| Texas Tech Red Raiders football | |||
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| First season | 1925 | ||
| Athletic director | Kirby Hocutt | ||
| Head coach | Tommy Tuberville | ||
| 3rd year, 13–11 (.542) | |||
| Home stadium | Jones AT&T Stadium | ||
| Stadium capacity | 60,454[1] | ||
| Stadium surface | FieldTurf | ||
| Location | Lubbock, Texas | ||
| Conference | Big 12 | ||
| Past conferences | Border Conference Southwest Conference |
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| All-time record | 524–405–32 (.562) | ||
| Postseason bowl record | 12–21–1 | ||
| Conference titles | 11 | ||
| Division titles | 1 | ||
| Heisman winners | 0 (8 finalists) | ||
| Consensus All-Americans | 11[2] | ||
| Current uniform | |||
| Colors | Black and Scarlet | ||
| Fight song | Fight, Raiders, Fight | ||
| Mascot | The Masked Rider / Raider Red |
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| Marching band | Goin' Band from Raiderland | ||
| Website | Texas Tech Red Raiders | ||
Texas Tech Red Raiders football program is a college football team that represents Texas Tech University (variously "Tech" or "TTU"). The team competes, as a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The program began in 1925 and has an overall winning record, including a total of eleven conference titles and one division title. On January 10, 2010, Tommy Tuberville became the team's 14th head coach, replacing Mike Leach. Home games are played at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas.[3]
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Texas Tech (then known as Texas Technological College) fielded its first intercollegiate football team during the 1925 season. The team was known as the "Matadors" from 1925 to 1936, a name suggested by the wife of E. Y. Freeland, the first football coach, to reflect the influence of the Spanish Renaissance architecture on campus. In 1932, Texas Tech joined the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association, also known as the Border Conference. The school's short-lived Matadors moniker was replaced officially in 1937 with "Red Raiders", a nickname bestowed upon them by a sportswriter impressed by their bright Scarlet uniforms that remains to this day. That same year, the team won its first conference championship and was invited to the Sun Bowl. The game was played on January 1, 1938, and resulted in a 7–6 loss to the West Virginia Mountaineers. Texas Tech suffered four more bowl losses before their first postseason win in the 1952 Sun Bowl.[4] Before withdrawing from the Border Conference in 1956, the Red Raiders won eight conference championships and one co-championship, the most held by a Border Conference member.
In 1956, Texas Tech was admitted to the Southwest Conference (SWC) but was ineligible for any title during a four-year probationary period. It gained full SWC membership and began official conference play in 1960. The Red Raiders won conference co-championships in 1976 and 1994. The team remained in the SWC until the conference dissolved in 1996.[5] The university was invited and became a charter member in the South Division of the Big 12 Conference. Texas Tech is the only member in the history of the Big 12 to boast a winning record every year since 1996, when the conference began.[5][A 1] In 2008, the Red Raiders were one of three football teams involved in the first three way conference division tie.
The Red Raiders play their home games on campus at Jones AT&T Stadium. The stadium opened in 1947 as Clifford B. and Audrey Jones Stadium. In 2000, Jones Stadium was renamed, Jones SBC Stadium, in recognition of a $30 million donation from SBC Communications. Reflecting SBC Communications' rebranding as AT&T, Inc., the stadium's name was renamed in 2005 as Jones AT&T Stadium.[17] Then known as the Matadors, Texas Tech's first home field was a make-shift stadium at the South Plains Fairgrounds in Lubbock, for the 1925 season and first game of the 1926 season. In 1926, Tech Stadium, a wooden horseshoe shaped 12,000 seat stadium, was built on campus.[18][19] Twenty-years later, Jones Stadium as was completed for the 1947 season. Two years prior to the stadium's opening, Clifford B. Jones, former Texas Tech University president, established a $100,000 trust toward construction for a new football stadium. The Texas Tech Board of Directors voted to name the new facility in honor of the former president and his wife's contribution.[20]
Since opening with a seating capacity of 18,000, the stadium has been continuously expanded and renovated. In 1960, the addition of a lower bowl doubled the seating capacity to 41,500, an expansion in 1972 added over 10,000 seats, during the 1990s, 2,000 seats were added, and additions in the 2000s brought the current seating capacity to 60,454.[1] In 2003, a seven-story building including 47 suites, a club seat level and new press box replaced the former press box constructed in 1959.[21][22] In 2010, expansion to the east side of the stadium included a five-story addition that includes 1,000 general-admission seats, 542 club seats, 30 suites, a dining club, and pro shop. Also, ticket and athletic offices are expected to relocate to the East Side Building.[23]
When Jones AT&T Stadium opened in 1947, the playing surface was originally natural grass. However, at the beginning of the 1972 season, the stadium's natural grass was replaced with AstroTurf. Jones AT&T Stadium has had a FieldTurf playing surface since 2006.[1] Jones AT&T Stadium set an attendance record of 60,454 spectators September 18, 2010, when the Red Raiders hosted the Texas Longhorns. The game was the 60th between the in-state rivals. The previous record, with 57,733 in attendance, was set against the Texas A&M Aggies.[1]
The Goin' Band from Raiderland, originally known as The Matador Band, is as old as Texas Tech itself. The band performed at the team's first game in October 1925, fielding between 21 and 25 members.[24][25] The following year the band earned its name when it became the first collegiate band to travel to an away game.[25] American humorist Will Rogers once aided in financing a trip to Fort Worth, Texas, so the band could perform at a game against the TCU Horned Frogs.[26] Today, in keeping with the campus' Spanish Renaissance architecture, the uniforms of the Goin' Band are styled after the trajes of matadors, complete with cape and a flat-brimmed "gaucho" hat. The 450-member band, which was awarded the Sudler Trophy in 1999, performs at all home football games and at various other events.[27]
The Masked Rider is Texas Tech University's oldest mascot. The tradition began in 1936, when "ghost riders" were dared to circle the field prior to home football games. The Masked Rider became an official mascot in 1954, when Joe Kirk Fulton led the team onto the field at the Gator Bowl. According to reports from those present at the game, the crowd sat in stunned silence as they watched Fulton and his horse Blackie rush onto the football field, followed by the team. After a few moments, the silent crowd burst into cheers. Ed Danforth, a writer for the Atlanta Journal who witnessed the event, later wrote, "No team in any bowl game ever made a more sensational entrance."[28][29] In 2000, The Masked Rider tradition was commemorated with the unveiling of a statue outside of the university's Frazier Alumni Pavilion. The sculpture, created by artist Grant Speed, is 25 percent larger than life.[30] Today the Masked Rider, with guns up, leads the team onto the field for all home games. This mascot, adorned in a distinctive gaucho hat like the ones worn by members of the marching band, is one of the most visible figures at Texas Tech. Christi Chadwell, a sophomore agricultural communications major from Garland, will represent the university as the Masked Rider during 2010/11.[31]
Texas Tech's other mascot, Raider Red, is a more recent creation. Beginning with the 1971 football season, the Southwest Conference forbade the inclusion of live animal mascots to away games unless the host school consented. For situations where the host school did not want to allow the Masked Rider's horse, an alternate mascot was needed. Jim Gaspard, a member of the Saddle Tramps student spirit organization, created the original design for the Raider Red costume, basing it on a character created by cartoonist Dirk West, a Texas Tech alumnus and former Lubbock mayor.[32] Though the Masked Rider's identity is public knowledge, it has always been tradition that Raider Red's student alter ego is kept secret until the end of his or her tenure.[33] The student serving as Raider Red is a member of the Saddle Tramps or High Riders.
The teams first played during the 1928 season and have played annually since 1960 when Texas Tech began participating in the Southwest Conference.[34] Since the 1996 season, the Chancellor's Spurs, a traveling trophy, has been exchanged between the two university system chancellors, in honor of the two universities' rivalry.[35] The 2008 game was one of three games that led to a three-way tie controversy in the Big 12 Conference South Division, the first three-way tie in a collegiate conference division.[A 2] The Texas Longhorns lead the all-time series record with 45 wins of the 60 games played and has won 11 of 15 games since the Chancellor's Spurs were first exchanged.[46]
The Texas Tech Red Raiders have played more games against the Texas A&M Aggies and Baylor Bears, than any other opponents.[47] Texas Tech first played the Aggies in 1927 and the teams have played annually since 1957. The two universities' football rivalry has experienced multiple altercations off the playing field between coaches, players and fans.[48] The Texas A&M Aggies lead the all-time series with thirty-six wins of the sixty-nine games played. Since both teams joined the Big 12 Conference in 1996, Texas Tech has won 10, while Texas A&M has won 6, of the these last 16 meetings. Texas A&M currently has a three game winning streak against Texas Tech following their 2011 victory against Texas Tech in Lubbock.[49]
A prior to Texas Tech joining the SWC, a traveling trophy was exchanged between the TCU Horned Frogs and Red Raiders. The trophy was of a miniature saddle and the game between the teams was dubbed "The West Texas Championship."[50]
Texas Tech's football team was originally known as the "Matadors" from 1925 to 1936, a name suggested by the wife of E. Y. Freeland, the first football coach, to reflect the Spanish Renaissance architecture on campus.[51] The students followed the suggestion, and later chose scarlet and black as the school colors inspired by a matador's traditional red cape and black outfit.[52] In 1934, head coach Pete Cawthon ordered scarlet satin uniforms for the football team. He said that if the team did not attract attention by their playing, they would at least be noticed because of the flashy uniforms.[53] The football team, wearing its new outfit, defeated heavily-favored Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles on October 26, 1934.[54] A Los Angeles sports writer called the Matadors a "red raiding team", coining the moniker Texas Tech's athletics teams use today.[53]
Texas Tech's uniform consists of any combination of scarlet, black, and white. Since 2006, Under Armour has been the team's outfitter.[55]
The 2010 team was the first to wear white helmets since 1974. The white helmets were similar in design to the ones warn during the Jim Carlen era from 1970–1974 featuring a one inch scarlet stripe in the middle bordered by two half inch black stripes. The helmets used in 2010 feature a black face mask instead of scarlet and the current version of the Double T.[56] The helmets were worn for away games against the New Mexico Lobos, Iowa State Cyclones, and Oklahoma Sooners.[57][58]
Many of Texas Tech's players have been recognized for their accomplishments while with the program. Four Red Raiders, Donny Anderson, Hub Bechtol, E. J. Holub, and Dave Parks, have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.[59] Anderson, Holub, and Parks are the only three players at Texas Tech to have had their numbers retired.[60]
Two Red Raiders, Donny Anderson in 1965 and Graham Harrell in 2008, have named Sporting News College Football Player of the Year, which is bestowed upon the most outstanding college football player of that season by Sporting News.[61][62] While no Texas Tech player has ever received the Heisman Trophy, seven Red Raiders have received votes by the award's selection committee.[63] Donny Anderson and Graham Harrell both finished fourth in the voting in 1965 and 2008 respectively, the highest ranking any Red Raider has received from voters.[64][65] Additionally, Michael Crabtree, Byron Hanspard, E. J. Holub, Kliff Kingsbury, and B. J. Symons were Heisman candidates, receiving enough votes to finish in the top ten.[64][65]
Texas Tech football players have won several individual awards based on their position.[66] At the end of the 1993 season, Bam Morris received the Doak Walker Award, and in 1996, Byron Hanspard became the second Red Raider to receive the award.[67] Michael Crabtree became the first two-time winner of the both the Fred Biletnikoff Award and Paul Warfield Trophy in back-to-back seasons.[68][69] While three Texas Tech quarterbacks, Kliff Kingsbury, B.J. Symons, and Graham Harrell, have been awarded the Sammy Baugh Trophy, but only Harrell received the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.[68][70] In 2003, Wes Welker won the Mosi Tatupu Award, given annually to the best special teams player.[71]
In 1935, Herschel Ramsey was the first football player from Texas Tech to be named an All-American. Since then, a total of forty-seven players have been named to an All-American team, twenty-nine were selected as first team All-Americans.[72] Ten Red Raiders have been named consensus All-Americans, players who were awarded a majority of votes at their positions by the selectors.[73] Michael Crabtree was named as a consensus All-Americans in 2007 and 2008, and is the only Red Raider to receive the honor twice.[73] Ten Red Raiders have been named academic All-Americans.[74]
Texas Tech has played in 34 post-season bowl games with an all-time record of 12 wins, 21 losses, and 1 tie.[75] The Red Raiders rank fourth among current Big 12 Conference programs in bowl game appearances, and also boast the distinction of being the only program in the conference to be bowl eligible every season since its formation in 1996.[76] Along with the Miami Hurricanes and Ole Miss Rebels, the 33 bowl game appearances by the Red Raiders rank the program 17th all-time in bowl games played.[77]
Texas Tech's first bowl game was at the conclusion of the 1937 season, only 13 years after the program was established.[78] The Red Raiders played in the 1938 Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, against the West Virginia Mountaineers on New Year's Day.[79] Nine of Texas Tech's 33 bowl game bids have been to the Sun Bowl.[79], the most appearances by any team to the second-oldest college football bowl game.[A 3] Texas Tech's most recent bowl game appearance, the 2011 TicketCity Bowl, occurred on January 1, 2011, when the Red Raiders won, 45–38, against the Northwestern Wildcats.[82] The game was the team's eleventh consecutive bowl appearance that began with the 2000 Galleryfurniture.com Bowl, in former head coach Mike Leach's first season.[83]
In 10 seasons, Mike Leach's 9 bowl game appearances and 5 wins are the most of any the program's head coaches.[83] Only 4 head coaches, E. Y. Freeland, Grady Higginbotham, Rex Dockery, and Jerry Moore, have not led Texas Tech to a postseason bowl game.[A 4] In the 1952 Sun Bowl, DeWitt Weaver was the first head coach to led the Red Raiders to a bowl game victory.[83] Although both Pete Cawthon and Dell Morgan had led the program to previous bowl games, neither posted wins in their 5 combined appearances.[83]
The Red Raiders' fans have set attendance records at 10 bowl games, including the team's first bowl game appearance in the 1938 Sun Bowl.[85] Although 8 of the 10 attendance records were eventually broken, attendance records from 2 bowl game appearances, the 2004 Pacific Life Holiday Bowl and 2009 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic, remain unbroken. The 2009 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic's attendance record of 88,175 was the second-most attended bowl game of the 2008–09 bowl game season.[85][86]
Texas Tech has had 14 head coaches, and 1 interim head coach. Four coaches have won conference championships with the Red Raiders: Pete Cawthon, Dell Morgan, DeWitt Weaver, Steve Sloan, and Spike Dykes. Mike Leach is the only head Texas Tech football coach to win a division title. Dykes is the all-time leader in games coached and years coached, while Leach is the all-time leader in overall wins. Higginbotham is, in terms of winning percentage, the worst coach the Red Raiders have had; he won one game while losing seven games and tying two, giving him a .200 winning percentage.[89] Cawthon's .693 winning percent ranks as the highest among the coaches.[A 9]
Dell Morgan, DeWitt Weaver, Spike Dykes, and Mike Leach have each received Coach of the Year honors from at least one organization. Morgan was named Border Conference Coach of the Year in 1949.[90] Twice–in 1951 and 1953–Weaver was named the Border Conference's Coach of the Year.[91] Dykes was named Southwest Conference Coach of the Year in 1989 and two other years.[92] Dykes was also named the first Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year in 1996. In 2008, Leach was the second Texas Tech head coach to be named Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year. The same season, Leach was also named the FieldTurf/Howie Long Coach of the Year and was awarded the Woody Hayes Trophy and George Munger Award; all three awards recognize the top collegiate coach of the season.[93]
| Name | Position | Years at Texas Tech | Alma mater |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tommy Tuberville | Head Coach | 3 | Southern Arkansas University[94] |
| Neal Brown | Offensive Coordinator | 3 | University of Massachusetts[95] |
| Vacant | Defensive Coordinator | ||
| Sonny Cumbie | Inside Receivers | 3 | Texas Tech University[96] |
| Tommy Mainord | Outside Receivers | 3 | Tarleton State University[97] |
| Terry Price | Defensive Line | 1 | Texas A&M University |
| Jim Turner | Offensive Line | — | Boston College[98] |
| Robert Prunty | Defensive Ends and Outside Linebackers | 3 | Alabama A&M University[99] |
| John Lovett | Secondary | 1 | Long Island University |
| Chad Scott | Running Backs | 3 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill[100] |
| Joe Walker | Head Strength & Conditioning Coach | 3 | Auburn University[101] |
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