The Texas Tech Red Raiders were one of 12 founding members of the Big 12 Conference when the league was born in 1995, and is one of just four of those teams that has never won a Big 12 Championship in football.
In fact, the Red Raiders and Kansas Jayhawks are the only two teams in the conference that have never even played in a Big 12 Championship Game—but they’re looking to change that in 2025.
Titles are won in the offseason, and while that adage typically refers to winter and spring conditioning programs, the transfer portal cycle has become an integral portion of the roster-building process in college football.
In the 2025 cycle, there hasn’t been anyone more dedicated to building a winner through the portal than Joey McGuire and the Red Raiders.
TTU general manager James Blanchard—who recently turned down an offer for the same position at Notre Dame—was ambitious when it came to getting the best players in the transfer portal this cycle. With the support of both Coach McGuire and Texas Tech mega-booster Cody Campbell, Blanchard took a “shoot-for-the-stars” approach and hit his mark.
“I talked with Cody and Coach McGuire,” Blanchard told ESPN, “and Coach was like, ‘Man, if they can help us win the Big 12, let’s just go ahead and go all-in. Let’s do it.’”
So, they did just that, “pushing all [their] chips in” on the 2025 season.
“This place has never gone to the Big 12 championship or won one,” Blanchard told ESPN. “Everybody from the top down is wanting one in Lubbock, Texas. I can’t imagine. It’ll be a dream.
“But it’s gonna be a dream come true, because it’s about to happen.”
Part of this all-in mentality stems from TTU’s 8-5 finish in 2024, which McGuire called a “complete failure” at the end of the year.
“I felt guilty coming into this office, like I’m not doing my job,” McGuire said. “So you want it so bad to get over the hump.
“How do you do that? You get better players.”
They certainly did that, as players like Quinten Joyner, Reggie Virgil, Howard Sampson, and Terrance Carter were as sought-after as any name in the country. This wasn’t just about winning those recruiting battles, either. Texas Tech is doing what it believes will push it to finally get to Arlington, and perhaps a College Football Playoff berth while they’re at it.
