Watch out for Tech: Texas Tech's State of the Program
- Liam Donnan
- Apr 10
- 4 min read
Updated: May 27
Fourth year head coach Joey McGuire has created more preseason buzz around Texas Tech since the Mike Leach days. Why? The Red Raiders are perfectly positioned in the current landscape of college football, and are capitalizing on that at exactly the right time.
Texas Tech 2000-2012 - The Mike Leach Era
At the turn of the century, “The Pirate,” Mike Leach took over the program, bringing his high powered air raid offense with him. In under a decade, Leach took a team floating around bowl eligibility every year into a legitimate contender in 2008, ranking as high as two in the AP poll.
While Leach didn’t necessarily turn them into a program competing every year, he did bring them to their highest ever ranking in the polls. Following an investigation into player injury mistreatment, Leach was dismissed from Texas Tech and hired at Washington State, where he had an extensive stint.
Texas Tech 2012-2022 - Kliff Kingsbury & Matt Wells
Texas Tech moved onto Tommy Tuberville as their head coach, a largely mediocre three year stint. The next major chapter in Tech history came under Kliff Kingsbury, the offensive mind behind Texas A&M and Johnny Manziel’s electric 2012 football season.
Although Texas Tech under Kingsbury was an entertaining brand of football, and produced some major NFL talent, notably Patrick Mahomes, the team did not amount to much. In Kingsbury’s six seasons, they made just two bowl games. Following Kingsbury’s departure to the NFL in 2019, Matt Wells took over, and it was more of the same for Texas Tech. In three seasons, they made just one bowl game.
Texas Tech 2022-Today
2022 saw year one for current head coach Joey McGuire. The team has yet to finish with less than seven wins, bringing a level of consistency unseen since Mike Leach was in charge. While none of the three seasons under McGuire have been truly outstanding, or any threat of being a national contender, the needed consistency has been there.
So, why does a team who have finished 8-5, 7-6, and 8-5 the last three seasons warrant all this excitement? The current state of the sport is built for Texas Tech to succeed. First, their geographic location is perfect, regardless of the strength of other Texas schools. A Texas three star is oftentimes the same as a four star elsewhere. Second, the transfer portal and high school recruiting are as crazy as ever, and with the introduction of NIL payments being legalized for collegiate athletes in 2021, Texas Tech has flourished.
Under McGuire, they have signed the highest rated recruit in program history (WR Micah Hudson) and seven of the twenty highest rated prospects in school history. While attributing all of that to NIL takes away all the effort put in from the coaches and staff in recruiting players, it has definitely been a large factor.
Texas Tech’s ability to be a significant player in the current landscape has never been more evident than it is today. They have the number one transfer portal class in the nation (pre-spring window), and have signed some very big names.
Among those big names is Stanford transfer, former high four-star recruit edge rusher David Bailey. After three seasons with the Cardinal, Bailey departed following the firing of former head coach Troy Taylor. Bailey has put up ridiculous numbers so far, putting up over 100 tackles, 14.5 sacks, and 23 TFL through three years.
Many of the players acquired through the portal will be one-year rentals, and star QB Behren Morton will be in his final year of college ball as well. While this may not look like a great sign for the future, if the on-field results are there because of those portal additions, the elite high-school recruits will come.
The on-field results may not even be needed to a drastic level, as Texas Tech currently holds a top 25 class in the nation for the class of 2026, set to take shape and potentially rise up the ranks through the summer months.
Texas Tech’s best bet for the future is to load up on blue chip talent before the House v. NCAA settlement inevitably passes, granting revenue share rights to players amongst every FBS team, somewhat levelling the playing field.
With the way that McGuire and his staff have attacked the transfer portal, and the developed talent on the team, they should be considered one of the favorites to win the Big 12, alongside BYU, Arizona State and Kansas State.
The state of Texas Tech’s program is borderline elite. They have a great staff with alignment from the top of the athletic department down, blue chip players, and can take advantage of the crazy nature of the Texas and Oklahoma-less Big 12.
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