On Tuesday, Texas Tech Athletics released the following video of Texas Tech head football coach Joey McGuire’s initial team meeting. I’m sure you’ve already seen it, but because it’s what I do, I transcribed most of it.

If you buy a Mercedes, you expect a certain thing. That is a brand. When you buy a Mercedes you expect to drive a Mercedes, not some broke down hooptie. You expect the best of the best.

Under Armour. There are certain things that I put on my body that I expect.

That’s our brand. Every time someone lines up with us, week 1, week 10, to the championship to the bowl. They’re gonna know exactly what they will get 365 days a year. We’re going to have fun, but there’s going to be a way we’re going to do things.

The Brand.

We are the toughest, hardest working, most competitive team in the country.

The Toughest: mentally and physically strong enough to withstand the strain of football and our lives.

Hardest Working: we do extra. We relentlessly grind to get better 1% daily.

Most Competitive: We strive to be the best we can be in everything we do. Always searching for a challenge. We don’t relax and we don’t quit.

You do that long enough and hard enough, you become the brand. No matter what you do for the rest of your life you will find a way to be successful. No matter what it is. Being a pro on Wall Street. Being a pro owning your own business. Being a pro as a husband. Being a pro as a father. Being a pro in the NFL. If we accept this and become the brand we’ll be successful.

When Joey McGuire was hired at Texas Tech, I knew about him, but obviously didn’t “know” about him. the first impression from the opening press conference is really our only interaction with McGuire and for the players, they were involved in bowl game preparations, then off for the break and then back in town for the first day of classes.

This is their introduction too and it is difficult to imagine a better first impression.

I’ve often thought that who Texas Tech football is has been a mystery for the better part of a decade. I think we were sort of known for being this high-scoring offense for the longest time and that was the identity, but since then I’m not sure what it was. That’s not to say that internally this sort of thing was defined, but for me looking outside, I wasn’t sure. And the downside to having a particular type of offense or defense be your identity is that can come and go depending on who is the offensive or defensive coordinator.

Well, Day 1 for McGuire and he made it abundantly clear what this team will be.

Sometimes it is easy to get wrapped up getting to the meat of what the team will be about. How the offense will work. What the defense is going to do. It would have been pretty easy to give an introductory talk to the team to let them what you’ll be about as a coach and a program. Very traditional sorts of program introductions. And I would guess most coaches have a program where they let you know what you’re about and expectations. But I like the idea of defining what the program will be and what you will be as a player. It’s almost as if McGuire has been saving this up for 30 years.

Texas Tech football will be the toughest, hardest working, most competitive team in the country. That’s the brand and that’s the identity and that’s established on day 1 with the program. That’s a pretty good first step. And I’m having a ton of fun following McGuire on Twitter. The coaches are all over the place and they absolutely let you know what high school they are at, something the former staff didn’t really ever do for whatever reason. Nothing wrong with a little publicity for everyone. McGuire also seems to be the biggest cheerleader for anything related to athletics.

The Texas Tech football team spent #MLKDay volunteering with Habitat for Humanity ❤️ Our team caught up with Coach @JoeyMcGuireTTU on the scene as he gushed about @TechAthletics as a whole.

“I think it’s gonna be the year of the Red Raider.” pic.twitter.com/li4zM6TOhs

— Bradey King (@BradeyKing) January 18, 2022

I’d be lying if I haven’t completely bought in. I’m ready to believe.