McGuire Embracing Expectations, Pressure to Win with Size of Investment

FRISCO, Texas – Texas Tech being one of the picks by experts to win the Big 12 Conference this season is not exactly music to Oklahoma State fan’s ears. The Red Raiders are kind of a psuedo rival these days. What might be music to the ears of those around Stillwater would be what Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine is saying: Tech’s Joey McGuire is number one on the hotseat for Big 12 and Texas college head coaches this season.

“I know there's a lot of expectations on the team,” McGuire said on Tuesday, the first day of 2025 Big 12 Media Days. “We look at it as opportunities. Jackson Richards, a good friend of mine, went to Texas Tech, son played at TexasTech, and he sent me that text. He says expectation and or opportunity. It's all perspective and we look at it that we have a great opportunity.”

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McGuire is barking because his team has to win.

McGuire said his new arrivals through the transfer portal have been good on the field, practiced the way he expects. They’ve maintained over a 3.0 GPA in football for three straight semesters, another indicator of effort and purpose. 

McGuire has had three straight winning seasons, including in Big 12 play. That’s the best for a Texas Tech coach since the 50’s and the Border Conference days. Last season Texas Tech was 8-5 and 6-3 in the Big 12. They were good on offense, but utrid on defense, despite having one of the best linebackers in the nation in Jacob Rodriguez, who had 126 tackles, 5.5 tackles-for-loss, and five sacks. He was first-team All Big 12, but after that kind   of defensive season, would he stay? 

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Rodriguez is a slobber-knocker type of linebacker.

“When I talked McGuire after the season last year, he wasn’t begging, but enccouraging me to stay and take a look at what they could build,” Rodriguez told me in a one-on-one interview. “I think he has put great pieces together and I think what they did over the winter and spring has been tremendous.”

He and his wife came into my office, sat down with us. We do a Power Point presentation for guys that are eligible for the draft and all the information that we get from the NFL and from the scouts,” McGuire said in his version of the discussion. “And we sat down with him and his wife and, walk through where he thought he would go and what the benefits would be for him coming back. And man, I'm just glad he made the choice to come back.”

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Hunter aat nose is a huge piece to the puzzle.

He did and the additions were enough to cause other coaches like Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell to call Tech one of the best defensive fronts in the conference. They added Stanford’s edge rusher David Bailey, Georgia Tech defensive end Romello Height, and UCF nose tackle Lee Hunter (6-4, 320). 

“Him (Hunter) among others along with Melo  (Romello Height), Cole (Wisniewski) and David Bailey are great additions, for sure and have made my job easier,” Rodriguez said with a smile. 

So Rodriguez stayed, got a pay raise to do it. Now, McGuire, Rodriguez, and Tech need to win, not win, but win big.