Texas Tech's Joey McGuire Earns National Recognition with AFCA Board Appointment
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Under the high-energy leadership of Joey McGuire, the Texas Tech Red Raiders shattered expectations with a historic 12–2 season. They captured their first-ever Big 12 Championship with a dominant 34–7 win over BYU. That momentum propelled the program into the College Football Playoff for the first time in history. And eventually they culminated in a Top-10 finish in both the AP and USA Today Coaches Polls for the first time.
AFCA Board of Trustees Appointment Raises Texas Tech's Joey McGuire
On Tuesday, February 10, 2026, the American Football Coaches Association announced that Joey McGuire has been appointed to its prestigious Board of Trustees.
Coach McGuire has been named to the @WeAreAFCA Board of Trustees as one of two Big 12 representatives 🤝 pic.twitter.com/5eEcyEIiUP
— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) February 10, 2026
The AFCA Board of Trustees has guided the organization in formulating policy and leadership direction since its founding in 1922. McGuire joins BYU’s Kalani Sitake as one of two Big 12 representatives on the board.
He was one of six new head coaches named on Tuesday. He is there alongside Jason Eck of New Mexico, Sean Lewis of San Diego State, Brent Vigen of Montana State, Pat Fitzgerald of Michigan State, and Ricky Rahne of Old Dominion.
The board appointment follows the most decorated season of McGuire’s career. Texas Tech finished 12–2 overall, snapping the program’s single-season wins record. They did it while winning their first Big 12 Conference title and earning their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance.
The Red Raiders ended the year ranked inside the top 10 of both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches Polls for the first time in school history. McGuire was named the AFCA Region 4 Coach of the Year. For the first time in his career, he was a finalist for the Bear Bryant Award, the George Munger College Coach of the Year Award, the Eddie Robinson Award, and the Dodd Trophy.
Building a Consistent Winner at Texas Tech
While the 12-win breakthrough grabbed headlines, McGuire’s influence has been building since he was hired on November 8, 2021, by Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt. Now entering his fourth season as Texas Tech’s head football coach, he has already reshaped the program’s identity.
Texas Tech is 23–16 overall during his tenure and has appeared in three consecutive bowl games. He is only the second head coach in program history to lead the Red Raiders to a bowl appearance in each of his first three seasons, joining the late Mike Leach.
Even more impressively, McGuire is the only head coach in program history to produce an above-.500 conference record in each of his first three seasons. The Red Raiders went 5–4 in Big 12 play in both 2022 and 2023 before posting a 6–3 conference mark in 2024, their most league wins since 2009.
Texas Tech and Kansas State are the only active Big 12 programs to record five or more league wins in each of the past three seasons, regardless of conference affiliation. McGuire also became the first head coach in program history to win a bowl game in each of his first two seasons. He defeated Ole Miss in the 2022 TaxAct Texas Bowl and Cal in the 2023 Radiant Technologies Independence Bowl.
He joins E.Y. Freeland, Steve Sloan, and Mike Leach as the only coaches in school history to post a winning record in each of their first three seasons.
At Jones AT&T Stadium, the Red Raiders have gone 15–5 under McGuire, including a 10–4 mark in Big 12 play. His teams have also thrived in November, posting a 9–3 record in the season’s final month, the most November wins of any Big 12 program during that span.
At Cedar Hill High School, he compiled a 141–42 record and won three state championships in 2006, 2013, and 2014. He served on the Texas High School Coaches Association Board of Directors from 2011 to 2014 before departing Cedar Hill following the 2016 season.
He then worked as an assistant coach at Baylor from 2017 to 2021 before accepting the Texas Tech position ahead of the 2022 campaign.
McGuire's 2022 debut season included a historic milestone. It is because he became the only head coach in program history to defeat both Texas and Oklahoma in the same season.
As Joey McGuire enters his fourth season, he is no longer rebuilding Texas Tech. He has elevated it. With a contract extension through 2032, McGuire stands as one of the most influential voices in college football.
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Shayni Maitra is a sports girl through and through writing about everything from locker room drama to game-day legends in the NFL and NBA. She’s covered the action for outlets like College Sports Network, Sportskeeda, EssentiallySports, NB Media, and PinkVilla, blending sharp takes with a deep love for storytelling. Whether it’s college football rivalries, Olympic gold-chasers, or the off-field chaos that keeps Twitter alive, Shayni brings the heat with heart—and just the right amount of humor.