Head Coach Joey McGuire

There’s been a key ingredient to Joey McGuire’s success throughout his career: authentic relationships.

It’s the reason he became beloved as a high school coach, leading Cedar Hill to three state championships despite inheriting a program that had never won a playoff game prior to his promotion. It’s also why he was so successful in transitioning to the collegiate level, helping rebuild a Baylor program that turned into a Big 12 contender during his tenure.

Now, McGuire will look to do the same at Texas Tech where he enters his first season as head coach. McGuire, a 2020 inductee into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor and a 2022 member of the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame, was named the 17th head coach in program history by Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt on Nov. 9, 2021.

In the short time since his hire, it hasn’t taken long to quickly see McGuire’s extensive ties to the state of Texas at work as Texas Tech has already established itself as the unofficial home to the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA). Those ties have already paid dividends early in his tenure as McGuire and his staff were able to sign an impressive 2022 class that ranked in the top-40 nationally. It marked the highest-ranked recruiting class for the Red Raiders since the 2012 class.  

Texas Tech’s success on the recruiting trail has stemmed, in part, due to the relationships McGuire has formed throughout the state through his connections with the THSCA. It can also be contributed to the charter staff he assembled shortly after his hire, namely with several successful assistant coaches who, like McGuire, began their careers at the high school level.

McGuire, a native of Crowley in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, created one of the most-memorable turnaround stories in Texas high school football history during his 14 seasons leading Cedar Hill. The Longhorns not only won at a high level under McGuire, but they transformed into one of the state’s most dominant programs with its first state title in 2006 and then back-to-back state crowns in 2013 and 2014.

Cedar Hill was an impressive 141-42 during McGuire’s tenure, going from an unknown to a state champion in only his fourth season as head coach. The Longhorns’ dynasty featured 12-consecutive playoff appearances, nine bi-district titles and seven district crowns under McGuire, including another appearance in the state title game in 2012 where Cedar Hill fell to Katy.

McGuire’s turnaround of Cedar Hill quickly placed him among the state’s most revered high school coaches as he was named the Texas Coach of the Year by MaxPreps, Dallas Morning News and Chevy Silverado in 2013. He also earned Class 5A Coach of the Year honors that season by the Texas Sports Writers Association (TSWA), Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, the National Football Foundation Dallas chapter and the Padilla Poll. He garnered the honor again from the Padilla Poll in 2014. The Dallas Cowboys also honored him as the organization’s high school Coach of the Year following Cedar Hill’s first state title in 2006.

A two-time District Coach of the Year (2005-06), McGuire coached in all but two Under Armour All-America games during his tenure and was the head coach of the 2013 Semper Fidelis All-America Bowl. He was also the head coach for the north team in the 2014 Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA) All-Star Game.

McGuire, at only the age of 31, was promoted to head coach at Cedar Hill prior to the 2003 season following six seasons as an assistant coach. Cedar Hill had not recorded a winning season in the eight years prior to his promotion, a streak he quickly ended with a 6-4 campaign in his debut. McGuire was previously an assistant coach at his alma mater, Crowley High School, during the 1995 and 1996 seasons prior to his move to Cedar Hill.  

The back-to-back state titles provided McGuire with several opportunities to depart for the collegiate level, a move he wouldn’t make until after the 2016 season when Matt Rhule contacted him shortly after his hire as the new head coach at Baylor. Needing someone with extensive ties throughout the state of Texas, Rhule hired McGuire initially as his tight ends coach. The move was perfect timing for McGuire, who had remained at Cedar Hill to coach his son, Garret, for his final two seasons.

Baylor quickly turned into a Big 12 title contender within three years of McGuire’s hire as the Bears finished 7-6 in only his second season in 2018 after defeating Vanderbilt in the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl. The Bears followed with one of its best seasons in school history in 2019 after opening the season with nine-straight wins en route to an appearance in the Big 12 Championship game. Oklahoma edged the Bears in overtime, sending Baylor to an appearance in the Allstate Sugar Bowl and a top-15 final ranking to close the season.

Baylor reached bowl eligibility three times with McGuire on staff and were in the midst of an eventual run to the Big 12 crown and a second appearance in the Allstate Sugar Bowl when McGuire was tabbed as Texas Tech’s new head coach late in the 2021 season. McGuire served as Baylor’s associate head coach during each of his final three seasons as he oversaw three different position groups during his tenure: tight ends (2017-18), defensive ends (2019) and outside linebackers (2020-21).

No matter the position, McGuire’s room was able to produce standouts as three Bears heard their names called during the NFL Draft during his tenure. That list included outside linebacker William Bradley-King, a seventh round selection by the Washington Football Team in 2021, as well as defensive linemen James Lynch and Bravvion Roy in 2020. Lynch went in the fourth round of the 2020 draft to the Minnesota Vikings, while Roy was taken two rounds later by the Carolina Panthers.

Baylor built a strong reputation as one of the top defensive programs in the country during McGuire’s tenure, namely in 2019 when the Bears’ defense featured both Lynch and Roy up front. The defensive line was possibly Baylor’s most-prolific position group that season as the Bears set a program record with 46 sacks, including 13.5 from Lynch alone. Lynch departed Baylor as the Bears’ single-season and career (22) sacks record holder as he was tabbed the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and a consensus All-American.

Following his success helping rebuild the Baylor program, Texas Tech was an ideal fit for McGuire, whose daughter, Raegan, was a recent graduate of the university. McGuire had visited Lubbock numerous times previously either to see his daughter or earlier in life when several life-long friends attended the university.

McGuire likes to say he would have attended Texas Tech, himself, had he not met his wife, Debbie. He eventually earned his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1995.

The couple’s two children are also highly successful in their own walks of life as Garret is entering his second season as a member of the Carolina Panthers coaching staff. He was previously a quarterback at Baylor from 2017-20 before joining the coaching profession. Raegan, meanwhile, is a fashion designer for AMUR in New York City. She is engaged to her fiancé, Joe Tocco.

JOEY MCGUIRE CAREER EXPERIENCE
2020-21 – Baylor Associate Head Coach (Outside Linebackers)
2019 – Baylor Associate Head Coach (Defensive Ends)
2017-18 – Baylor Assistant Coach (Tight Ends)
2003-16 – Cedar Hill High School Head Coach

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT JOEY MCGUIRE

Joe Martin, Executive Director of THSCA
“I am very proud and excited for Joey on being selected the next head football coach at Texas Tech. He is a homegrown product starting as a player at Crowley and working his way up the ranks to head coach at Cedar Hill and eventually as associate head coach at Baylor. He is a past member of the THSCA Board of Directors and has many friends in the high school coaching community across the state. Joey is as good as they come as a coach and we wish him the best!"

Glen West, Assistant Executive Director, Texas High School Coaches Association
“Joey is one of our own. He is a personable friend to many. In the world we live in today where fewer and fewer coaches have fewer communication with college coaches than in the past, this is a refreshing change. We feel there will be an open dialogue with all the high school coaches in the state, and he will get our full support. Joey is never too busy for you. He’s the same guy he was at Baylor as he was when he was the head coach at Cedar Hill High School. Parents will love him. Players will love him. It’s going to be a fun time. We are over the top excited for his hire at Texas Tech.”

Bob Stoops, former head coach at the University of Oklahoma 
“I believe this is an awesome hire as I’ve known Joey a long time since my first couple of years here going to recruit down in the Dallas area. He’s always run a first-class program, always very positive and was always close and connected with his players. The players love playing for him. I think football is relative and you do a great job, at whatever level you’re playing, I think there is no reason you can’t do it at a different level. He got great experience being at Baylor for the last five years, being with Matt Rhule, who I think is a heck of a coach. I believe that Joey is a person that connects, motivates players, and he will connect with the community and high school coaches around the state of Texas. I think he will do a great job.” 

Matt Rhule, head coach of the Carolina Panthers and former head coach at Baylor  
“I think he will be unbelievable ushering in a new era at Tech. I think that he’s one in a million. There are not many people like Joey McGuire as a person or as a coach. I think that there’s not ever going to be a bad day ever in that facility, and those players are going to be developed, they’re going to be loved, they’re going to be honed, and they’re going to be developed in every aspect of their life. He’s going to bring excitement to all of West Texas, especially to Lubbock. For Red Raider Nation, I think he’s absolutely going to be a bolt of energy, throughout the entire athletic department and you guys are going to play really good football, too.”  

Kim Mulkey, head women’s basketball coach at LSU and former head coach at Baylor 
“I am so happy for Joey. Not only is he a great coach, but he has the people skills to recruit. He is well connected to the Texas high school coaches. Texas Tech will love him and his wife, Debbie and their two children.” 

Mack Brown, head at the University of North Carolina 
“I’m thrilled Coach McGuire is receiving this opportunity at Texas Tech because he’s earned it. He was a great high school coach during my time at Texas and it doesn’t surprise me at all that he’s worked his way to a head coaching position in the Big 12. He’s a smart, innovative coach, who brings deep ties to Texas high school football with him to Lubbock. I’ve always admired him, and if I had a son, I would want him to play for Coach McGuire. I think Texas Tech made a smart decision here and Coach McGuire will do an excellent job for them.”