In November 2021, a bold voicemail changed the course of college football history. Joey McGuire, a Baylor assistant coach with mainly high school experience, left an audacious message for Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt: “You need to hire me as your head football coach.” That brash declaration launched a transformation that would reshape Texas Tech Football.
The Legendary Call That Transformed Texas Tech Football
The story started with one of the boldest names in college football coaching history. Having been the Assistant Head Coach at Baylor, McGuire somehow managed to get Hocutt’s phone number when Texas Tech was looking for a new head coach after Matt Wells’ firing. McGuire made a life-defining call despite no official conversation or an arranged appointment.
“I’m not going to be able to live with myself if I don’t make this phone call,” Hocutt recalls McGuire saying in that now-legendary voicemail. “I just want you to know, you need to hire me as your head football coach.”
The audacity of the move cannot be understated. McGuire had been coaching high school students just five years before that call. He had never actually called plays at the college level and was generally known as a recruiter, not as a tactician or a genius.
His only college experience was as an assistant coach at Baylor. For a guy with very little college experience to essentially ask for a Power 5 head coaching job was unheard of. But what happened after that proved that McGuire’s instincts were spot on.
Within moments of leaving that voicemail, Hocutt’s phone “rang off the hook” with high school coaches from across Texas vouching for McGuire.
The Texas High School Coaches Association, of which McGuire is a Hall of Honor member, essentially guaranteed that he would succeed at Texas Tech. Hocutt had “never seen anything quite like it.” The overwhelming grassroots support was unprecedented in college football hiring.
The voicemail represented more than just career ambition. It described the same risk-taking attitude that would later lead to investment from billionaire booster Cody Campbell. Campbell, who made his fortune by “knowing when to buy low,” recognized in McGuire a kindred spirit who understood opportunity. Both men saw potential where others saw risk, and both were willing to make bold moves when the moment demanded it.
Cody Campbell made his billions by knowing when to buy low. Facing college football’s Wild West era, Texas Tech smelled opportunity.
In the most ambitious story of my career, I went to Lubbock and wrote about the transformative power of aspiration. https://t.co/NB4QVI2sHH pic.twitter.com/aBjNf5aJgn
— Shehan Jeyarajah (@ShehanJeyarajah) June 25, 2025
McGuire’s background made him uniquely qualified for this transformative moment. At Cedar Hill High School, he had turned a program that had never won a playoff game into a powerhouse, leading them to 12 consecutive playoff appearances and three state championships. His 141-42 record and ability to develop 20 four-star recruits demonstrated his talent for building programs from the ground up.
The gamble paid off immediately. Upon his hiring, McGuire received over 1,500 congratulatory texts, most from high school coaches across Texas. This network became the foundation for his recruiting success and the platform for Texas Tech’s remarkable transformation.
At his introductory press conference, McGuire made another bold declaration: “I’m a unicorn in coaching. I have now been at four places: I was at Crowley for four years, I was at Cedar Hill for 20, I was at Baylor for five, and I will die here at Texas Tech.”
Three years later, McGuire has delivered on his promises. He led Texas Tech to their first three-year run of consecutive winning conference records since 1996 and became the first coach to win consecutive bowl games at Texas Tech since 2007.
His partnership with Campbell and other boosters has created what many consider the most ambitious investment in college football history. Texas Tech landed the nation’s No. 1 transfer class by investing heavily in NIL deals and player acquisitions.
