It’s why we are so well funded. So many alumni have gone to work around this oil field,” says booster Cody Campbell, a former Tech player who sold his last three oil businesses for a combined $13 billion.
Eight months after the unveiling of that new facility, in the wake of arguably the most lucrative and aggressive recruiting effort from any program in the country, the Texas Tech football team is 8-1, ranked as the eighth-best team in the land and poised for its most momentous game in nearly two decades this Saturday when No. 7 BYU (8-0) visits in a Big 12 showdown in West Texas.
The Red Raiders are scoring in bunches and stuffing opponents. After all, they are one of only three teams that rank inside the top 10 in both total offense and total defense (the others: Indiana and Oregon). Issues that have plagued this program for years — defensive lapses and physicality up front — are no longer problems.
They are led by a genuinely gregarious Texan as coach, Joey McGuire, who fits here like a wide-brimmed hat atop the head of a cowboy. And they are funded by some of the richest oil barons in the world, a group that pooled their resources this spring in an effort to elevate this place into a different stratosphere.
In all, Tech donors raised a jaw-dropping $49 million from July 2024 to July 2025, much of that front-loaded cash paid to players (of all sports) before this academic year began.
And they aren’t afraid to talk about it, either.
“We’re trying to be upfront about it,” says Gary Petersen, an oil investor living in Houston and a mega-donor who, with Campbell and John Sellers, cut the biggest checks this spring.
What’s interesting to me, in terms of money, we’re the new kids on the block,” he continues. “Texas and A&M and all the large schools have given money to their players probably forever. Now, they’re getting mad at us. ‘Texas Tech?!’”
Is this the awakening of a sleeping giant?
Is Texas Tech a next new football power within college sports?
“There are different times in college football where there is a change occurring that creates opportunity,” Campbell says. “I visited Nebraska recently. They got good when they figured out weight lifting better than anyone else.
“This is our next opportunity to raise ourselves a tier and move into the top of college football.”
Interesting read…….these guys in Lubbock mean business…..