of times, a lot of opportunities to make history. That was big for me, that was big for our coaching staff. Again, it goes back to the people I work with, the administrators. The AD, Kirby Hocutt, that I work for and the head coach I work for, Joey McGuire.”