As he typically does, legendary former college football coach Nick Saban joined the Pat McAfee Show Friday afternoon live in Lubbock, Texas, wearing his glistening maroon sports coat. While he and McAfee chattered on about the weekend slate ahead, Saban pointed out one successful program that’s run like his former teams.
Since they were at the Texas Tech football facilities, Saban made sure to point out just how impressive the construction of this Red Raider program has been by current head coach Joey McGuire. “I think he’s done a phenomenal job here,” Saban said of him.
“In the meeting today, it was amazing, philosophically, what a good team builder he is and how he’s done a great job, very similar to the way I approach things,” Saban added, explaining what he means by that statement. “Winning and losing is the same, always sort of keep the same routine for the players, teach the players, every opportunity, whether you win or lose, and he’s gotten some really good players, but he’s also been able to keep the culture what it needs to be so that they can play winning football consistently together.”
Saban went on to note that, sure, money has to be a program-building factor at this stage of college athletics, but beyond raw dollars, there is still an inherent nature to programs that kids have to be attracted to in order to split the difference between two similar paychecks.
“We talk about these players coming to teams because they want to make money, but I think the really good players still want to develop,” Saban explained. “They’re not going to make the decision just about money; they’re going to make a decision about, you know, where they can grow and develop.”
Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire after the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys / Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images
At Texas Tech, right now, that opportunity exists to make good financially plus develop as a player without getting buried on the depth chart.
“And the facilities here are fantastic,” says Saban. “He designed these facilities, he set up a program, and everybody in this organization is bought in to doing things to help the players create value, which is always the way we’d try to do it. So, tremendous amount of respect for this guy.”
Nick Saban and Joey McGuire are certainly hand-in-hand when it comes to their viewpoints on how to properly build and sustain a top program. Perhaps Texas Tech can land another massive win in a terrific 2025 campaign by knocking off the No. 7 BYU Cougars at home on Saturday.
