It’s early, but Joey McGuire’s enthusiasm has ‘reinvigorated’ Texas Tech football

So much has happened, and Joey McGuire has yet to coach his first game at Texas Tech.

Since McGuire was hired as Tech’s new football coach Nov. 8, the over-the-top enthusiasm he showed at his opening press conference has spread throughout the program, the school and the fan base.

“Well, the first thing that has come to my mind is that Joey McGuire has awakened a powerful and passionate fan base,” athletic director Kirby Hocutt said in a telephone interview.

“It’s re-energized, reinvigorated a fan base in a state where football is king. Red Raider Nation, I have not seen as enthusiastic and as excited for this program and the season ahead in a very long time.”

Yes, Hocutt is excited. No, it’s not all hyperbole. Consider what’s happened since McGuire’s hire:

• Under interim coach Sonny Cumbie, Tech beat Mississippi State 34-7 in the Liberty Bowl, posting its first postseason win since 2013. While McGuire hadn’t yet officially taken over as coach, Hocutt saw a carryover affect.

“It also goes back to Dec. 28 and that night being able to beat Mississippi State, an SEC team, in the manner in which we beat them signaled something very significant to this fan base,” Hocutt said. “Obviously, these young men were excited about coach McGuire, they were excited about their future and they proved on a big stage just what we’re capable of achieving.”

• In July, Tech announced a $200 million investment into Jones AT&T Stadium. The plan will include a four-story structure that will connect to the new Womble Football Center. Hocutt called it the largest football development training center in the country as measured by square footage.

“Well, I think the biggest thing is it shows that we are committed to excellence,” McGuire said, adding that the project “shows that we’re serious about our athletics at the university and that we’re serious about being the best of the best, so that’s the plan.”

• A non-profit collective of Tech donors and boosters dubbed the Matador Club announced a major NIL initiative. All 85 scholarship players and 15 walk-ons will be guaranteed $25,000 each on one-year contracts.

“The world has changed from an athletic standpoint,” Matador Club board of director Cody Campbell told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. “NIL has changed things so Texas Tech has step up and play the game.”

The egalitarian nature of the contracts appealed to McGuire’s desire to build locker room chemistry.

“There’s nobody looking around saying, ‘What’s this freshman doing?’ ‘What’s this transfer doing?” McGuire said earlier this month as Tech reported. “I think you’re going to see a lot of things over the next few months in college athletics. There’s going to be a lot of chaos, and no telling what kind of feelings people are going to have for each other in that locker room.”

Combined, the stadium project and NIL initiative answered skeptics about Tech’s ability to compete in the brave new world of college athletics, Hocutt said.

“I would dare anybody to say that Texas Tech can’t compete in any arena or any field in intercollegiate athletics,” Hocutt said. “What people forget is we’re a large growing public university. And yes, west Texas is our home and we’re very proud of that. But the fan base and the alumni base that we have in the Dallas-Fort Worth market is second to none.”

Hocutt pointed to TCU making Red Raiders fans buy tickets to three home football games to attend the Tech at TCU game this season.

“All you have to do is look at what TCU did this year to try to prevent our fans from coming to the football game in Fort Worth because they know Red Raiders would overtake that stadium,” Hocutt said.

Tech fans have a history of making their presence known.

Last season, the Red Raiders effectively hijacked the Erwin Center at Texas, turning it into a defacto Tech home men’s basketball game.

“I would argue there’s no fan base in the country as passionate as the Red Raiders and they support our athletics program as passionately as any program in the country,” Hocutt said.

“I think our student-athletes have demonstrated how we can compete nationally in basketball, baseball, track and golf. We just got to get to that level in football — and it’s happening right now.”

That’s the hope at Tech – and the challenge.

Since Mike Leach was fired in 2009, Tech hasn’t finished .500 or better in the Big 12. The coaches included a current U.S. Senator (Tommy Tuberville), a current NFL coach (Kliff Kingsbury) and a gamble from the Group of Five (Matt Wells, let go during midseason last year).

The bowl victory against Mississippi State ended a streak of five consecutive losing seasons.

McGuire’s resume is a run of success from state titles at Cedar Hill High School to assisting Matt Rhule and Dave Aranda at Baylor.

“He saw something special at Texas Tech, which there is,” Tech defensive lineman Tyree Wilson said at Big 12 media days. “We just needed the right person to run it and I think he’s the right person.”

Hocutt remembers the first meeting with McGuire in a conference room at the Waco Airport. McGuire excused himself at one point, and Hocutt surveyed the search committee.

“I looked at other members and I remember saying, ‘Y’all feel the way I do? I believe we have our guy now,” Hocutt said.

Nothing is assured for this season, even with some solid coaching staff hires led by offensive coordinator Blake Kittley and defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter.

There is a starting quarterback to be named, maybe as early as the weekend, from a three-way competition. Tech needs to find some playmakers among the receivers. The defense has to be better – a long-standing concern in Lubbock.

The non-conference schedule with games against No. 24 Houston and at No. 13 North Carolina State might mean a slow start and growing pains.

“I don’t know how far away we are,” Hocutt said. “I don’t know what this season will hold for us. But I know it’s trending in the right direction.”

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