Facilities coming in handy for Texas Tech
Texas Tech’s $240-plus million facilities are coming in handy as the Red Raiders prepare for the 2025 season. The Womble Football Center and South Endzone renovations came together to revolutionize the experience for players and fans, alike. With fall camp officially underway, Tech is making good use out of its recovery resources that were a critical part of planning the Womble’s construction.
“It was huge, really every part of this building,” head coach Joey McGuire told the media Thursday. “We want these guys here, we want them here as much as possible. Good things happen when they’re in the building. It went into that, because we’ve pushed so hard. It happened in the spring, but we’ve even added another trainer. We have five full-time trainers because we do push recovery so much. You’ve gotta have somebody, all the trainers handle the cupping and the needling, all the different machines. We had to add somebody else in there just because of the volume of guys that have bought in to taking care of their body.”
Tech well-staffed behind the scenes
The program has placed a major emphasis on recovery and nutrition as sports technology and athletes have evolved. As McGuire noted, Tech football employs five full-time athletic trainers, headed by Michael Ramirez. Director of Football Nutrition Gentry Hicks and dietitian Carly Ponder ensure the Red Raiders are properly fueled before and after intense practices. The operation to craft athletes capable of winning games extends well beyond the on-field staff. With so many resources available for recovery, McGuire has even been prompted to take advantage.
“I have a couple times,” McGuire said, with a smirk. “The morning I dropped Mack (Leftwich) off at the airport, I picked him up around 4:45 a.m. and dropped him off at the airport. Instead of going home, I came up here and got in one of the nap pods and took me a 30 minute nap before my day started. I’ve done it a couple times, it’s some really good stuff.”
Facilities coming in handy for daily operations
It’s a night-and-day difference for Texas Tech entering the fall of 2025 compared to 2024. The team did not move into the Womble until midway through last campaign. The Red Raiders reaped the full benefits using the facilities during spring ball, but being able to use them right before the season has already made a difference in the day-to-day operations.
“It is huge, even last night I was thinking back, we were getting ready to have a team meeting, and at this time last year we’re in the south endzone in a makeshift team room,” McGuire remarked. “Sometimes I forget we’re going up into our team meeting. Last year we were in ‘Fort Ramirez’ which was a makeshift training room. It was just a box. Now we’re walking into a state-of-the-art. All of this, then the other thing is it’s so much more efficient. You had to really schedule in some travel time, now we’re able to get in and out of stuff and it makes a huge difference.”
