How Texas Tech Head Coach Joey McGuire Landed His Job

Expertise is not every thing in the case of hiring. Simply take a look at Joey McGuire, the pinnacle soccer coach at Texas Tech College.

When the Crimson Raiders started their head-coaching search in 2021, McGuire did not have as stacked a résumé as his competitors. As ESPN reported, he was “a real underdog candidate.”

On the time, McGuire had spent nearly all of his teaching profession at Cedar Hill Excessive Faculty in Texas, the place he had notched three state championships. He additionally spent just a few years as an assistant coach at Baylor.

On paper, it was the sort of background that might have given many Energy 4 packages pause.

Texas Tech’s hiring committee might have fully neglected McGuire had he not reached out himself. In line with ESPN, he cold-called athletic director Kirby Hocutt, left a voicemail, and requested for the chance to interview.

That sort of daring outreach is usually a differentiator.

“I all the time advise to not be too afraid of chilly outreach,” a former Google recruiter told Business Insider in 2023. “For those who’re actually involved in an organization, get in contact with these you wish to work with — e mail the CEO, the pinnacle of expertise, or the hiring supervisor and allow them to know why you are the suitable individual for the job.”

As soon as McGuire received within the room, he made essentially the most of it.

ESPN reported that he confirmed as much as the interview with unmatched enthusiasm and “a seven-step plan for successful.” The publication mentioned he had with him “the complete record of coaches he want to rent. He had an in depth plan for fixing in-state recruiting and spoke of waking a sleeping big.”

The preparation left a long-lasting impression.

“We had been all like, ‘We discovered our man,'” Tony Hernandez, a former deputy athletic director and member of the search committee, instructed ESPN after the assembly.

Texas Tech finally determined to go along with McGuire, and the gamble has paid off.

Whereas the Crimson Raiders fell to Oregon within the School Soccer Playoff quarterfinals on Thursday, beneath McGuire, the workforce has surged from relative obscurity to a program-record 12 wins in 2025. Additionally they secured their first outright convention championship since 1955 once they toppled BYU final month.

McGuire’s story is an efficient reminder that slightly preparation can go a good distance, it doesn’t matter what sort of job you are making use of for.

As enterprise etiquette knowledgeable Jacqueline Whitmore told BI, “Most individuals do not do the correct analysis concerning the firm. We’ve so many sources to make use of, together with LinkedIn, web sites, and social media. There isn’t any excuse so that you can go into an interview and never know concerning the firm and one thing about who could be interviewing you.”