Texas Tech to hire Baylor’s Joey McGuire as next football coach – The Dallas Morning News
Texas Tech checked one big box on its to-do list with the hire Monday of Joey McGuire as its new football coach.
Tech wanted someone with deep roots in the state and strong connections to high school coaches. McGuire, an associate head…….
Texas Tech checked one big box on its to-do list with the hire Monday of Joey McGuire as its new football coach.
Tech wanted someone with deep roots in the state and strong connections to high school coaches. McGuire, an associate head coach at Baylor who won three Texas UIL championships at Cedar Hill, definitely qualifies.
A press conference is scheduled for noon Tuesday at the west stadium building of Jones AT&T Stadium with fans invited.
“We are excited for this new chapter in Texas Tech football under the direction of coach McGuire,” Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt said in a statement. “Our search committee was impressed from the outset not only with his significant ties throughout the state of Texas but his enthusiasm and desire to serve as the head coach at Texas Tech.”
At the same time, the 51-year-old McGuire is only five years removed from high school and has never been a head coach or coordinator in college.
While initially well received, the hire is also a gamble for Hocutt, the search committee and the Tech administration who needs a home-run hire. Matt Wells, imported from Utah State with no real Texas ties, was fired two weeks ago with a 13-17 record including 7-16 in the Big 12.
Mike Leach back in 2009 was the last coach to post a .500 record in the Big 12 and have sustained success overall, taking Tech to No. 2 in the BCS rankings in 2008.
Ever since the dismissal of Leach, the Tech fan base has been divided as the program struggled under Tommy Tuberville, Kliff Kingsbury and Wells.
At Tech, McGuire will face a coming brave new world in the Big 12, with the pending departures of Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC and the addition of BYU, Cincinnati, Central Florida and Houston.
In a statement posted on social media, McGuire expressed gratitude for the Tech administration for the opportunity and stressed his Lone Star roots.
“Having been involved in football in this great state for the last 28 years,” McGuire said. “I couldn’t be more excited to be named the head coach here at Texas Tech. The sport of football is so much about relationships, and I can’t wait to build those bonds with our players and all of Red Raider Nation.”
Under Wells, Tech had been one of the most active schools in the NCAA’s transfer portal, mining players from other schools. McGuire will likely focus more on high school recruiting, armed with relationships he has formed over decades.
McGuire’s Cedar Hill teams won state titles in 2006, ‘13 and ‘14. A 2020 inductee into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor, McGuire went 141-42 overall at Cedar Hill.
He was arrested on a DWI charge in April 2015, telling USA Today that it was “demoralizing” and “embarrassing.”
McGuire was a key component of staffs under Matt Rhule and Dave Aranda during two separate turnarounds at Baylor. He has coached tight ends, defensive ends and outside linebackers during his five years at Baylor.
McGuire, along with Shawn Bell and David Wetzel, were former Texas high school coaches hired by Rhule to build ties within the state. Rhule hired McGuire’s son, Garret, who he took with him when he …….
