Ryan Day poured $20 million from the program’s NIL fund into building its 2024 roster. Brian Kelly told The Advocate in a recent interview that $26.5 million has been allocated for the 2024-26 teams. But this made the ground under head coach Joey McGuire’s feet hot. The Texas Tech Red Raiders are entering this season under the most pressure in the Big 12. It’s either McGuire’s boys lifting the conference championship or bust in Lubbock. Things would not have been this hot had they not signed up one of the highest-paid rosters in college football. Now what’s on McGuire’s plate at the moment?

As reported by On3’s Pete Nakos, Texas Tech has signed a 2025 roster that costs north of $28 million. Now, will the gaudy spending be able to help McGuire save his seat, which is now hanging by a thin thread? The head coach got a lot of mess to clean up. Last season, when it came to pass defense, McGuire’s boys scored the worst in the Big 12, allowing 305.3 passing yards per game. But right now, the head coach is busy flexing his $28 million embellished roster and ended up throwing shade at Day and Kelly.

As per 247Sports, Texas Tech added 21 new players through the transfer portal this offseason, earning the No. 2 portal class in the country. When it comes to NIL, McGuire and his team come off as the frontrunners, ranking No.2 nationally in NIL spending. But somehow, this growth is still not settling into the college football landscape. On the July 29 episode of the What’s Next! with Joey McGuire podcast, analyst Robert Giovannetti addressed the situation. He said, “We brought in this great portal class and Texas Tech, you mentioned this in an event you and I did last week, Texas Tech has kind of taken on the black hat role when really it should be the exact opposite.”

He continued, “We should be wearing the white hat because we have disrupted the traditional hierarchy of college athletics of how people expect things to be. Has that been interesting for you to sit in that seat and to say, ‘Wow, if we were Ohio State or somebody else, no one would even be questioning what’s going on.’” Now that McGuire’s Texas Tech has challenged the usual power structure, big brands like Ohio State, LSU are catching side eyes. We must note that McGuire didn’t just roam around flying notes; he spent wisely. He locked in some high-upside names like Stanford’s David Bailey, USC’s Quinten Joyner, among others.

So, the head coach now feels upset with the fact that nobody is giving due credit to the efforts that went into mindful recruitment and not just overhauling the class with random players. In Nakos’ list of the Biggest Spenders in College Football, at No.1 is the Texas Longhorns, Texas Tech at No.2, followed by Ohio State, Oregon, Texas A&M, and so on. But somehow, the college football world can’t stop talking about the Red Raiders. And McGuire had to break his silence: “No, nobody would be surprised that you had the number one portal class. You know, nobody, if you go on one site, LSU has the number one portal class. Nobody’s surprised with that, right?”

The head coach continued, “Last year with the roster that Ohio State was able to retain, and same with nobody’s surprised with that. Then, all of a sudden, whenever Tech does it, it’s like, ‘What’s going on?’ I’m excited, and we’re going to embrace it.” So, Texas Tech is not shy about its new identity. McGuire and Co. have successfully kept All-MAC DT Skyler Gill-Howard, 5-star WR Micah Hudson all locked in with the $28 million fortune pool. But the analysts are already sensing trouble for McGuire. 

A wake-up call for Joey McGuire

They say that with big money comes big expectations. That has been the case for McGuire, too. By now, the Red Raiders fans have already forgotten what a nine or ten-win season tastes like. They went 8-5 in 2024, 7-6 in 2023, and 8-5 in 2022. So, if McGuire still wants to keep his program on autopilot mode, here comes the wake-up call. On The Next Round podcast, Jim Dunaway asked the most important question, “Joey McGuire, Texas Tech, we’re spending all this money. If we don’t win games this year. You don’t think they get rid of Joey McGuire? Or could?”

Lance Taylor tried to deal a soft blow, claiming, “I guess it depends on what your expectations are for Texas Tech. I mean, if they were to go five and seven with the money they’re spending.” But Dunaway did not mince his words. To him, the clock has already started ticking for McGuire. He stated, “My buddy Van instantly says Joey McGuire easily could lose his job because they are giving him everything. And how attractive is that job to maybe somebody, a higher profile than a Texas high school coach is basically what he is. Souped-up Texas high school coach. Be a higher profile. If we’re going to be in the Big 12, we’re going to spend all that money. That becomes an attractive job.”

Now that the fall camp is knocking at the door, fans are inquisitive about the health status of Joey McGuire’s players who have been battling injuries. A.J. McCarty is slated to return on August 8 or 14 after recovering from a hamstring injury. The redshirt senior, Terrell Tilmon, who injured his foot last season, will be making a comeback around the same timeline. So, Texas Tech’s rise is raising eyebrows, but McGuire’s only raising the bar for a title run.