The Texas Tech Red Raiders have done a good job of staying competitive in the Big 12 in head coach Joey McGuire’s first three seasons with the team. Last year, they went 8-5, winning six games against conference opponents. However, the team appears focused on having a big 2025 season.
Thanks to a rumored budget of $55 million, the Red Raiders were able to bring in one of the best transfer portal classes in the nation. According to 247Sports, the Red Raiders had the No. 2-ranked portal class in the nation, only behind the LSU Tigers.
It’s believed Texas Tech will pay its players $55 million (revenue sharing + NIL) among all its programs this year, making the Red Raiders perhaps the highest-paying college athletics program in the country, sources tell @CBSSports. https://t.co/Kw7KdwJCzA
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) June 9, 2025
On Tuesday, Texas Tech general manager James Blanchard spoke at the Personnel Symposium in Nashville. He made some eye-opening comments on the team’s mentality of using money to get an advantage.
“We’re going to poach some guys,” Blanchard said. “I’m going to do senior evals on the 2026 class across the country and if somebody is underpaying an elite guy that has senior tape he might be a four or five-star guy and people are only paying him 100, 200-thousand I’m going to give him three to 400-thousand and go steal somebody.”
Blanchard continued his comments, explaining how the team was able to acquire such a huge budget for this season.
“Alignment from admins to donors from the coaching staff to the scouting staff,” Blanchard said. “Resource rich university. A group of people that are motivated to see if they can turn Texas Tech into a new-age blue blood.”
Deion Sanders Comments on Texas Tech’s Rumored $55 Million Budget
In July, at the Big 12 media days, Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders was asked about Texas Tech’s $55 million budget. While they are rivals, Coach Prime was happy for coach Joey McGuire, whom he calls a friend.
“Yeah, Joey got some money. Joey, where you at, baby? Spending that money, I love it,” Deion Sanders said. “I love you, man. I appreciate you. Can you send a few of those dollars to us so we can get some of those players too?”
These big moves have paid off in the eyes of many analysts. ESPN posted a Big 12 preview article on Monday. It looked at every aspect of each team and included a preseason power rankings. Texas Tech came in at the No. 2 slot.
