Source: Joey McGuire targeting Big 12, Texas ties for coordinators

Joey McGuire's boots are on the ground in Lubbock, and jobs one through five are all about recruiting. He's recruiting high school players to Texas Tech, recruiting players off the transfer portal, and recruiting Texas Tech's own players away from the transfer portal. And most importantly, he'll lead his own staff for the first time since he was the head coach at Cedar Hill High School in 2014, and filling those positions will be of the utmost importance over the coming weeks. 

As should come as no surprise, sources told FootballScoop on Tuesday that McGuire is targeting coaches with Big 12 and/or Texas ties to run his Red Raider offense and defense.

Sources said that current Tech offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie, Western Kentucky offensive coordinator Zach Kittley, and SMU offensive coordinator Garrett Riley are expected to draw interest for the offensive coordinator position in Lubbock. At defensive coordinator, Carolina Panthers linebackers coach Mike Siravo is expected to be McGuire's top target.  

McGuire said Tuesday that the Big 12 of 2021 is not the stereotypical Big 12 the average college football fan may have in their head. Teams still align in spread formations, but they do so to run the ball and throw to tight ends much more than they did in 2011. And so McGuire will build his offense and defenses to reflect that. 

"On the offensive side, I want to be able to run the football. That doesn't mean we're not going to throw it all over the place, so you Air Raid Nation people that love all that, hey, we're going to throw the ball. But I want somebody that's going to play complimentary football to each other. I think that's how you're going to win," he said.

Cumbie's ties to Texas Tech go back 20 years, as detailed here. Kittley is a former Texas Tech GA who broke into coaching as a student assistant under Cumbie in 2013. The son of longtime Tech track coach Wes Kittley, Kittley's Houston Baptist offense was one of the top passing attacks in FCS. In his one season at WKU, the Hilltoppers rank among the top 10 nationally in yards per play (6.97), yards per game (513.4) and scoring (41.3 points per game).

Riley is another Tech alum who coached in high school and small college ball before joining his brother Lincoln at East Carolina. Since then, he's coached at Kansas, Appalachian State and SMU. Working alongside head coach Sonny Dykes, Riley's Mustangs rank just below WKU at 40.1 points per game. (Texas Tech is 34th at 32.8 points per outing.)

Retaining Cumbie would be the financially prudent move, given that he's already under contract for 2022 and '23. Letting him go would cost $1.28 million -- 70 percent of the $1.825 million still due to him -- offset by future earnings, per the terms of his deal. 

Siravo and McGuire coached together for three seasons at Baylor, and McGuire mentioned the Bears' record-setting 2019 unit multiple times on Tuesday. The 2016 FootballScoop Linebackers Coach of the Year, Siravo followed Matt Rhule from Temple to Baylor and now to Carolina, where he coaches linebackers. 

Texas Tech would represent his first coordinator job.  

"Defensively, I probably lean more to an odd front, but the one thing I want to do is I want to bring the best defensive coordinator in here. I've coached in all of it. In 2019 we were one of the best defenses in the nation. We were an odd front. 

I want somebody that has experience in the Big 12. It might not be in the last couple years but understands this conference. Defensively is all passion, running to the football. Your scheme has to be fundamentally sound, but how hard do you play?... In 2019 we had 46 sacks and 30 turnovers."

The salary pool for McGuire's 10 assistants is $4.8 million, which is nearly a 50 percent increase from the pool Matt Wells began with in 2018.

McGuire leaving Baylor for Texas Tech mid-season is a move nearly without precedent, and all of the above coaches (sans Cumbie, obviously) are in the midst of their own seasons elsewhere, and so the execution of any outside hires will likely have to take place on a more traditional timeline. 

As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.