WEST TEXAS — Cody Campbell signed some of his earliest land acquisitions on the hood of work trucks at drilling sites across the Permian Basin.
A three-year starter along the offensive line at Texas Tech from 2001-04, Campbell didn’t have the backing of a major investor when he went out prospecting. It was just him and John Sellers, a former teammate at Canyon High School and Texas Tech. The pair of Canyon Eagles fittingly named their startup Double Eagle Energy. And at the beginning, the risks seemed crazy for the former real estate agents looking for a new trade after the housing market collapsed in 2008.
When the market went down, Double Eagle decided to pounce. They scoured the Permian Basin, putting every cent they had into searching for leases. As opposed to the big boys who outsource such tasks, Campbell and Sellers mined through land registers themselves to buy mineral rights. There were no guarantees that any would hit it big. Hell, they were closer to bankruptcy than billionaire status.
“We were the underdog,” Campbell said. “And we had to find out a way to squeeze out some success amid titans, among huge companies.”
In one legendary story, they bought a landowner a first-class ticket to London by spending $9,800 on a $10,000 credit card as a form of payment to extend a lease. It took until the final hour before the option expired before Double Eagle managed to find a buyer. The seven-figure deal helped keep the company barely above water.
Then, the timing hit just right. Oil prices crashed, allowing Double Eagle to buy up massive swaths of land. Technology advanced, allowing drillers to get a great quantity of oil with less expense, supercharging the margins. Earlier this year, Campbell and Sellers made one of its biggest deals ever, selling for more than $4 billion of cash and stock.
Campbell has spent his whole life looking for investments. His latest brings him back home. A fourth-generation Red Raider, Campbell’s great-grandfather was part of the first ever class at Texas Tech in 1925. His dad and brother played sports there. In April, he was named Chairman of the Board of Regents, giving him a formal leadership role with the school.
But 20 years after he left Tech for the Indianapolis Colts, football is still everything to him. He has been in the ear of President Donald Trump and was set to co-chair a Presidential Commission. He has spent more time, money and effort helping Texas Tech football than almost anyone. And in college football’s Wild West era, he once again saw opportunity.
“College sports are a business more than they’ve ever been before,” Campbell said. “And I think it does require a business mindset in order to be effective. Every dollar you spend, every move you make, has to be thought about as an investment.”
Last season, after a frustrating loss to Colorado, a fan jeered at him on social media, asking him to “buy us an O-line.” Campbell responded simply: “I will.”
Little did we know, that plan was put into motion months earlier. It’s not enough to improve a football team. It’s a roadmap to showcase an entire region.
I. The Landman’s Plan
Giant windmills start to appear as you drive up Highway 84 towards Lubbock from Dallas. There’s motion on the horizon, and then you’re surrounded by whirling turbines dotting the plateaus.
A cracked sign points to the Fluvanna Renewable Energy Project. Beyond is a lone rusted oil pump jack, slowly pulling black gold from the ground. But the creak of the jack is overpowered by the rustle of the whirling blades. Energy is king out here, and it doesn’t matter how you find it.
Lubbock is called the Hub City. Its centralized location at the floor of the Panhandle connects all the parts of West Texas. Down south is the Midland Basin, which remains one of the most fertile oil deposits in the world. North is the Panhandle, filled with cattle and ranchers. West is the gateway to the trails of the American Southwest, while east leads to the shining economic powerhouse of the Metroplex.
At the center of the spoke lies Texas Tech. Founded in 1923, it has become one of the most important institutions in the region. It produces most of the lawyers, doctors and businessmen that fill West Texas. The university’s research arm has been critical to growth in the energy, agricultural and weather sectors.
The central location means Lubbock is transient, ready to follow the winds of change. And the winds were blowing on college football.
It was July 2024. Campbell called a meeting with football coach Joey McGuire, general manager James Blanchard and a select few other administrators in athletic director Kirby Hocutt’s private conference room. There, he laid out his big idea.
Paying players is legal, and there’s no cap. After the season, de facto free agency will open. There’s no guarantee this world will last forever. When players enter the transfer portal, we should be ready to pounce.
The goal was to finish with a top-five transfer class and supercharge the roster in time for the Big 12 race. With Campbell leading a cadre of megaboosters — including Sellers, Gary Petersen and Dustin Womble — money was no object.
“It was just analysis of the legal situation and the business situation,” Campbell said. “That’s what we do every day at work, find opportunities to gain competitive advantages. I saw it as no different than a business deal.”
Texas Tech once became the story of college football because of its innovation, when Campbell’s former coach Mike Leach turned pea shooter-armed quarterbacks into household names.
At least 11 former players and assistants under Leach went on to become FBS head coaches. A decade later, Patrick Mahomes revolutionized the brand and now sits as the best quarterback in the NFL. But for all the towering legends, success has been sparse.
Campbell was an offensive lineman under Leach and started in three straight bowl victories. The program reached its top ranking in nearly 30 years. He got a taste of success.
Seeing wide-open spaces on the horizon, the landman wanted more.
Campbell’s foresight ended up being a premonition. On July 1, 2025, revenue sharing will begin after the House v. NCAA lawsuit was formally settled. The era of a fully uncapped college athletics roster is potentially over. The offseason was a last gasp. And with it, 2025 becomes a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for investment. This could be the oil boom all over again, but this time at Campbell’s alma mater. Or, the credit card could finally find itself maxed out.
“It’s a moment in time and an opportunity that may not exist again in the next decade,” Hocutt said. “It’s an opportunity to go all in.”
II. The Wildcatting Scout
In a previous life, Blanchard assembled fire hydrants while doing amateur scouting message boards. He’d put them together, from screwing on nuts and bolts to painting them red, and was paid six figures. Maybe that gave Blanchard his trademark attention to detail.
Joey McGuire made him his first hire when he got the Texas Tech job after he proved himself in the Baylor scouting office. In the years since, he’s become one of the most sought-after GMs in the sport, most notably turning down an offer from Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame.
Months before the portal opened, Blanchard’s staff created a massive recruiting board of potential transfer targets. Many of them would never pan out, or would leave for the NFL. It didn’t matter; it was all about being prepared. Other programs would have to go through a chain of command. Not Texas Tech.
“Our work is already done,” Blanchard said. “We could just get him on campus, we already know what he is, what we’re looking for and what we want to do with him.”
At the same time, Blanchard evaluated the roster. Bringing back veteran quarterback Behren Morton and star linebacker Jacob Rodriguez meant high-dollar positions could be avoided. But while watching the Philadelphia Eagles bulldoze their way to the Super Bowl with elite trench talent, Blanchard knew where he wanted to spend his money.
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While blue-blood programs scattered looking for overpriced quarterbacks and receivers, Texas Tech perfected its pitch to the big men. Howard Sampson, for example, had a strong relationship with former coach Mack Brown at North Carolina. McGuire, as a former Texas high school coach, remains close with Brown. They FaceTimed on his visit and Sampson, the No. 14 player in the portal, locked in his commitment.
On Dec. 16, 2024, Georgia Tech edge rusher Romello Height entered the transfer portal. Texas Tech reached out to his agent early. Within days, Height was on campus. Immediately, he was blown away by the thoroughness and honesty of the presentation. He didn’t want to go anywhere else. He canceled the rest of his visits and committed on Dec. 19.
“Like why not?” Height said. “You’ve got everything you need. You’ve got a great coaching staff. You’ve got players who want the same things as you. Like man, everything is here. Everything is here.”
There’s also one more ace up the sleeve that Texas Tech deployed. The Womble Football Center, a $242 million facility, just opened in 2025. It features a massive weight room, elite nutrition services and state of the art recovery tools. It also has a barbershop, two player lounges and more places to relax. Defensive coordinator Shiel Wood dubbed it the “Football Resort.” As more money goes directly to players and moves away from facilities, competing with it will only get harder for rivals. The timing was impeccable.
The pitches worked well, maybe better than expected. McGuire takes official visitors out to a steakhouse in Lubbock called Las Brisas, a local favorite. He usually orders a filet mignon with a peppercorn crust, cooked medium with mashed potatoes and asparagus, which he calls one of the best steaks of his life.
During one stretch in December, McGuire ate out there so much with recruits — every day for more than two weeks — that he had to mix it up with the tortilla crusted chicken penne. Even for a native Texan, there’s only so much red meat one man can eat.
“I mean we’re bringing in people and we had a plan of, this is the number that we need,” McGuire said. “But then we turn around and you’re like, well we can’t not take this guy. It just makes us so much better.”
Five transfers turned to 10. Ten turned to 20. These are players that major programs wanted, including 13 blue-chips. What the hell was going on in Lubbock?
Perhaps the biggest flex for Texas Tech was its final piece. Stanford edge transfer David Bailey entered the portal in March after coach Troy Taylor was fired. Because of the timing, every program in the country fought for his services. A Los Angeles native who played in the Bay Area, Bailey was ultimately convinced to take a trip to Lubbock.
Bailey graduated with a degree from Stanford, so his education was set. It was time for a masters in NFL development. An offer of more than $2 million, sources tell CBS Sports’ Chris Hummer, got his attention. Getting into the Football Resort and seeing the high-powered transfers that found everything they needed in Lubbock convinced him to shut it down.
“I told everybody that asked, what I wanted in a transfer was to take my football skills to the next level,” Bailey said. “I wasn’t really aware at all of what they were doing recruiting defensive talent to the roster. When I found out about that, that’s what really sparked my interest.”
So instead of Texas or UCLA, his other two finalists, Bailey opted to sign with Texas Tech. His addition pushed the recruiting class to No. 1. Heads turned towards West Texas.
III. The Ringleader
Kirby Hocutt wishes he saved the voicemail. Joey McGuire, then an assistant at Baylor, had gotten hold of his number. The two sides had yet to make real contact or hold a formal interview.
“I’m not going to be able to live with myself if I don’t make this phone call,” Hocutt recalls McGuire saying. “I just want you to know, you need to hire me as your head football coach.”
It was a brash, bold call for a coach who was coaching high schoolers only five years prior. He had never called plays at the collegiate level and was regarded as more of a recruiter. His only collegiate experience came at Baylor, and it was limited. Turning also-ran Cedar Hill High School into a three-time state champion means something in this state, but enough to hire a power conference football coach?
But in the moments after that message, Hocutt’s phone rang off the hook. High school coaches from around the state reached out vouching for McGuire. They said the Texas High School Coaches Association — of which McGuire is a Hall of Honor member — would all but guarantee that he had success at Texas Tech.
“I’ve never seen anything quite like it,” Hocutt said.
Hocutt ultimately took the shot and hired McGuire. Texas Tech’s previous coach, Matt Wells, got into hot water at a radio show when he struggled to name what he loved about Lubbock. On Day 1, McGuire was the opposite. He saw a West Texas community that needed a cheerleader, and was ready to step in.
“I’m a unicorn in coaching,” McGuire said at his opening press conference. “I have now been at four places: I was at Crowley for four years, I was at Cedar Hill for 20, I was at Baylor for five, and I will die here at Texas Tech.”
Three years into the job, McGuire has not backed down from those comments. He wants to spend the rest of his life in Lubbock. A rival team recently showed a potential recruit a video that seemed to claim McGuire was looking to leave. McGuire laughed when the recruit called. Of course he’s not going anywhere. He crawled over glass to get this job. It’s got everything he needs.
“I think he understands when he has a good thing,” Blanchard said. “A lot of football coaches on the college side, their mindset is always elevate, elevate, next step, next step. He was at Cedar Hill for a long time and had a lot of success, but he was the guy who sat back and built.”
And build he has. McGuire led Texas Tech to the first three-year run of consecutive winning conference records since 1996. He is the first coach to win consecutive bowl games at Texas Tech since 2007.
In all the best ways, McGuire is a high school coach. And in many of those best ways, he’s uniquely prepared for this moment. Like a high school coach, relationships are everything for McGuire. Every Wednesday, Tech’s staff takes the whole roster to breakfast and forces them to sit with a new group to learn about their teammates.
“Coach McGuire is different, man,” Height said. “His energy, the bonds he creates with his players, I’ve never seen a head coach so tight with their players. Come get in the pool, come shoot basketball on the court, come chill, just kick it, watch a game. I’m pretty sure he knows every single name on the team, walk-ons and all, because that’s just the type of coach he is.”
Last week they went to Dave and Buster’s. This week, there’s a scheduled three-point contest. His home is open to any of his players, and his wife, Debbie, is the consummate coach’s wife after 14 years as the first lady at Cedar Hill. Academic performance is through the roof. Nothing is too small for him to worry about.
“Coach McGuire does a great job of making this place feel like home,” offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich said. “I always tell people, within two days of being here, you feel like you’ve been here for 10 years.”
But more than his relationships, McGuire is a visionary. Hocutt describes him as being “all in.” And for a program that has not been pushed in a while, McGuire’s urgency was a shot in the arm. It gave Texas Tech permission to dream.
“I’m driven by trying to do things that haven’t been done somewhere and then people saying it can’t be done there,” McGuire said. “And, you know, I want to prove people wrong that, no, it can be done here.”
IV. Boomtown
For generations, the city of Lubbock used to end around 82nd Street. From there, it was cotton fields and cattle. There was one ring of highways around the city. No longer. Now at the corner of 82nd Street and Quaker, there’s a Sprout’s Farmers Market, a harbinger of a future to come.
Down the road are a golf course, health food spots and a Target. The new developments are essentially indistinguishable from the wealthier developments in Dallas or Houston, though about 30% cheaper for similar builds. Around 120th Street, the subdivisions are replaced by developer signs promising new builds popping up soon where golden waves of grain lie. Lubbock is not resting on its laurels, and Texas Tech is the public face of it.
“Our coaches at the university are phenomenal,” said John Osborne, CEO of the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance. “Every one of them is a champion for Lubbock.”
Where the old firehouse sits is now an art district, centered by the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts gallery. Once a month, the organization organizes a First Friday Art Trail, where locals can walk along or jump on a free trolley to see all the galleries.
I asked Judy, who was manning the front desk of LHUCA, how many people showed up to these events. A few hundred?
“No, more like thousands,” she said.
Locals pointed me to brand new spots sprouting up across town, both in the old and new parts. There’s a burgeoning brewery community complemented by wineries — did you know West Texas produces grapes? There’s a tapas bar, scenic overviews, rousing live music scene and tasting menu organized by a James Beard-nominated chef.
“Go to this spot,” many said. “You wouldn’t believe you’re still in Lubbock.” It’s time to stop being surprised, though. This is the new Lubbock. You might have missed it.
Lubbock’s reputation of dust and cacti is well known, enough so that a then-TCU assistant subtweeted Texas Tech with a cactus emoji on social media a few years ago. Texas Tech fans and staff responded by adding cactus emojis to their social media handles.
“People negatively recruit this place so hard that it actually works to our benefit,” Blanchard said. “They say there’s nothing but cactuses out here, no city. When they get out here, they’re like, ‘Blanch, they lied. This place is great.'”
Lubbock rejects the idea that anyone should have to sacrifice to live there. The city is trying to serve its burgeoning young population, with an exploding number of residents under 30. Property values are cheap. New coffee shops and restaurants are competitive with major metros. There’s a thriving small business community. There are the hipster mustaches that would look right at home in Austin. It has everything you need.
The growth of Texas Tech represents a life blood for the community. In the past 20 years, the school has grown from an enrollment of 28,000 to more than 40,000. Applications are up. More graduates than ever are staying in Lubbock after graduating, especially as the economy diversifies.
“It’s not like people drive past campus every day and are reminded of us,” Campbell said. “They’re reminded when they see us on TV and having success. So for us, that athletic exposure is maybe more important than it is for most schools.”
The softball program spent a million bucks to land prized pitcher NiJaree Canaday out of the transfer portal a year ago, and will retain her services again this upcoming season for another seven-figures. The free advertising from Texas Tech’s out-nowhere-run to the Women’s College World Series Finals — with Mahomes in attendance — may spike another attendance boom.
“All the times that they make national news highlights the fact that they’re here in Lubbock, that they’re here in West Texas, and this is a great place,” Osborne said. “That makes them want to come here, and once they get to Lubbock, they realize this is a great place and they think about staying long term.”
As rents and housing prices have exploded in other major Texas metros, more Texas Tech graduates and West Texas natives are returning. The population grew 12% between the 2010 and 2020 census, and estimates say the combined statistical area cleared 400,000 last year.
Lubbock knows that it’s an underdog in this state when compared to Dallas, Houston or Austin. It knows that people view it as flyover country. But that’s why Texas Tech is so important. There’s movers and shakers in Lubbock, Texas. It’s tiring to be West Texas against the world. Texas Tech is ready to step to the mat.
“Anyone that believes that West Texas is dying, they have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about,” Hocutt said. “When you talk about the food and fuel and fiber that funds so much of this state, it’s right here in West Texas. I think it’s one of the country’s best kept secrets, but that’s what football and athletics can help us change because it doesn’t need to be a secret.”
V. All In
It’s a Tuesday night in October 2023 and Debbie McGuire, Joey’s wife, gives him a call. She’s on her way home from mahjong night and she is not happy. Texas Tech is 3-5 after flubbing two nonconference games and the train looks ready to slide off the track.
“Joey,” she says. “You gotta start winning some games. I just have got such good friends and I absolutely love living here.”
The message was clear: This is a great thing, stop screwing it up.
Joey reassured her that he was trying his best, but it ended up being a turning point. The Red Raiders went on to go 4-1 in their final five games and finished with a second straight winning record. The pressure silenced. Mahjong night was safe. This year, things are different.
At Texas Tech, there have never been such expectations. And with the new capped era starting on July 1, it comes with an expiration date. The 2025-26 school year is an experiment, an investment property. It will either deliver or fail. And there will be no excuses if it fails.
“I see Texas Tech as a stock and this is the equivalent of getting Bitcoin when it was 13 cents, or Tesla or Apple at their IPO,” Blanchard said. “I think Cody Campbell sees that, he’s so forward thinking.”
Sure, but history is also littered with failed startups built on hubris. Pets.com was supposed to revolutionize ecommerce. Instead, it was a total disaster. Texas A&M’s expensive No. 1 recruiting class in 2022 has become a perpetual punchline in the state, and led to the firing of Jimbo Fisher. Bitcoin and Tesla stock have seen calmer days. The modern world is built on chaos.
West Texans know better than most the boom-or-bust cycle of the energy markets. When the wells dry up or demand sags, the economy of place collapses. Filet mignon dinners become dried beans, and not everyone survives it. But that’s why striking during the boom times is so important.
Each of the last two years, Texas Tech’s expectations have fallen with a thud. No one cares about winning seasons when you claim, like McGuire has, that the Big 12 runs through Lubbock.
“If there’s not big expectations, you’ve got to be on a different planet,” McGuire said. “You’ve got to be blind and not see everything that was done. Like come on, let’s be Captain Obvious here and say there’s some really big expectations. Why try to push that down or guard yourself?”
After reeling in the No. 2 transfer class in the nation, the Red Raiders are tied for best odds to win the Big 12 title with four other teams, according to BetMGM. Texas Tech has not won an outright conference championship since 1955 in the Border Conference, and never even played for the Big 12 title. And with a one-year uncapped window, there’s no room for error. This is their shot.
“I’d be lying if I said I don’t feel the pressure,” Bailey said with a laugh. “But I feel like you can’t let that get to your head. You have to take it day by day, checking the boxes and showing what you can control.”
Texas Tech’s strategy — which as one college basketball coach assistant described nonverbally by scratching his thumb and index finger together, the universal symbol for moola — has led to some massive wins, too. Men’s basketball star JT Toppin won Big 12 Player of the Year after transferring from New Mexico. Despite being mocked as a first-round NBA talent, Toppin wanted to return. He felt he had more to work on. NIL gave him that opportunity.
Toppin signed a deal nearing $4 million, per CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, to return to Texas Tech. Returning also meant he could help recruit five blue-chip transfers to join him on a breakout Red Raiders squad that lost in the Elite Eight to eventual champion Florida.
“It changes our families lives,” Toppin said. “It changes our lives and it just makes us more motivated to play the sport because we know our family’s good. Now we just get to go out and play. It just makes everything more stress free, and that’s just an amazing feeling.”
In 2006, Cedar Hill had zero playoff wins in program history. McGuire helped lead them to an unlikely state championship. From that moment on, it set the tone. Cedar Hill was a place for champions. His run from there was almost unmatched. And as Leftwich pointed out, it was in McGuire’s fourth season at Cedar Hill that set everything up. McGuire is entering his fourth season at Texas Tech.
That’s the goal. That’s the opportunity Texas Tech has. If the Red Raiders make it to Arlington and reach the College Football Playoff, everything changes. The stature of the program changes.
“You can’t negatively recruit against us facility-wise,” McGuire said. “We’re revenue sharing at the highest level. So now we need to go do something that hasn’t been done. We need to be in the mix. We need to go play at AT&T Stadium and then you check that box off and then you create what we did at Cedar Hill where you have a chance to win every year.”
Mess up this season and everyone is on the hot seat. The honeymoon is over. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to outflank even the top programs in college football.
It’s scary, Blanchard acknowledges it. But the high school football coach, the fire hydrant assemblyman, the washed-up NFL lineman from Canyon… none of them were supposed to be here anyway. Why not go out swinging?
“With risk comes reward, and I don’t know any reward that didn’t come with great risk,” Blanchard said. “I would rather be risky and put all the chips in and see what happens than live as a pessimist and wonder, what if? Man, let’s go out shooting. Let’s blaze our guns and see what happens. There won’t be a lot of excuses if what we have isn’t very successful.”
VI. Homeward Bound
I pulled up to Evie Mae’s in Wolfforth, just outside of Lubbock, as it opened on Tuesday morning. It was my final destination before getting on the road back to Dallas. It’s an old-school Texas barbecue stop, the kind that closes on Mondays to reset and sets hours only based on when it sells out.
Locals have long claimed the spot was one of the best barbecue joints in Texas. In 2025, it was finally rewarded with a top 10 selection by Texas Monthly, the pinnacle of the craft. Finally, the big whigs saw what was happening out here in West Texas.
“It’s about damn time,” a patron chuckled.
I ordered a two-meat plate to go—after a quick taste of rib and brisket that proved Evie Mae’s deserved all the accolades. By the register, a hand-lettered sign pointed to a cooler of loose Miller Lite and Michelob: “Free beer. Be cool.”
I skipped the beer, grabbed my bag, and hit the road. Daylight makes pulling out of Lubbock a lot easier.
About an hour east, traffic came to a halt on Highway 82. Three semis eased into a wind farm, each hauling a 170-foot turbine blade. The next Texas Tech billionaire, I thought, will trade oil for wind.
While we idled, I dug into my takeout — brisket first, then creamed corn — before realizing I’d forgotten a fork. No matter, I had everything I needed.
So I ate with my fingers on the dusty shoulder of the road. No fork, no napkin, just West Texas, barbecue, and the future turning in the distance.
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