Texas Tech head football coach Joey McGuire was honored alongside 25 other coaches on the 2025 Dodd Trophy Preseason Watch List. Coming off an 8-5 season, McGuire is hitting the headlines in unexpected ways. According to a new report by CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello, the most expensive college athletic program in the country next season might just be in Lubbock. McGuire’s program has now signed up for a reported $55 million payout model. 

Out of this figure,  the Red Raider Club is now expected to raise $14 million annually to support a $20.5 million revenue-sharing model. Now, this might be a burden on the shoulders of a coach like McGuire. After all, even though he has been consistent, McGuire is yet to gift the Red Raiders fam a 10-win season. On the other hand, a last-chance narrative is doing the rounds for him as McGuire steps into his fourth season.

On the July 7th episode of The Next Round podcast, the trio of Jim Dunaway, Ryan Brown, and Lance Taylor sat down for a round-table conference. The topic of discussion has been McGuire. Dunaway started with, “ 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?” Brown chimed in, stating, “Could I mean I think Lance, as you look up McGuire, I think you’re going to find a lot of seven and eight-win seasons. I think he’s been pretty consistently seven and five, eight and four. He’s in his fourth season there if I’m not mistaken. I think he’s done three seasons, and I think you’re probably gonna find seven and five, eight and four, seven and five.”  

“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,” said Taylor. As per On3 rankings, McGuire’s program is rising up the preseason rankings based on a stellar transfer portal class, ranking No.1 in the country.  The Red Raiders have some quality, including edge rusher David Bailey, defensive lineman Lee Hunter, and cornerback Brice Pollack.

On that note, Dunaway dished out a wake-up call for McGuire, “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.” Amidst the growing doubts, McGuire keeps minding his business, and it pays off well. 

The $2.3M wall Joey McGuire needed to build around

McGuire is yet to be sure about the longevity of his head coaching seat. The Red Raiders are yet to catch up in the 2026 recruiting race. As per On3’s list, they stand at No.22 with 18 locked-in recruits so far. Out of which one is a 5-star, two 4-stars, and fifteen 3-stars. But July 4 ushered in some good news for McGuire. They hunted down one of the hottest targets of the 2026 class, 5-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo. 

The 6-foot-7, 285-pound prospect from Mansfield, Texas, is ESPN’s No. 4 offensive tackle and second-ranked recruit from the state of Texas in the 2026 class. So it was obvious that the race to win Ojo’s heart was not at all a cakewalk for McGuire. He had to beat Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, and Texas. There came a time when it was next to impossible to stop Ojo from punching the Ann Arbor ticket. 

After all, Sherrone Moore has appointed his quarterback, Bryce Underwood, to woo Felix Ojo. As Steve Wiltfong reported, “He spent time with Bryce Underwood, Michigan’s prized true freshman, the number one player in the country per On3 in the 2025 cycle… Bryce Underwood told him that the reasons he came to Michigan, outside of NIL obviously, were development and culture. And then the offense, it’s still very similar to the one they ran under Jim Harbaugh, a pro-style scheme that gets everybody ready to rip and roar for Sundays.”

While so long Michigan came off as the front runner, dishing out the fattest check, they failed to lock in Ojo. As per the reports, the five-star offensive tackle recruit agreed to a three-year, $2.3 million revenue-sharing deal with Joey McGuire’s program. Can Joey stick around to taste the payoff of his 2026 recruiting hustle?