We’re back again. A non-transcript (a phrase that I use that means I’ve summarized what was said and the following words are definitely not direct quotes).

Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt: Great day and special day for two reasons. Thank everyone for being there and tip-off for tonight’s basketball game. Thank Coach Sands for being here, a national championship caliber team. Wes Kittley has won a championship. Coach Tadlock is the absolute best at what he does. Thank Sonny Cumbie for being here and what he has brought to the men these few weeks.

See a lot of faces of the young men, not finished playing in 3 weeks and believe in them every day. Talented group of coaches and men and thank them every day. Ask to be there on Saturday and pack the stadium. Please support these young men.

Thank the search committee, gave their time and energy and thank them for their support and assistance. Thank Dusty Womble, Cody Campbell and time and energy and being part of this and assist this process. Sammy Morris knows so much and has so many contacts, was a tremendous supporter and Tony Hernandez, made a unanimous invitation. Ed Whitaker was a part of this process and thank him for what he does for Texas Tech.

Chancellor Mitchell provided leadership, President Schovanec, Chairman Lewis, Vice Charmain Griffin.

Passionately wanted to be at Texas Tech. Shared the belief in the room that Texas Tech football can be at the top of the Big12 conference. We succeeded. We wanted somebody that had connections and build this locker room, and penetrate the state of Texas and have the best talent in the state of Texas. Texas ties? We accomplished that. We had ourselves a night last night. Wanted to unify Red Raider nation. The energy and enthusiasm, time to turn up the volume and ready to launch forward. Am excited about that.

Present this jersey to the head football coach after the bowl game, Coach McGuire.

Head Coach Joey McGuire:

This is incredible. My daughter wouldn’t let me forget this.

Raider. Power.

Raider. Power.

I’ve been waiting all of my life to do that.

I told Cody to not think I’m soft if I get teary-eyed, my daughter and dad, I get it from him. So excited to be here, been one of the most amazing weeks of my life. You’ll get to know my family, we travel deep. My wife Debbie, my daughter Reagan, so honored to be part of the Red Raider family. My son is getting ready to take on Kliff Kingsbury. I’ll never forget when I moved my daughter in, during 2-a-days, move her into the dorm, that’s all I needed to do, Garrett and I are here, let’s go see if we can get into a practice, get to talk to some of the players, got to talk to a dear friend, Eric Morris, said that my daughter is here and needed to have her back. Kliff and Eric gave me their numbers. My son introduced himself to Kliff and said that he was the Kliff Kingsbury of his generation.

I have to talk about my family at Cedar Hill, that’s where I started. My AD is back there, my assistant superintendent. I am a unicorn of coaches, I was at Crowley for 4 years, Cedar Hill for 20, Baylor for 5, and I will die here at Texas Tech. I am so happy to be part of that.

Thank Mack Rhoades, Coach Aranda for keeping me. Matt Rhule convinced me to come to Baylor and is one of my best friends, talk to him all of the time. Just love him to death. The real people to thank are the players. Not a smart coach if you don’t know why you are here. Because of the players.

You guys will know this quick. I love my guys. Surround myself with great players and coach them hard.

The committee, these guys have a passion and love for this school, I “got” to be a Red Raider and get to Lubbock as fast as possible. Thank Red Raider nation and amazed how you made us feel at home since it was announced. I can’t wait to be part of this community, and part of this city. Such an incredible place. Can’t wait to get fried cheese at Spanky’s.

Want to echo what Kirby said, we are passionate and we are going to show up for this team on Saturday. We are all about it. I’m going to be there in Red and Black and yelling my butt off and I hope I see you on Saturday.

Want to thank the THSCA, I am one of them and very proud of that. I am a high school coach that coaches college football. Will see last night and next couple of days that this will pay off for this team. Can’t wait to recruit. I had 993 texts on one and 575 on the other and the majority were high school football coaches. The other 100 were Judd Hardish, a friend. Some of you know me, got to recruit some of you, got beat on a couple in Eastland, will find out real quick I am all about y’all. So grateful of this team, can’t wait to meet you, and will be a genuine relationship. That is the foundation of every great football team. Will build a love for each other. Special things can happen. Every day you see me, I am like the sun, constant. I will rise and set. You’ll get the same guy. Bro, I’m always like that.

I know they want to win, I know that you guys want to win, bring an exciting brand of football, explosive offense. Sonny has been part of it, I’m very good friends with Sonny. I watched his press conference and loved that passion he has for Texas Tech and I really respect that.

We are going to play defense in Lubbock. Mike Leach is a friend, but we are going to play defense at Texas Tech.

More than anything. We are going to have a brand. We are going to be the toughest, hardest working, most competitive team in the country. Tough teams are hard to beat. I don’t know where we are right now, but I know where we’re going to be. I believe if you put genuine relationships together and that brand, something special will happen. You will great a special culture.

When I said that, you said that’s West Texas and I believe that. I believe no matter where you at, if we create that brand we’ll be a tough team to beat. We will compete on and off the field. Will be great student athletes. Will hear “be a pro” want to recruit and develop players who can play in the NFL. I want to recruit and develop these guys, but also want you to be a pro as a husband, father, businessman, and you will hear that all of the tie and make a difference on this campus and you will be proud. Put a staff together who can develop.

James Blachard will be my director of player personnel. He is a rock star, love him to death. Put that staff together that believes in relationships. They can’t walk in the building if they can’t build relationships. They won’t coach at Texas Tech.

We’re going to go get West Texas players. Know we have to recruit everybody, but have to keep the guys who grew up wearing red, black and white. Can’t wait to get started, but we did get started last night.

Want to end it with this. I don’t want to get up and go to work, but I have to. I want to jump out of bed go to the facility because I get to. I don’t recruit every day because I have to, but because I get to. I build life-long friendships because I have to, but because I get to. I get to mold men into character and value. I didn’t take this job because I have to, I get to go to a place I’ve always wanted to be, I get to build a staff, I get to build something.
[Ed. Note. It was difficult to follow this last part, but I think the gist of this was that he doesn’t have to do all of these things, but he gets to do all of these things and is fortunate as a result.]

Lubbock Avalanche-Journals’ Don Williams has information on the assistant coach pool and we’ll get more into this at a later point, but I think it is important, maybe the most important part of this entire process.

Tech signed McGuire to a six-year contract worth $20.2 million. He’ll make $3 million in the first year and be eligible for up to $1 million annually in bonuses. His salary pool will be $4.8 million for the 10 full-time assistant coaches and $1.85 million for the strength and conditioning and football support staffs.

The coming bump to $4.8 million for full-time assistants is up from about $3.5 million currently. The $4.8 million pool would have ranked 21st among power-five public schools in 2020, according to USA Today. A source recently told A-J Media that Tech vowed to lead the Big 12 in such staff resources after Texas and Oklahoma depart the conference for the SEC.

That’s a big bump in assistant coach salaries and if you ever wanted to have a bit of hope (in addition to everything else) then this would be it.

All Texas Tech has ever wanted is someone that loves Texas Tech as much as we love Texas Tech. I can’t see into McGuire’s heart, but based on the opening press conference I think Texas Tech found someone that wants to be in Lubbock and is excited to be the coach at Texas Tech.