Football
McGuire, Garret
Garret McGuire
- Title:
- Running Backs Coach
Garret McGuire enters his first season as Texas Tech’s running backs coach following stints with the Carolina Panthers in the NFL and most recently in helping rebuild Nebraska into a bowl participant.
This will be McGuire’s fifth season at either the collegiate or professional level and first in overseeing the running backs position. He previously was the wide receivers coach for Nebraska the past two seasons after beginning his career as a coaching assistant with the Panthers in 2021. McGuire, the son of Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire, was promoted to an offensive assistant with the Panthers a year later ahead of the 2022 season.
Nebraska returned to a bowl game for the first time since 2016 with McGuire on staff in 2024 as the Huskers finished 7-6 overall following a victory over Boston College in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl. McGuire contributed to consecutive top-25 recruiting classes for the Huskers as he was responsible for four four-star prospects signing with Nebraska for the 2025 class alone.
McGuire has been recognized as one of the nation's top up-and-coming coaches since being hired by Nebraska at only the age of 23. Over his two seasons, McGuire, now 25, was named to the 2024 class for the AFCA 35 Under 35 list as well as the 30-Under-30 ranking of top young assistants compiled by 247Sports in 2023.
While at Nebraska, McGuire tutored a young wide receiver room with three true freshmen in Jaylen Lloyd, Malachi Coleman and Jaidyn Doss all seeing significant playing time during his debut season in 2023. Lloyd and Coleman developed into two of Nebraska's top receivers by the end of the season with Lloyd averaging an impressive 39.5 yards per catch after finding the end zone three times from at least 58 yards. Lloyd joined Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. as the only Big Ten receivers with at least three 50-yard receptions in 2023.
Nebraska started three different quarterbacks in 2023 for a Huskers offense that relied on numerous newcomers in McGuire's room. McGuire's ability to identify offensive weapons benefited the Huskers again in 2024 as Jacory Barnet Jr. set the Nebraska record for moth receptions by a true freshman after catching 55 passes for 447 yards. Barnet Jr. ranked third nationally among all FBS freshmen for receptions and had the most targets (76) of any player in the country without a drop, according to Pro Football Focus. He finished second on the team with 875 all-purpose yards as an additional threat in the run game and as a returner.
The Huskers ranked tied for fourth nationally in 2024 for the fewest dropped passes, trailing only Army (5), Navy (6) and fellow Big Ten peer Washington (6). McGuire’s unit dropped only seven passes on the season despite 435 attempts, which led all three schools at the top of the rankings and more than doubled the amounts for both Army and Navy, traditional run-heavy offenses. The Huskers also ended the season ranked 15th in the FBS for completion percentage (66.2).
Nebraska got off to a 5-1 start to the 2024 season, which featured wins over fellow postseason teams in Colorado and Rutgers. This despite utilizing a true freshman quarterback in Dylan Raiola, who threw for the most yards and had the highest completion percentage by a freshman in school history. Raiola threw for 2,819 yards and 13 touchdowns with a 67.1 completion percentage, which ranked third all-time in Nebraska history. Raiola also ranked seventh all-time on Nebraska’s single-season passing yards chart.
McGuire began his coaching career as a coaching assistant on Matt Rhule's staff with the Carolina Panthers in 2021. His tenure culminated with the Panthers as one of only eight NFL teams to have more than 3,200 passing yards and 2,220 rushing yards in 2022 despite injuries that forced Carolina to utilize three different starting quarterbacks. Even still, wide receiver DJ Moore ranked 15th in the NFL with seven touchdown receptions that season.
Prior to joining the coaching profession, McGuire was a quarterback and special teams player at Baylor from 2017-20, earning first team Academic All-Big 12 honors twice while also being named a team captain as a senior in 2020. He earned his degree in health, kinesiology and leisure studies from Baylor in 2020.
GARRET MCGUIRE COACHING HISTORY
2025-present – Texas Tech Assistant Coach (Running Backs)
2023-24 – Nebraska Assistant Coach (Wide Receivers)
2022 – Carolina Panthers Offensive Assistant
2021 – Carolina Panthers Coaching Assistant
BOWL GAMES COACHED (1): 2024 Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripes Bowl (Nebraska)
This will be McGuire’s fifth season at either the collegiate or professional level and first in overseeing the running backs position. He previously was the wide receivers coach for Nebraska the past two seasons after beginning his career as a coaching assistant with the Panthers in 2021. McGuire, the son of Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire, was promoted to an offensive assistant with the Panthers a year later ahead of the 2022 season.
Nebraska returned to a bowl game for the first time since 2016 with McGuire on staff in 2024 as the Huskers finished 7-6 overall following a victory over Boston College in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl. McGuire contributed to consecutive top-25 recruiting classes for the Huskers as he was responsible for four four-star prospects signing with Nebraska for the 2025 class alone.
McGuire has been recognized as one of the nation's top up-and-coming coaches since being hired by Nebraska at only the age of 23. Over his two seasons, McGuire, now 25, was named to the 2024 class for the AFCA 35 Under 35 list as well as the 30-Under-30 ranking of top young assistants compiled by 247Sports in 2023.
While at Nebraska, McGuire tutored a young wide receiver room with three true freshmen in Jaylen Lloyd, Malachi Coleman and Jaidyn Doss all seeing significant playing time during his debut season in 2023. Lloyd and Coleman developed into two of Nebraska's top receivers by the end of the season with Lloyd averaging an impressive 39.5 yards per catch after finding the end zone three times from at least 58 yards. Lloyd joined Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. as the only Big Ten receivers with at least three 50-yard receptions in 2023.
Nebraska started three different quarterbacks in 2023 for a Huskers offense that relied on numerous newcomers in McGuire's room. McGuire's ability to identify offensive weapons benefited the Huskers again in 2024 as Jacory Barnet Jr. set the Nebraska record for moth receptions by a true freshman after catching 55 passes for 447 yards. Barnet Jr. ranked third nationally among all FBS freshmen for receptions and had the most targets (76) of any player in the country without a drop, according to Pro Football Focus. He finished second on the team with 875 all-purpose yards as an additional threat in the run game and as a returner.
The Huskers ranked tied for fourth nationally in 2024 for the fewest dropped passes, trailing only Army (5), Navy (6) and fellow Big Ten peer Washington (6). McGuire’s unit dropped only seven passes on the season despite 435 attempts, which led all three schools at the top of the rankings and more than doubled the amounts for both Army and Navy, traditional run-heavy offenses. The Huskers also ended the season ranked 15th in the FBS for completion percentage (66.2).
Nebraska got off to a 5-1 start to the 2024 season, which featured wins over fellow postseason teams in Colorado and Rutgers. This despite utilizing a true freshman quarterback in Dylan Raiola, who threw for the most yards and had the highest completion percentage by a freshman in school history. Raiola threw for 2,819 yards and 13 touchdowns with a 67.1 completion percentage, which ranked third all-time in Nebraska history. Raiola also ranked seventh all-time on Nebraska’s single-season passing yards chart.
McGuire began his coaching career as a coaching assistant on Matt Rhule's staff with the Carolina Panthers in 2021. His tenure culminated with the Panthers as one of only eight NFL teams to have more than 3,200 passing yards and 2,220 rushing yards in 2022 despite injuries that forced Carolina to utilize three different starting quarterbacks. Even still, wide receiver DJ Moore ranked 15th in the NFL with seven touchdown receptions that season.
Prior to joining the coaching profession, McGuire was a quarterback and special teams player at Baylor from 2017-20, earning first team Academic All-Big 12 honors twice while also being named a team captain as a senior in 2020. He earned his degree in health, kinesiology and leisure studies from Baylor in 2020.
GARRET MCGUIRE COACHING HISTORY
2025-present – Texas Tech Assistant Coach (Running Backs)
2023-24 – Nebraska Assistant Coach (Wide Receivers)
2022 – Carolina Panthers Offensive Assistant
2021 – Carolina Panthers Coaching Assistant
BOWL GAMES COACHED (1): 2024 Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripes Bowl (Nebraska)
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