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The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the
athletic Athletic may refer to: * An athlete, a sportsperson * Athletic director, a position at many American universities and schools * Athletic type, a physical/psychological type in the classification of Ernst Kretschmer * Athletic of Philadelphia, a ba ...
teams that represent
Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sy ...
, located in
Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the nort ...
. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams use the "Red Raiders" name. The university's athletic program fields 17 varsity teams in 11 sports all of whom have combined to win 70 conference championships as well as 4 national championships. The Masked Rider and Raider Red serve as the mascots representing the teams, and the school colors are
scarlet red Sudan IV (C24H20N4O) is a lysochrome (fat-soluble dye) diazo dye used for the staining of lipids, triglycerides and lipoproteins on frozen paraffin sections. It has the appearance of reddish brown crystals with melting point 199 °C and ma ...
and black. Texas Tech athletics teams compete at the
National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
(NCAA) Division I level and is a founding member of the
Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
. From 1932 until 1956, the university belonged to the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Texas Tech was admitted to the
Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...
on May 12, 1956. When the Southwest Conference disbanded in 1995, Texas Tech, along with the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
,
Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...
, and
Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of th ...
, joined with all eight former members of the
Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associati ...
to form the Big 12 Conference. The university's athletic director is
College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...
committee representative Kirby Hocutt.
Bob Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-ti ...
, the most victorious coach in men's Division I basketball history, coached the Red Raiders men's basketball team from 2001 to 2008. Following Bob Knight's retirement in 2008, his son
Pat Knight Patrick Clair Knight (born September 21, 1970) is an American basketball coach and scout. He is a scout for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Knight assumed his position on July 1, 2014, and is the Pacers' college s ...
assumed head coaching duties. The
Red Raiders football The Texas Tech Red Raiders football program is a college football team that represents Texas Tech University (variously "Texas Tech" or "TTU"). The team competes as a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is a NCAA Division I, Division I NCAA D ...
team, which has been coached by Mike Leach from 2000 to 2009, is a member of the
NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). ...
and has appeared in the 19th-most bowl games of any team.
Tommy Tuberville Thomas Hawley Tuberville ( ; born September 18, 1954) is an American retired college football coach and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Alabama since 2021. Before entering politics, Tuberville was the head football ...
was named head coach in 2010 following the firing of Mike Leach and remained in the position until 2012 before resigning. He was replaced by former Texas Tech quarterback Kliff Kingsbury in 2013. In 1993, led by coach Marsha Sharp, the Lady Raiders basketball team won the
NCAA Women's Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic ...
. Following Sharp's retirement in 2006,
Kristy Curry Kristy Lynn Curry (née Sims; born October 30, 1966) is the head coach of the University of Alabama's women's basketball team, the Crimson Tide. She took the job in 2013. Coaching career Curry graduated from Northeast Louisiana University in 1988 ...
was named Lady Raiders head coach. Red Raiders baseball coach
Larry Hays Larry Hays is a US college baseball, basketball, women's basketball, and softball coach. Hewas the head baseball coach at Lubbock Christian University (LCU) (1971–1986) and Texas Tech University (1987–2008). He was the head coach of the LCU Cha ...
, who is one of only four coaches in NCAA baseball history to win 1,500 career games, retired in 2008.


History

On February 24, 1925, an article published in the ''
Fort Worth Star-Telegram The ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' is an American daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and Tarrant County, the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. It is owned by The McClatchy Company. History In May 1905, Amon G. Carte ...
'' suggested Tech's athletic teams be called the "Dogies" explaining that "a Dogie is a calf whose mother died and is forced to look out for itself" and "If ever anything had to rustle for itself, it was West Texas and Tech College."
DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:25 Period = from:1925 till:2020 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:skyblue from:1925 till:end text:Football (1925–present) bar:2 color:skyblue from:1925 till:end text:Men's basketball (1925/26–present) bar:3 color:skyblue from:1926 till:1930 text:Baseball (1926–1929, 1954–present) bar:3 color:white from:1930 till:1949 text: bar:3 color:skyblue from:1954 till:end text: bar:4 color:skyblue from:1961 till:1987 text:Men's swimming & diving (1952/53–1985/86) bar:5 color:skyblue from:1958 till:end text:Men's tennis (1958–present) bar:6 color:skyblue from:1967 till:end text:Men's golf (1967–present) bar:7 color:skyblue from:1975 till:end text:Women's volleyball (1975–present) bar:8 color:skyblue from:1975 till:end text:Women's basketball (1975/76–present) bar:9 color:skyblue from:1975 till:1987 text:Women's swimming & diving (1975/76–1985/86) bar:9 color:white from:1987 till:2004 text: bar:10 color:skyblue from:1975 till:end text:Women's tennis (1975/76–present) bar:11 color:skyblue from:1975 till:end text:Women's golf (1975/76–present) bar:12 color:skyblue from:1976 till:end text:Women's track & field (1976–present) bar:13 color:skyblue from:1981 till:1986 text:Softball (1981–1985, 1996–present) bar:13 color:white from:1986 till:1996 text: bar:13 color:skyblue from:1996 till:end text: bar:14 color:skyblue from:1994 till:end text:Women's soccer (1994–present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1925 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(175,30) # tabs:(0-center) text:"Texas Tech Red Raiders varsity sports timeline"


Varsity sports


Baseball

Behind
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...
and men's basketball, baseball is the third oldest sport at Texas Tech. The initial team organized in 1925 and the first game, an 18–9 victory over West Texas State Teachers College, was played in 1926. In the following game, the team suffered its first ever loss, 14–9 to the team it had previously defeated. The teams' 100th game came on April 20, 1963, defeating New Mexico Highlands 10-6 in Lubbock E. Y. Freeland was the first coach of the Red Raiders, though the team was known as the Matadors at the time. He remained in the position for three years before R. Grady Higginbotham took the role. Higginbotham coached for only two years. From 1930 to 1953, Tech did not field an intercollegiate baseball team. When the program returned in 1954,
Beattie Feathers William Beattie "Big Chief" Feathers (August 20, 1909 – March 11, 1979) was an American football player and coach of football and baseball. He played college football and college basketball at the University of Tennessee. Early life and colle ...
became the head coach of the Red Raiders and remained until 1960. He was followed by
Berl Huffman Berl Huffman (August 27, 1907 – October 16, 1990) was a college baseball, college basketball, and college football head coach. He coached at Texas Tech University and the University of New Mexico. Coaching career Baseball Huffman was the fourt ...
(1961–1967), Kal Segrist (1968–1983), and Gary Ashby (1984–1986). Upon Ashby's departure,
Larry Hays Larry Hays is a US college baseball, basketball, women's basketball, and softball coach. Hewas the head baseball coach at Lubbock Christian University (LCU) (1971–1986) and Texas Tech University (1987–2008). He was the head coach of the LCU Cha ...
became the head coach of the team. On April 2, 2008, Hays became just the fourth coach in NCAA baseball history to win 1,500 career games.
Larry Hays Larry Hays is a US college baseball, basketball, women's basketball, and softball coach. Hewas the head baseball coach at Lubbock Christian University (LCU) (1971–1986) and Texas Tech University (1987–2008). He was the head coach of the LCU Cha ...
took over the Red Raiders baseball team in 1987. Under Hays, Texas Tech endured only two losing seasons, his first and last, and enjoyed their greatest success in baseball. Hays took Tech from having a losing tradition to being a national contender. When Hays started with the Red Raiders, the team's overall record stood at 550–576. By the time he left, he was the fourth-winningest coach is college baseball history and the team's record had improved to 1,365–1,054–9. The Red Raiders reached eight straight NCAA tournaments from 1995–2002 and again in 2004, three of which were held at Dan Law Field. They also won two conference championships, in 1995 (while still in the
Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...
) and 1997, and two conference tournament championships, in 1996 and 1998.


Cross Country and Track & Field

Texas Tech's cross country and indoor/outdoor track & field teams are coached by Wes Kittley. At the 2005 Outdoor National Championships, Tech qualified 31 men's and women's athletes, more than any other school in the country. Under Kittley's tutelage, Texas Tech has produced 16 national champions, seven Olympic Medalists, over 200 All-Americans and over 119 Big 12 Champions. From 1990 to 2006, the men's team garnered 91 All-America awards, 20 Big 12 championships, and one individual national title. In the same time period, the women's team won 32 All-America awards, 29 Big 12 championships, and five individual national titles. During the 2007/08 season, the women had another strong showing behind Sally Kipyego, who won four individual national titles (cross country, indoor 3000 m and 5000 m, outdoor 10,000 m) and placed second in her bid for a fifth title in one academic year (outdoor 5000 m). Kipyego added three more national titles (cross country, indoor 5000 m, outdoor 5000 m) and one more second-place win (outdoor 1500 m) during the 2007/08 season. Under Kipyego's leadership, the women's team captured its first title in 2008. Their success was followed by another national championship appearance in 2009 and 2010. Kennedy Kithuka followed up on the prior success of the program by winning the 2012 NCAA Cross Country Championship, being the first in the men's program to do so. For his accomplishments, Kithuka was named the 2012 National Male Athlete of the Year for cross country. In 2015 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships, Jacorian Duffield and Bradley Adkins won 1st and 2nd place respectively in the
high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...
event.


Football

The
Red Raiders football The Texas Tech Red Raiders football program is a college football team that represents Texas Tech University (variously "Texas Tech" or "TTU"). The team competes as a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is a NCAA Division I, Division I NCAA D ...
team is a member of the
NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). ...
(formerly known as Division I-A). Texas Tech played its first intercollegiate football game on October 3, 1925. The contest, against McMurry University, ended in a controversial 0–0 tie. Tech's Elson Archibald seemed to have kicked a game-winning 20-yard field goal but the referee ruled that the clock had run out before the score. It was later reported that the referee made the call to get revenge because he wanted to be the team's first head coach but the job was instead given to Ewing Y. Freeland. Through the 2019 season, the Texas Tech Red Raider football team has amassed a 571-458-32 record in 95 seasons (1925-2019). In 1932, the program joined the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Five years later, the team won its first conference championship and was invited to the
Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose ...
. The game was played on January 1, 1938, and resulted in a 6–7 loss to
West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...
. Texas Tech suffered four more bowl losses before getting their first postseason win in the 1952 Sun Bowl. Before withdrawing for the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1956, the Red Raiders won a total of eight conference championships and one co-championship, the most titles held by a Border Conference team. In 1960, Texas Tech was admitted to the
Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...
(SWC). The Red Raiders won conference co-championships in 1976 and 1994. The team remained in the SWC until the conference ceased operations 1996. Following the dissolution of the SWC, the university became a charter member of the
Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
. In the Big 12 Conference, the Red Raiders competed in the South Division from the athletic conference's formation until the 2010 season when the divisions were dissolved. The Red Raiders, coached by Mike Leach from 2000–09, earned 56 wins from the 2000 through the 2006 season. During the same period, only three other Big 12 teams had more victories—
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
, Texas, and Nebraska. In fourteen of its last fifteen seasons Tech finished with a winning record, before suffering a losing season in 2011 under then-head coach
Tommy Tuberville Thomas Hawley Tuberville ( ; born September 18, 1954) is an American retired college football coach and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Alabama since 2021. Before entering politics, Tuberville was the head football ...
. Tuberville resigned his position and was replaced by Kliff Kingsbury in 2013. After 6 seasons as the head football coach of his alma mater, Kingsbury was replaced by Matt Wells prior to the 2019 season. The Red Raiders have made 38 bowl appearances (14-23-1) which is 21st most of any university.


Golf

2007 saw the men's golf team compete in its first back-to-back National Championship tournaments since 1960. The team, coached by Greg Sands, qualified for the tournament after finishing 7th in NCAA Central Regional. The Red Raider Men's golf team has made multiple appearances in the NCAA tournament since then. Head Coach Greg Sands has led the team to 19 consecutive NCAA regional and 10 NCAA championship berths. Sands has racked up 18 seasons ad head coach of the Men's golf team at Texas Tech, in those 18 seasons Sands has led the team to 19 tournament titles and made a name for himself. The Red Raider Men's golf team is the most successful sport at Texas Tech as it has made the most appearances in the NCAA tournament. On the other side is women's golf JoJo Robertson, has been the head coach of the Women's golf team for Texas Tech since 2009. Coach Robertson has been with the Red Raiders for 10 seasons, in those 10 seasons she has managed to reach the NCAA regional nine times, of those resulted in two trips to the NCAA championships. Robertson has led the Raiders to regional play nine of the ten seasons since she had been named the fourth head coach of the team. Under her guidance the Red Raiders have claimed 13 team titles. SoccerThe Red Raiders played their first match against Hardin-Simmons in September 1994, defeating the Cowboys 5-0.


Men's basketball

Basketball came to Texas Tech only two years after the school was founded and the program has since won 18 conference titles, the last one being in 2019. Most of which have been won while the Red Raiders were in their Border Conference and Southwest Conference tenures, while the most recent was in the Big 12 Conference. The inaugural game was a 37–25 loss to
Daniel Baker College Daniel Baker College was founded April 5, 1889 in Brownwood, Texas, United States. It was named in memory of the Rev. Dr. Daniel Baker, a Presbyterian circuit-riding minister, who helped organize the first presbytery in Texas in 1840 and Austin ...
. Tech would lose two more games before finally clinching their first ever victory—35–21 at Sul Ross University. Grady Higginbotham was the first coach, earning a 14–18 record over two seasons. At .438, Higgenbotham was the only Tech basketball coach to garner an overall losing record during his stay. Following Higgenbotham's departure,
Victor Payne Victor Duane Payne Jr. (July 3, 1899 – October 26, 1981) was an American college basketball and college football coach. He was the head football coach at Abilene Christian College and Simmons University. Payne was also the basketball head coac ...
led the Matadors (as the school's teams were known until 1936) from
1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith becomes the first Director-General. * January 7 ...
to
1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will b ...
. His final tally stood at 32 wins and 20 losses.
W. L. Golightly William Leslie "Crip" Golightly (February 19, 1900 – September 3, 1974) was a college basketball head coach. Texas Tech Golightly coached the Texas Tech Matadors basketball team (now known as the Red Raiders) during the 1930–31 season. His r ...
coached only one season, bringing in an 11–9 record. Dell Morgan held the head coaching job from 1931 to 1934, chalking up 42 wins to 29 losses. He was followed by
Virgil Ballard Charles Virgil Ballard (December 18, 1903 – August 23, 1990) was the fifth head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball team during the Matador's 1934–35 season. He garnered a 15–9 record, including the team's 100th win, a one-point ...
. Though Ballard coached only a single season, it was during his time that the team won their milestone 100th game, a one-point victory over House of David. Ballard left with a 15–9 record.
Berl Huffman Berl Huffman (August 27, 1907 – October 16, 1990) was a college baseball, college basketball, and college football head coach. He coached at Texas Tech University and the University of New Mexico. Coaching career Baseball Huffman was the fourt ...
was twice the head basketball coach at Texas Tech—first from 1935 to 1942 and then from 1946 to 1947. During his total of eight seasons, he garnered a record of 121–67.
Polk Robison Polk Robison (May 24, 1912 – June 27, 2008) was an American collegiate basketball and football coach and college athletics administrator who served as the head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball team from 1942 to 1946 and again from ...
was the only other person to serve two different times as the head basketball coach at the school. When Huffman left in 1942, Robison took the job. And, when Huffman left a second time in 1947, it was Robison who again filled the position, this time remaining until 1961. At a total of 18 seasons, his stay is the second longest of any Red Raiders basketball coach, behind
Gerald Myers Gerald Myers (born August 5, 1936) is an American former college basketball coach. He was the head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders men's basketball team and the Houston Baptist Huskies men's basketball team and athletic director at Texas Tec ...
. He departed after leading his teams to 254 wins, 195 losses, and the first two NCAA tournaments in school history. Gene Gibson followed Robison into the position. In his eight seasons, he chalked up the second worst record of any head basketball coach at Tech. Still, at 100–92, there were eight more wins than losses. Bob Bass led the program to a 22–15 record over a season-and-a-half before returning to professional basketball coaching duties.
Bob Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-ti ...
became the men's basketball coach in 2001. He retired on February 4, 2008. On New Year's Day 2007, a 70–68 defeat of
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...
by Tech marked the 880th total win for Knight, making him the winningest coach in men's college basketball history. Knight also has several other distinctions, including being the only coach to win the NCAA, the NIT, the
Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...
Gold, and the
Pan-Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United State ...
Gold, and has been given several awards. Knight was succeeded by his son
Pat Knight Patrick Clair Knight (born September 21, 1970) is an American basketball coach and scout. He is a scout for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Knight assumed his position on July 1, 2014, and is the Pacers' college s ...
. After Pat Knight's termination,
Billy Gillispie Billy Clyde Gillispie ( ; born November 7, 1959), also known by his initials BCG and Billy Clyde, is an American college basketball and current men's basketball coach at Tarleton State. Gillispie had previously been head coach at UTEP, Texas A& ...
was named head coach on March 20, 2011 and subsequently resigned due to health reasons after one season following while also being amidst allegations of mistreating players. Chris Walker took over on an interim basis for the 2012 season and led the red raiders to an 11–20 record. In March 2013, Tubby Smith was named the new men's basketball coach and led the team to its first upset over a top 25 opponent since 2009. Texas Tech students broke both school and Big 12 Conference records for student attendance at the
United Spirit Arena United Supermarkets Arena (previously the United Spirit Arena) is a multipurpose arena on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The 15,300-seat arena opened in 1999 and is home to the Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball, Texas Te ...
during a February 25, 2014 loss to Kansas State. The record of 6,086 students fell less than 2,000 short of the national record. The Red Raiders hired former Arkansas-Little Rock coach Chris Beard on April 15, 2016. Beard led the Red Raiders to almost immediate success, leading them to their first ever Elite Eight in 2018, and leading them to their first ever Final Four in 2019, along with a national championship berth. Beard won AP Coach of the Year in 2019.


Softball

The Red Raiders softball program began in 1981 but the program was dropped after only five seasons. When Texas Tech joined the Big 12 Conference as a charter member, the program was resurrected in time for the inaugural 1996 season. Shanon Hays, the first Lubbock Christian University head softball coach, turned the Red Raider softball team around from a 15–42 season under interim head coach Amy Suiter to 80–34 in just his first two seasons. Hays led the Red Raiders to three NCAA Regional appearances during his five seasons at the helm. Adrian Gregory was named the seventh head coach in Texas Tech history in June 2014. In 2019, the Red Raiders made its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2012.


Tennis

The men's tennis team had a very successful 2008 season being ranked as high as #17 in the nation. The Red Raiders faced 11 ranked teams and have only lost to two, #31 TCU and #11
Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...
. Texas Tech ended the regular season ranked #17. Recently, the Red Raiders 2012 season resulted in a closing ITA ranking of 19. The Texas Tech tennis team won the Border Conference tennis championship in 1936, 1937, and 1950. The woman's team, led by Todd Petty, won the Big 12 Conference in 2012.


Women's basketball

Of the varsity sports, Texas Tech has had its greatest success in women's
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
with 13 conference titles and 1 national championship. Led by its star player
Sheryl Swoopes Sheryl Denise Swoopes (born March 25, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player. She was the first player to be signed in the WNBA, is a three-time WNBA MVP, and was named one of the league's Top 15 Players of All Time at the 201 ...
and head coach Marsha Sharp, the Lady Raiders won the
NCAA Women's Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic ...
in 1993. In early 2006, Lady Raiders coach Marsha Sharp retired and was replaced on March 30, 2006 by
Kristy Curry Kristy Lynn Curry (née Sims; born October 30, 1966) is the head coach of the University of Alabama's women's basketball team, the Crimson Tide. She took the job in 2013. Coaching career Curry graduated from Northeast Louisiana University in 1988 ...
, who had been the coach at
Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mo ...
. Curry accepted the same position at The University of Alabama on May 11, 2013 and was replaced by Candace Whitaker, a former player for Texas Tech in the 1990s, who was named head coach on May 22, 2013. Marlene Stollings, former head coach at the University of Minnesota, was named head coach at Texas Tech in 2018. On August 6, 2020 Stollings was fired after allegations of abuse. 12 days later, UT-Arlington coach and former Lady Raider Krista Gerlich was hired as the new coach.


Volleyball

The Texas Tech volleyball program began in 1974 with a 18-10 record under head coach Jeannine McHaney. The Red Raiders are currently coached by Tony Graystone, who joined the team in 2016.


Club sports

In addition to varsity sports, the university's Sport Clubs Federation offers 30 recreational and competitive sport clubs, including polo,
rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
,
lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...
,
fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, ...
,
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
, and
esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional sports, professional players, individually or as ...
.


Ice hockey

The Texas Tech Ice Hockey Team was established in 1999. As a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, the Red Raiders compete with Big XII Conference Teams as well as with colleges throughout the United States and Canada. Players are recruited from the United States, Canada, and abroad.


Polo

Of the clubs sports, Texas Tech's Polo Club team, coached by Clyde Waddell, has had the greatest success. In spite of having no previous experience, at the invitation of students, Waddell took the job in 2000. Six years later, the team beat in-state rival Texas A&M to win the United States Polo Association National Intercollegiate Championship.;


Rodeo

Texas Tech's rodeo club team competes in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association and won the 1955 championship at the College National Finals Rodeo.


Rugby

Texas Tech rugby plays in Division 1-A in the Allied Rugby Conference, a conference composed primarily of schools from the Big 12 South, against its traditional rivals such as Texas and Texas A&M. For the 2011–12 year, Texas Tech had also fielded a side to play in Division 2, where they won the Texas championship and qualified for the national playoffs.


Facilities

Jones AT&T Stadium Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field, previously known as Clifford B. and Audrey Jones Stadium, Jones SBC Stadium and Jones AT&T Stadium, is an outdoor athletic stadium in the southwestern United States, located on the campus of Texas Tech U ...
serves as home to the Red Raiders football team. The stadium, named for Clifford B. and Audrey Jones, opened in 1947. In 2000, the stadium was renamed Jones SBC Stadium after
SBC Communications The history of AT&T dates back to the invention of the telephone. The Bell Telephone Company was established in 1877 by Alexander Graham Bell, who obtained the first US patent for the telephone, and his father-in-law, Gardiner Greene Hubbard. Bell ...
made a $30 million contribution to the university. Following SBC Communications' acquisition of AT&T Corporation in 2006, the stadium was renamed Jones AT&T Stadium. The stadium's original seating capacity was 27,000, but it was expanded in 1959, 1972, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, and 2013 to the current capacity of 60,862. Overall, from 1999 to 2009 the school spent more than $84 million for ongoing renovation and expansion to the stadium and the football program. In January 2013, construction began adding another 368 seats in the north endzone, in addition to an observation deck that will hold 40. The $11 million project also includes a significantly upgraded jumbotron with a new sound system, a Spanish Renaissance-themed
colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or cur ...
, and a new north end zone concourse connecting the two stadium halves. Along with the other additions, 157 feet of ribbon board will be added on the north end zone, more than 160 linear feet in the northeast and northwest corners of the stadium, and 94 linear feet in the south end zone over the athletic offices. All of the new features of Jones AT&T Stadium were unveiled on September 7, 2013 . Since 1999, home basketball games have been played at
United Supermarkets Arena United Supermarkets Arena (previously the United Spirit Arena) is a multipurpose arena on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The 15,300-seat arena opened in 1999 and is home to the Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball, Texas ...
(originally United Spirit Arena), a 15,020-seat multi-purpose facility which cost $62 million to build. In addition to serving as home to the men's and women's basketball teams, the arena is used by the Red Raiders volleyball team. *Baseball –
Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park, nicknamed "The Law", is the home stadium of the Texas Tech Red Raiders baseball team in Lubbock, Texas. It is located on the Texas Tech University campus, adjacent to Jones AT&T Stadium and Fuller Track. Dan L ...
*Basketball –
United Supermarkets Arena United Supermarkets Arena (previously the United Spirit Arena) is a multipurpose arena on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The 15,300-seat arena opened in 1999 and is home to the Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball, Texas ...
*Equestrian – Texas Tech Equestrian Center *Football –
Jones AT&T Stadium Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field, previously known as Clifford B. and Audrey Jones Stadium, Jones SBC Stadium and Jones AT&T Stadium, is an outdoor athletic stadium in the southwestern United States, located on the campus of Texas Tech U ...
*Golf – The Rawls Course *Rodeo – Texas Tech Equestrian Center/Dub Parks Memorial Arena *Soccer – John Walker Soccer Complex *Softball – Rocky Johnson Field *Tennis – Don & Ethel McLeod Tennis Center *Track and Field, Indoor – Athletic Training Center *Track and Field, Outdoor – R.P. Fuller Track *Volleyball – United Supermarkets Arena


Championships


NCAA team championships

Texas Tech has won 2 NCAA team national championships. *Men's (1) ** Outdoor Track and Field (1):
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
*Women's (1) **
Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
(1): 1993 *see also: ** Big 12 Conference national team titles ** List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships


Other national team championships

National team titles that are not bestowed by the NCAA: :Texas Tech Spirit Squad *Texas Tech Pom Squad & Coed Cheer won National titles in 2017 - 2018 *Texas Tech Pom Squad won 2 National Titles one in Jazz, the other in Pom in 2018 - 2019 *Men's: **Polo USPA National Intercollegiate Championship: 2006 **Rodeo NIRA College National Finals Rodeo: 1955 *Women's: **Rodeo NIRA College National Finals Rodeo: 2012


Conference championships

Texas Tech has won 76 conference championships: 27
Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
titles, 27
Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...
(SWC) titles, and 22
Border Conference The Border Conference, officially known as the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association, was an NCAA-affiliated college athletic conference founded in 1931 that disbanded following the 1961–62 season. Centered in the southwestern United Stat ...
titles. :Baseball :*Big 12 Regular Season: 1997, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 :*
Big 12 Tournament The Big 12 Conference sponsors championships in 23 sports, 10 men's and 13 women's. The first conference championship awarded was the 1996 softball postseason tournament championship, which was won by Oklahoma. From 2011 through 2016, the foot ...
: 1998 :*SWC Regular Season: 1995 :* SWC tournament:
1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
:Basketball :*Big 12 Men's Regular Season: 2019 :*Big 12 Women's Regular Season: 1998, 1999, 2000 :* Big 12 women's tournament: 1998, 1999 :*Border Men's Regular Season: 1933, 1934, 1935, 1954, 1955, 1956 :*SWC Men's Regular Season: 1961, 1962, 1965, 1973, 1985, 1995, 1996 :* SWC men's tournament: 1976, 1985, 1986, 1993, 1996 :*SWC Women's Regular Season: 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 :* SWC women's tournament: 1992, 1993, 1995 :Cross Country :*Big 12 Women's Championship: 2008, 2009, 2010 :Football :*Big 12 South Division: 2008 :*
Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...
: 1937, 1942, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955 :* SWC: 1976, 1994 :Golf :*Border Men's Championship: 1936, 1937, 1939, 1955 :*SWC Men's Championship: 1959, 1971, 1996 :Track and Field :*Big 12 Men's Indoor Championship: 2018, 2019 :*Big 12 Men's Outdoor Championship: 2005, 2014, 2018, 2019 :Soccer :* Big 12 women's tournament:
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...
:Tennis :*Big 12 Men's Regular Season: 2016 :*Big 12 Women's Regular Season: 2012, 2013, 2017 :*Big 12 Women's Tournament: 2017 :*Border: 1936, 1937, 1950


Culture


Nickname

The Red Raiders were originally known as the "
Matador A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activit ...
s" from 1925–1936. As the school was thinking of an appropriate nickname for its athletic teams in 1925, the wife of the first football coach suggested "Matadors" to reflect the influence of the campus'
Spanish Renaissance architecture Spanish Renaissance architecture was that style of Renaissance architecture in the last decades of the 15th century. Renaissance evolved firstly in Florence and then Rome and other parts of the Italian Peninsula as the result of Renaissance huma ...
. The students followed the suggestion, and later chose red and black as the school colors to represent a matador's traditional garb. Coincidentally, the football team won its first game right after it had adopted the name. The nickname and school colors became official during a formal convocation on March 15, 1926. There are two main stories as to how the name "Red Raiders" replaced its predecessor. In one story, football coach Pete Cawthon ordered attractive scarlet uniforms to help the team's identity. The football team, wearing its new outfit, defeated heavily favored Loyola in Los Angeles on October 26, 1934. A Los Angeles sports writer called the Matadors a "red raiding team". Other writers who covered Tech sports caught on with the term and successfully promoted the use of "Red Raiders". In the other tale, former ''
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal ''Lubbock Avalanche-Journal'' is a newspaper based in Lubbock, Texas, United States. It is owned by Gannett. History ''The Lubbock Avalanche'' was founded in 1900 by John James Dillard and Thad Tubbs. According to Dillard, the name "Avalanche" ...
'' sports columnist Collier Parris, reporting on a 1932 Tech football game, wrote: "The Red Raiders from Texas Tech, terror of the Southwest this year, swooped into the New Mexico University camp today." The name soon became popular afterward and by 1936, it officially replaced "Matadors" at the same time the Saddle Tramps came about.


Spirit

Red Raider spirit is led by such organizations as the Saddle Tramps, the High Riders, and the spirit squads (consisting of the cheer squad and the pom squad). In April 2010, the Texas Tech cheer squad finished third at the National Cheerleaders Association and National Dance Association.


Mascots

The Masked Rider is Texas Tech University's oldest mascot. The tradition began in 1936, when "ghost riders" circled 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 The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, operated by Gator Bowl Sports. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised natio ...
. 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." 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. Today the Masked Rider, with guns up, leads the team onto the field for all home games. This mascot, adorned in a distinctive
gaucho A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, and the south of Chilean Patagonia. Gauchos became greatly admired and ...
hat like the ones worn by members of the marching band, is one of the most visible figures at Texas Tech. Ashley Wenzel, a sophomore education major from Friendswood, Texas, will represent the university as the Masked Rider during 2012–13. 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. 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. The student serving as Raider Red is a member of the Saddle Tramps or High Riders.


Rivalries

Texas Tech's main athletic rivals are the
Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...
and Texas A&M Aggies. It is common for people to camp out in front of
Jones AT&T Stadium Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field, previously known as Clifford B. and Audrey Jones Stadium, Jones SBC Stadium and Jones AT&T Stadium, is an outdoor athletic stadium in the southwestern United States, located on the campus of Texas Tech U ...
a few days prior to home football games against the Aggies, the Longhorns, and the
Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early part ...
. In March 2009, Texas Tech and Baylor reached an agreement to move their next two football games to the Dallas metropolitan area. The schools played November 28, 2009, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington with Tech claiming the victory. The next game was scheduled for October 9, 2010, at the
Cotton Bowl Stadium The Cotton Bowl is an outdoor stadium in Dallas, Texas, United States. Opened in 1930 as Fair Park Stadium, it is on the site of the State Fair of Texas, known as Fair Park. The Cotton Bowl was the longtime home of the annual college football po ...
during the State Fair of Texas, with Tech emerging victorious again. The arrangement was extended for an additional two years. In sports other than football,
Eastern New Mexico University Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU or Eastern) is a public university with a main campus in Portales, New Mexico, and two associate degree-granting branches, one at Ruidoso and one at Roswell. ENMU is New Mexico's largest regional comprehensi ...
are seen as a regional rival due to the close proximity of the two schools and frequency of match-ups between them. An example of this is Eastern New Mexico University's yearly attendance at the Texas Tech Open; an annual track and field event hosted by Texas Tech.


People


Athletic directors

* E. Y. Freeland, 1925–1927 * Grady Higgenbotham, 1927–1929 * Pete Cawthon, 1930–1940 *
Morley Jennings William Morley "Jopsey" Jennings (January 23, 1890 – May 13, 1985) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. Biography Jennings attended college at Mississippi State University ...
, 1941–1951 *
DeWitt Weaver DeWitt Thompson Weaver Sr. (May 11, 1912 – January 19, 1998) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders from 1951 to 1960. He was the first h ...
, 1952–1960 *
Polk Robison Polk Robison (May 24, 1912 – June 27, 2008) was an American collegiate basketball and football coach and college athletics administrator who served as the head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball team from 1942 to 1946 and again from ...
, 1960–1970 * J. T. King, 1970–1978 *Dick Tamburo, 1978–1980 *John Conley, 1980–1985 *T. Jones, 1985–1992 *Robert Bockrath, 1992–1995 *
Gerald Myers Gerald Myers (born August 5, 1936) is an American former college basketball coach. He was the head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders men's basketball team and the Houston Baptist Huskies men's basketball team and athletic director at Texas Tec ...
, 1996–2011 *
Kirby Hocutt Kirby Hocutt is the athletic director at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas and the Big 12 representative to the College Football Playoff committee. Additionally, Hocutt is the chairman of the NCAA Division I Football Recruiting Subcommittee ...
, 2011–present


Head coaches

Head coaches of Texas Tech teams include: *Baseball –
Tim Tadlock Tim Tadlock (born December 21, 1968) is a collegiate baseball coach and former player. He served as head coach of the Grayson Vikings representing Grayson County College (GCC) (1997–2005) and the Texas Tech Red Raiders representing Texas Tech ...
*Basketball, Men's – Mark Adams *Basketball, Women's – Krista Gerlich *Cross Country – Jon Murray *Football – Joey McGuire *Golf, Men's – Greg Sands *Golf, Women's – JoJo Robertson *Soccer – Tom Stone *Softball – Adrian Gregory *Tennis, Men's – Daniel Whitehead *Tennis, Women's – Todd Petty *Indoor/Outdoor Track & Field – Wes Kittley *Volleyball – Tony Graystone


Alumni

Texas Tech Red Raiders alumni have gone on to play in the NFL, NBA, WNBA, Major League Baseball, and more. Current alumni standouts include Super Bowl Champion
Patrick Mahomes Patrick Lavon Mahomes II (born September 17, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). The son of former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher Pat Mahomes, he initially play ...
of the Kansas City Chiefs,
Wes Welker Wesley Carter Welker (born May 1, 1981) is an American football coach and former wide receiver who is the wide receivers coach for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the San ...
of the Denver Broncos, Super Bowl Champion Danny Amendola of the New England Patriots, and Michael Crabtree of the Oakland Raiders. Mahomes is widely viewed as the greatest of all Raider Alumni following his Super Bowl LIV win and being named Super Bowl LIV MVP.


Notes


References


External links

* * * {{Authority control Articles which contain graphical timelines