McGuire hopes to ‘accelerate process’ for Texas Tech title

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - Joey McGuire describes himself as a high school coach who gets to coach college football. He is, after all, a Texas native who won three state championships under the Friday night lights.

McGuire is now head coach at Texas Tech after his transition to college coaching the past five years as an assistant at Baylor, one of the state’s other Big 12 schools and the reigning conference champion. He has brought an infectious enthusiasm to an already passionate fan base desperate for a title of its own.

"People have said, ‘How long is that going to take?’ Well, it’s my job to accelerate the process," McGuire said. "You know, I want it to happen this year, no doubt, and I know the team does too."

That would be quite a turnaround, considering the Red Raiders haven’t had a winning record in Big 12 play since Mike Leach’s final season on the Lubbock campus in 2009. When Tech was 7-6 last year after a convincing Liberty Bowl victory over Leach-coached Mississippi State, it was the first time in six seasons it finished above .500 overall.

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Regardless of their record this year, McGuire is already building a solid foundation in his first college head coaching job.

His kinship to Texas high school coaches is having a big impact in recruiting. The school has announced plans for a $200 million project with a new locker room and offices in a new four-story building in the stadium’s south end zone, along with a new, two-story training facility. And the current players have embraced their new coach.

"I believed that (players) would buy in to what we were going to do, but I didn’t think it was going to be as fast as it has been," McGuire said. "It’s just been incredible, the trust that the players have put into us and how hard they’ve been working."

THE QBS

Former Oregon transfer Tyler Shough threw for 872 yards and six touchdowns in his four games last season before a broken collarbone. Donovan Smith started the final four games, including the bowl victory, and redshirt freshman Behren Morton is also in the quarterback mix.

McGuire described "a three-horse race" to be the starter, but anticipates using multiple quarterbacks.

"If Donovan Smith doesn’t win the job, I would be crazy not to have a 6-5, 240-pound quarterback not running quarterback power on the goal line," the coach said.