Joey McGuire describes himself as a high school coach who coaches college football. He is, after all, a Texas native who won three state championships under the Friday night lights.
After transitioning into college coaching for the past five years, McGuire was the head coach at Texas Tech and an assistant at Baylor, one of the state’s other Big 12 schools and the reigning conference champion. He brought an infectious enthusiasm to a fan base looking to earn a title of its own.
“People say, ‘How long is this going to take?’ Well, it’s my job to speed up the process,” McGuire said. “You know, I want it to happen this year, no doubt, and I know the team does.
Considering the Red Raiders haven’t had a winning record in a Big 12 game since Mike Leach’s final season on the Lubbock campus in 2009, that could be a significant turnaround. -Coached Mississippi State, finishing over .500 for the first time in six seasons.
Regardless of their record this year, McGuire is building a strong foundation in his first collegiate head coaching career.
His relationship with Texas high school coaches is having a big impact on recruiting. The school announced plans to build a four-story building in the stadium’s south end zone with new locker rooms and offices, a $200 million project, along with a new two-story training facility. And the current players have welcomed their new coach.
“I believed (players) would buy into what we wanted to do, but I didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it did,” McGuire said. “The confidence the players have put in us and how hard they’ve worked has been amazing.”
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Former Oregon transfer Tyler Shaw threw for 872 yards and six touchdowns in four games last season before suffering a broken collarbone. Donovan Smith has started the last four games, including a kickoff return, and redshirt freshman Beren Morton is also in the mix at quarterback.
McGuire describes him as a “three-horse race” starter, but expects to use multiple quarterbacks.
“If Donovan Smith doesn’t win the job, I’d be crazy not to have a 6-5, 240-pound quarterback who doesn’t run at the goal line,” the coach said.
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Cedar Hill High in the Dallas area had never won a game in 14 seasons prior to McGuire’s three championships. In the year
McGuire remained with the Bears on coach Dave Aranda’s staff, and Tech hired him in November to replace the fired Matt Wells while they were en route to winning the Big 12 championship. McGuire left immediately to start a job in Lubbock, and interim coach Sonny Cumbie ended the season at home.
Back in tech
New offensive coordinator Zach Keightley is familiar with Lubbock and high-scoring offenses.
After receiving big numbers last year at Houston Baptist, Keightley was the OC at Western Kentucky last season, averaging 535 yards and 44 points per game. His father is Tech’s longest-time NCAA championship-winning track coach. The younger Keatley worked with Kliff Kingsbury from 2013-17, moving from student assistant to graduate assistant and then assistant QBs coach Patrick Mahomes starting for the Red Raiders.
“He says we have Air Raid concepts, but we’re not real Air Raid,” McGuire said of Keatley. “He said in the interview, ‘Coach, I’m going to get our best 11 players, put them on the field, and we’re going to get a lot of points,'” he said.
Games
The season opener on Sept. 3 against Murray State is the first in seven home games for the Red Raiders. Five of those are Big 12 games, with No. 9 Oklahoma, No. 10 Baylor and Texas visiting Lubbock. There are back-to-back non-conference games against top 25 teams when they host future Big 12 team No. 24 Houston on Sept. 10, then travel to No. 13 North Carolina State the following week.
