FRISCO, Texas — Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire already had completed his portion of Big 12 football media days when Colorado’s Deion Sanders was asked if he has been paying attention to what the Red Raiders did in the transfer portal.
The gist of that question was really about all the money for Texas Tech athletes, which widely is reported to be around $55 million for the upcoming school year. A significant chunk of that is expected to go toward the transformation of a football program that has never won a Big 12 title or even had a 10-win season since 2008, six years before three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Patrick Mahomes played his first game for the Red Raiders.
“Yeah, Joey got some money. Joey, where you at, baby? Spending that money, I love it,” Sanders said emphatically about the fellow Big 12 coach he calls a friend, and who coached two of his three sons in high school. “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?”
The reported dollar figures are staggering, even in these early days of schools being able to pay athletes directly. That total supposedly includes the maximum $20.5 million of revenue each school can share with players under the NCAA’s landmark House settlement that took effect, meaning the rest would come through name, image and likeness deals.
Red Raiders spending big
Last fall, Texas Tech said it was budgeting $14.7 million for the fiscal year — about $9 million more than the previous year — in support for the athletic program, which had a budget of nearly $129 million. The headlines started to come soon after.
Tech’s softball team never had won a Big 12 regular-season or tournament championship before standout pitcher NiJaree Canady arrived last…
Source link : https://www.nbcsports.com/college-football/news/texas-tech-hoping-big-money-and-top-transfers-lead-to-unprecedented-payback-in-football
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Publish date : 2025-07-14 17:15:00
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