All Hogs

Red Raiders Coach Has Lifelong Tie to Hogs' Program

Liberty Bowl has two coaches who love Razorbacks logo against each other for 38th game between old Southwest Conference foes
Jacob Davis|
Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire before the game against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field.
Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire before the game against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field. | Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images

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Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The 2024 AutoZone Liberty Bowl will an unusual storyline when it is played Dec. 27 in Memphis. Both Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire and Arkansas coach Sam Pittman both grew up as fans of the Razorbacks.

McGuire, who graduated from Crowley High School which is 20 minutes south of Fort Worth, cheered for the Razorbacks as a kid. He also attended games with his family who were season ticket holders at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock until 1983 as he grew up in Texarkana.

"It's a dream for me to play [Arkansas]," McGuire said during the Liberty Bowl teleconference. "I grew up in Texarkana, I had season tickets at War Memorial Stadium and grew up a Razorbacks fan. This is a really cool deal to be able to coach against such a great program and such a great coach."

Not only did McGuire's family root for Arkansas, he had an uncle run for the Razorbacks legendary track and field program.

"I was born in Texas and all my mom's family is from Arkansas. My uncle, Clark Wayne, ran track for one of the national championship track teams," McGuire said. "It's hard not to grow up a Razorbacks fan. Whenever you go to those games, the hard plastic Hog hats, I might have one of those in my closet."

"[Arkansas] was my dream school where I wanted to go play football and wasn't fortunate enough or good enough to play there but it's really a cool thing. My mom actually sent me a text whenever she found out and was fired up."

Fanhood will be put aside once kickoff happens as McGuire is confident that his family will be cheering for his Red Raiders instead of Arkansas.

"Mom said you'll be having a lot of family from Arkansas saying 'Raider Power' instead of calling the Hogs this time," McGuire said.

McGuire has now taken his Red Raiders program to three consecutive bowl appearances to start his tenure which is a first since Mike Leach achieved the same feat from 2000-2002. The late Leach took Texas Tech to a bowl game in each of his nine seasons at the helm.

HOGS FEED:

• Looking at who will still be with Hogs for Liberty Bowl | Locked on Razorbacks

• Calipari hopes honesty will wake Arkansas up in December

• Razorbacks lose sophomore linebacker to transfer portal

• Hogs' offensive transfer portal board boasts promising targets

• Razorbacks' starting defensive end to enter transfer portal

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Jacob Davis
JACOB DAVIS

Jacob Davis is a reporter for Arkansas Razorbacks on SI, with a decade of experience covering high school and transfer portal recruiting. He has previously worked at Rivals, Saturday Down South, SB Nation and hosted podcasts with Bleav Podcast Network where his show was a finalist for podcast of the year. Native of El Dorado, he currently resides in Central Arkansas with his wife and daughter.

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