Joey McGuire brushes off pressure, criticism for Texas Tech's roster amid NIL revolution
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While Texas Tech head football coach Joey McGuire did not concede to the claim that he has the "most expensive" roster in college football, he did acknowledge his fortune in having not only one of the largest purses in the sport but one of the most talented rosters.
"I love our team, I love our roster, I love how close they are, but I feel the exact same that I have from Year 1 to now," McGuire said at Texas Tech's season-opening press conference. "I expect to win. We expect to win on Saturday, [Aug. 30]. We expect to win the next Saturday."
According to some reports, the Red Raiders' football team costs north of $28 million amid their NIL revolution, leading to one of the top transfer portal classes in the nation. While Texas Tech undoubtedly has one of the most pocket-burning rosters in the country, McGuire cast doubt on the team being the most expensive.
"I think there's a lot of people out there that are not truly saying what their roster is," McGuire said. He pointed to two SEC powers, the Texas Longhorns and LSU Tigers, as examples of teams he thought may be out-spending Texas Tech.
However, the roster was ranked among the five most expensive in the country in an anonymous survey by On3, with one source claiming the Red Raiders "have to pay 30% more to get the guy because of location."
McGuire pushed back against that notion. "People saying we overspend on this and that — I know the real conversations that were being had with Lee Hunter on different teams, and they were offering him more than what we offered him. And he's a Red Raider."
Despite the criticism that has been levied in Tech's direction for the new-look approach to NIL and roster construction, McGuire said he knows what is going inside the building and the conversations in the locker rooms. He said the team is ready to take on the season and he expressed his joy for seeing his players band together even if they come from all over the country with different backgrounds.
"At the end of the day, don't think we won't use that to fuel the team," McGuire said. "There'll be enough people whenever we get into different games … they'll be talking about like what we spent and how good we are, or, 'Hey, y'all really aren't that good.' I think people will find out this is a really good team."
"If it's out there and people are rooting against us … it's going to be good and we're going to use it."
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-43389ae7766a84cbb8a6c33939d17968.jpeg "Jordan Epp")
Jordan Epp is a journalist who graduated from Texas A&M in 2022 and is passionate about telling stories, sharing news, and finding ways to entertain people through the medium of sports. He has formerly worked as a writer and editor at The Battalion and The Eagle, covering football in College Station, Texas, and served as the managing editor for PFSN.
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