Joey McGuire praises Patrick Mahomes' impact at Texas Tech: 'He is all freaking in'

Amid his rise to stardom in the NFL, Patrick Mahomes made sure he didn’t forget his alma mater. His presence is still strong around Texas Tech as he supports not only the football program, but the athletics department as a whole.

Mahomes – a two-time MVP and three-time Super Bowl champion – made a $5 million donation to Texas Tech and partnered with multiple Red Raiders athletes through NIL deals with adidas and Team Mahomes. When the softball program made it to the Women’s College World Series, Mahomes gifted the Red Raiders custom gear.

All the while, Mahomes built a strong relationship with Joey McGuire. The Texas Tech head coach remains impressed with Mahomes’ support for the school and said he sometimes gets called out of the bullpen to help make recruiting pitches.

“He’s pretty incredible. … I think he probably sleeps in a Double-T every night,” McGuire said on The Triple Option. “Like, he is just all freaking in on Texas Tech. And he’ll tell you, man, he literally says, I am who I am because I came to Lubbock and I’m a Red Raider. It’s great to have him. Our walk through room is the Patrick Mahomes walk-through room. Our quarterbacks’ meeting room is the Patrick Mahomes quarterbacks meeting room, our offensive coordinator has Patrick Mahomes’ name on it in his office.

“The dude’s real. I’m wearing Mahomes shoes … for football school. And what’s cool, he’s one of the greatest, just humble dudes. Like, he’s just a real guy.”

McGuire also shared a story that shows just closely Mahomes follows Texas Tech and keeps a strong presence around the football program. His foundation’s golf tournament took place in Las Vegas the day of the NFL’s schedule release, and McGuire saw an opportunity to think through when Mahomes could attend games.

By the time the two found each other, Mahomes had already thought through when he’d be on the sidelines. He circled one game in particular – Texas Tech vs. BYU, which is Andy Reid’s alma mater. Mahomes told McGuire he’s bringing his head coach along.

“I played in his foundation tournament in Vegas – that was not a hard sell, to go out to Vegas and play golf,” McGuire said. “But we took some Red Raiders out there, and he had a meet-and-greet the before the dinner, and it was the day that the NFL schedule was released. So I was looking when his bye week was and what it matched up with. So I got it. As soon as he walks into the building, he makes a beeline to me and says, ‘I’ll be at the BYU game, man. I’m going to be there. I’ve already been talking so much trash to Coach Reid. In fact, I’m gonna make him come with me, so you’d better win that game.’ Like, think about that. He’s thought about it and already knows before I do. That’s who he is, man.

“I mean, he was at the softball Game 2 and Game 3. He gave all that gear to the our softball team. I will text him and say, ‘Hey, man, I’m gonna have so-and-so on campus,’ let’s say he’s a quarterback, 2026. ‘Tell me a time that I can get on the phone with you and you can just say hello.’ He was on our sideline during his bye week – we played at Kansas and he was on our sideline.”