McGuire Faces New Problems With Success
Texas Tech finished the season with back-to-back dominating victories over Oklahoma State and a smackdown of West Virginia, which was the final straw to send Neal Brown packing in Morgantown. With those final two victories, the Red Raiders finished with their best regular season record (8-4) since 2009. McGuire is now 21-15 in three regular seasons as the head coach for Texas Tech. The long-time Texas high school football coach has used his connections throughout the state to elevate the recruiting as well. In his first two full recruiting classes (according to 247 Composite rankings) his classes have ranked 28th and 24th nationally. But for all of the good that McGuire has done, he is now entering an offseason that will really test if McGuire is truly “the Guy” to lead this program to heights it has never achieved.
Roster Management
As good as those first two classes have been, the 2025 class is leaving a lot to be desired. Currently, the 2025 class ranks 54th nationally and 11th in the Big 12. With the first signing period happening this week (starting on December 4th), there are not any reports or whispers of them being able to make any significant headway with this class before the end of the week. In addition, McGuire faces the fallout with the highest-rated recruit in program history declaring his intent to enter the transfer portal next week.
Micah Hudson was the program’s first five-star signee. Hudson has been frequently injured since arriving on campus in the spring of 2024. He missed spring football because of knee surgery and missed the last four games of the season with a lower leg injury. By McGuire’s own expectations outlined at Big 12 Media Days, Hudson was expected to contribute to the offense from day one. There are plenty of rumors floating on playing time, money demands, and/or not grasping the playbook as reasons Hudson is expected to leave Lubbock. But after some breaking news on Monday, McGuire will have his hands full ensuring his key offensive playmakers stick around.
Can He Maintain A Successful Offense?
Monday afternoon, news broke that Zach Kittley was the lead candidate to fill the head coaching vacancy at FAU. A few hours later, FAU made an official announcement welcoming Kittley to Boca Raton as their new head coach. Kittley has a healthy resume of outstanding offenses, including his time before Texas Tech when he was at Western Kentucky. In 2024, the Red Raiders are eighth in the country averaging 38.6 points per game. With Kittley’s departure, McGuire faces the new task of setting the offensive direction for the program.
Kittley’s Air Raid-esque offense was right in line with what Texas Tech fans have come to expect for over two decades now. As of the time of publication, the Red Raiders will have between 8-9 starters returning on this offense. If McGuire wants to value continuity amongst his offensive personnel, the next coordinator will have a similar offense. There is no reason to think the offense won’t look vastly different to the casual fan. But fans will quickly note the Tommy Tuberville era tried to change too much offensively without any success.
Willing To Make Necessary Changes Defensively
While McGuire faces an unexpected coordinator replacement, it is noteworthy that after the season finale, McGuire fired his defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter. Simply put, the 2024 Texas Tech defense was bad by any statistical metric. Yes, DeRuyter was dealing with a very young unit with very little returning production. The defense also was hit with plenty of injuries this season. But McGuire said coming into this season they felt like they had “seven-to-eight” defensive linemen they felt comfortable rotating in compared to just three in his first season.
And yet, this team struggled mightily to rush the passer. The Red Raiders finished tied 103rd averaging 1.58 sacks a game. With little pressure on the quarterback, the passing defense was even worse as a whole. They ranked 132nd (out of 133 FBS teams) allowing an average of 305.3 yards per game. When teams could move the ball that much, they were bound to score. Texas Tech ranked 120th in points per game allowed with an average of 34.50. This was too big of a regression from a defense that was just “fine” in 2023. McGuire knew changes had to be made.
These Two Hires Will Be Defining Moment
College football is filled with more turnover among coaches and players than ever before. Continuity is such a rare thing that it becomes a massive advantage in areas where teams possess it. For McGuire, his staff has remained fairly unchanged in three seasons. But continuity for the sake of continuity is not a good enough reason to keep things status quo. McGuire’s firing of DeRuyter shows he is willing to make the changes necessary. McGuire’s team won eight games, with six of those being in spite of the defense. In addition, it was major defensive lapses that cost Texas Tech a ninth win against TCU.
But Kittley’s departure is a prime example of something only successful teams have to deal with. These are the types of problems fans must welcome in their program because it means the results on the field were good to great. If McGuire expects to win Big 12 championships at Texas Tech, he should expect to see his coordinators get hired to head coaching jobs. These next two hires could very well get McGuire fired. But if they turn out to be successful hires, Texas Tech will find itself in a place it has never been before and that is exactly where McGuire is aiming to take this program.
