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Big 12 Media Days: Texas Tech Head Coach Joey McGuire Hopes to Meet Oklahoma in 2023

After a solid first season as a collegiate head coach, McGuire and the Red Raiders look poised to have another impressive year.

Randall Sweet

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Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire has always been known as a great recruiter. 

"We signed the fastest class in the nation last year," McGuire said at Big 12 Media Days on Thursday. "We still are heavy high school recruiters, the transfer portal for us is more filling gaps."

As a longtime high school head coach, McGuire has connections across the state of Texas, which has served him well during his time in as a college football coach. The Red Raiders hired the former Baylor outside linebackers coach for his prowess on the recruiting trail, and it has paid off thus far. 

McGuire has not only improved TTU's roster, but the team's success on the field. 

"I actually saw coach (Brent) Venables earlier," McGuire said. "I've known coach Venables forever and I told him, 'I hope we get to play this year' because that means we're right back (at AT&T Stadium for the Big 12 Championship). That would mean a ton for our university."

In 2022-23, the Red Raiders took down both Texas and Oklahoma in the same season for the first time in program history. Texas Tech finished the season at 8-5, closing out the year with an emphatic 42-25 victory over Jaxson Dart and Mississippi in the Texas Bowl.

"Excited about this year," McGuire said on Thursday. "We've got 18 starters coming back from the bowl game, so we have a lot of experience."

Redshirt senior quarterback Tyler Shough is expected to be TTU's starter this season after the Oregon transfer was named MVP of the Red Raiders bowl game.

Despite losing Tyree Wilson to the NFL Draft, McGuire and company are very impressed by redshirt senior edge rusher Myles Cole, who is listed at 6-foot-6 and 285 pounds. 

"We lost a No. 1 draft pick in Tyree Wilson. Don't throw anything at me, but I think we're actually better in that room," McGuire said of replacing his star defensive lineman. 

"I would take Tyree Wilson back right now; I'm not crazy. But whenever you talk about the depth, Myles Cole had a great last few games once we moved him from inside to outside. Played really well against Ole Miss. He looks a lot as far as body-wise like Tyree, so we have really good length there... Then I also think I have the best coach in the country coaching those guys in (former Oklahoma lineman) CJ Ah You."

After a great showing last year, Texas Tech was picked to finished fourth in the conference according to the 2023 Big 12 Football Media Preseason Poll. 

"I feel like we're in a really good spot," McGuire said. "I can't wait to get into Big 12 play. Kind of like last year, there's going to be a lot of really good games, and we're excited to be a part of them." 

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Randall Sweet
RANDALL SWEET

Randall is a recruiting analyst and staff writer at AllSooners focusing primarily on OU Football and the recruiting trail. Working as a journalist, Randall has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and high school sports across the state. A 2022 University of Oklahoma graduate, Randall hails from Lubbock, TX. While in college, Sweet wrote for the OU Daily in addition to working with Sooner Sports Pad and OU Nightly. Following his time at OU, Sweet served as the Communications Coordinator at Visit Oklahoma City before leaving to join the team at AllSooners. The West Texas native has bylines in the Norman Transcript and is a Staff Writer for Inside the Thunder. Randall holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. 

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