'You Have To Be Comfortable in Your Own Skin'

He had come from a family of nurses, and now University of Texas-Arlington student Joey McGuire was set to follow a similar path.

But after assisting his dad on the football fields of Crowley one afternoon, McGuire realized he was far more comfortable with a clipboard and whistle than a needle or stethoscope.

“I’m going to change my major,” he told his mom, a long-time nurse. “I know you’re going to be disappointed, but I think I’m supposed to teach and coach.”

More than a decade later, McGuire helped facilitate one of the most remarkable turnarounds in Texas high school football history, guiding a Cedar Hill program that had never won a playoff game to three state championships.

After spurning some college offers over the years, McGuire joined Baylor as an assistant coach in 2017 and was named the head coach of Texas Tech in 2021.

The Daily Coach spoke to him recently about why “exceptions” get coaches fired, why he wants to be the “one constant” in his players’ lives, and why “love” doesn’t make a leader soft.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Coach, thank you for doing this. What impact did your high school coaches have on you?

I got really lucky. I had two phenomenal coaches. I tell everybody the reason I’m a coach is Harris Brownlee. He was the offensive line coach at Crowley (High School) when I was playing, and Tom McCombs who worked with the offensive line and tight ends. I couldn’t spend enough time with those guys. I played football and power lifted, but I ran track to throw the shot and disc to be around Harris Brownlee.

They were men of integrity and always poured into me. The biggest thing with them is I always thought they had my back. One taught P.E., one taught history. I didn’t have them as teachers, but I could go in their class if I was having a tough day, and they were always there for me.

I know you feel that coaching is a calling. When did you realize it was yours?

I wanted to be a CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist), but I was also coaching on the side with my dad. If you’re from Crowley, I’m not Coach McGuire. He’s Coach McGuire. He coached everybody.

I would help him a lot on the weekends. Of everything that was going on in life, that’s where I was happy. As much as I do believe in the servant style of nursing, I couldn’t see myself doing it the rest of my life.

One thing I learned from my dad a long time ago is do something that you love, where you wake up every day and are excited to go to work. I switched and got lucky to be hired in 1994 by Robert Woods and Crowley.

What do you think came naturally to you as a coach and what did you learn in your early years that you still apply?

The relationship piece comes naturally to me. If you can build a good relationship with a player, they’re not going to want to disappoint you. They’re going to give more than they have.

The relationships, caring about people, knowing that sports is so much like life. You’re going to have so many times you succeed, but you’re going to have just as many, if not more, that you fail. How do you respond to that?

I’ll never forget I was a first-year coach, coaching with Robert Woods. His eye for detail was unreal. I learned so much from him about organization. We had to report every Sunday at 2:30 for game plan meetings. He’d have a folder with your name on it and whatever you were assigned. He’d have all these little post-it notes with, “Where’d you see that? The quarterback didn’t face out on that play. He reversed out.” You had to prove everything. I started making so many notes so I wouldn’t have to re-do my work. He saw everything, and I literally wanted to be that guy.

You then went to Cedar Hill High School as an assistant for several years, and your players really pushed for you to get the head coaching job. Can you share that story?

I got an interview out of courtesy. I was 31 years old. At the time, I think I was the youngest coach in the state of Texas. The AD and the assistant superintendent I think saw something in me.

I got a second interview. But I’ll never forget I’m sitting in the office when the school board took a vote and 250-something players and parents were in this meeting. When they asked to raise a hand to hire Coach McGuire, all of the players put their hands up.

You take pride in being a players’ coach. How do you build a deep rapport with your team while still commanding players’ respect?

I read something that’s always stuck with me. “I love you so much I’m not going to allow you to act that way.” People hear this word “love,” and it’s like this soft word. But it’s really one of the strongest words you can possibly use because it has so many meanings.

That’s the thing I constantly tell our guys. If they have to come in my office and we have to have a serious conversation, it’s out of love. I always try to tie it back to, “I’m doing this because of this, and I’m not doing it to you, I’m doing it for you.”

I’ve heard you say you want to be the one constant in your players’ lives. Can you elaborate on that?

I’ve had a lot of players who don’t have a dad or don’t have a mom or there are different things going in their lives, and there’s no constant, almost, “I don’t know where my next meal is coming from.” I think it’s one thing I really try to do, and it’s one reason why players trust me in a fast way. They get the same dude every single day. There aren’t highs and lows. If I’m having a bad day… I don’t want to project that on them. I’m always going to show up and be there for them. I’m always going to be smiling and fired up. I get all of my energy from my players.

You had a lot of success at Baylor as an associate head coach, then Texas Tech names you head coach in November 2021. What did your first 100 days look like?

I wouldn’t be sitting in front of you right now as the head coach at Texas Tech if I didn’t work for Matt Rhule. Early in our relationship, he was at his desk, and I was walking by his office and he said, “You’re supposed to be a head coach at this level. Let me teach you how to do that.” The first thing he said was, “It’s not about football. It’s not about the locker room. You do all of that naturally. I need to show you roster management, a recruiting model, how you graduate players early, how you can flip your roster.”

He helped me so much. Once he said that to me, all I did was for the next five years was prepare to be a head coach at the college level.

Those first 100 days (at Texas Tech) were nonstop. You’re trying to develop relationships with the current team. I was lucky I got to meet with every player one-on-one before we had a team meeting. I started getting my staff together — I’ve seen people fail in the past because of the staff where they either didn’t have connections or brought in the wrong people. But it all started with the players, and it was all about recruiting.

You put a heavy emphasis on metrics when evaluating prospects. Why are those important to you?

If he has no measurables, no traits other than his tape is really good, you start creating these exceptions, and you have this team of exceptions. Exceptions get you fired. There’s only one Wes Welker. The stuff you’re comparing is not a real comparison.

Even the guys who have traits, we still want certain things we see on film like spacial awareness. It’s thinking outside the box and trusting your coaches. You are going to take some players a lot of people are saying are two stars, maybe three stars. I always tell guys we’re recruiting there’s a trait we feel we can develop.

We (also) love two-sport athletes. It shows athleticism, but it shows competitiveness. There’s a total difference between winning a district basketball game to go to the playoffs versus going to a seven-on-seven tournament… When J’Koby Williams is having to hit a free throw to win a game to go to the next round of the playoffs, I want that kind of pressure on a kid.

Why is the No. 3 so significant in your program?

It all goes back again to Matt Rhule. When we first got to Baylor, the single-digit guys were the toughest players and worked the hardest. You had to earn a single digit. I was going to do that at Tech, but with NIL, some guys already had deals and were making money off their T-shirts.

No. 3 was a single digit, and nobody really had it who had started. The second was, and I wasn’t here when it happened, but we had a young man who had a really tragic accident… His favorite number was 3.

For you to wear the No. 3 at Texas Tech, you have to be the brand. It’s the definition of exactly what a Red Raider looks like. He’s the toughest, hardest-working, most-competitive player on our team.

What makes a good assistant coach in your eyes?

When it comes to football, I don’t want people who think like me or are exactly like me. I want them to challenge me because, at the end of the day, I want to have the best idea — not my idea, not their idea — the best idea to help us win at Texas Tech.

We’ll have some conversations where there are arguments or we question each other. But you have to be comfortable in your own skin. At the end of the day, though, I think I’ve hired a bunch of guys who understand the direction we’re going in. I know whenever they say, “Hey, what do you think about this, Coach?”, it’s coming from the right spot.

It comes from trying to get the most we can get out of these players and help them become the men and players they’re meant to be.

Q&A Resources
Coach Joey McGuire ― Bio | X | LinkedIn

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