Joey McGuire and Texas Tech keep drawing attention around college football, and that means opposing coaches are going to keep getting asked about what’s happening in Lubbock. Oregon State head coach JaMarcus Shephard was the latest to weigh in before his team’s matchup with the Red Raiders on Saturday, and his comments came off as a backhanded compliment.
“Certainly, I think that there's this idea that they've just acquired all this talent overnight,” Shephard said in his weekly press conference. “I also think that the head coach has to do a good job of building a culture where the players want to play for him, and so, that's the one thing I've noticed about Coach McGuire
“It seems like his team wants to play for him, but I'll also say this: it is a little bit easier, and you have a little bit more want to when you don't have to worry about if mom or dad has to pay their light bill or their rent or if they're going to be able to get a flight to come to the game or get a hotel room, Airbnb, whatever it is. That makes it a little bit easier for those guys to want to play a little bit harder for the coach.”
A statement from Oregon State Head Coach JaMarcus Shepard on Joey McGuire and how Texas Tech has built their program was also shared on social media, repeating the same point about Texas Tech’s resources and roster construction.
Shephard’s comments lean on the familiar argument that Texas Tech’s success is tied to money, and the piece of reporting here pushes back on that idea. The point is that McGuire has done more than simply benefit from a bigger budget. Building a culture matters, and so does surrounding yourself with the right people.
There are plenty of programs that spend heavily, and not all of them have matched Texas Tech’s results in 2025. Tennessee, LSU, Southern California, Michigan, and Notre Dame are all mentioned as programs that are likely in the same range as Tech when it comes to roster cost, yet none of them made the playoff last year.
The source also challenges Shephard’s suggestion that players with more financial security necessarily play harder. It notes the old line that it is hard to hunt when your stomach is full, then flips the logic: players still chasing a payday and trying to improve life for their families may actually have more urgency.
For coaches, the reality looks different depending on the program. McGuire has to manage expectations, egos, and the pressure that can come with players earning as much or more than many of the coaches they play for. Shephard, meanwhile, is working with a smaller-budget operation and has to find overlooked players who will compete at a discount.
Even so, the reporting points out that lower-priced teams can still go toe-to-toe with bigger rosters. Western Michigan nearly beat Michigan last week before the controversial extra second put on the clock allowed the Wolverines to score on a Hail Mary.
Boise State also pushed No. 2 Oregon, leading for most of the game before losing by seven on the road.
The broader takeaway is that Texas Tech fans probably don’t need to care what an opposing coach says about their program. But the noise around McGuire keeps coming, and the source argues that the more Tech wins, the harder it will be for critics to keep reducing the program to money alone.
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