Money CAN Buy Happiness: What We Learned From Texas Tech's Win vs. Utah Utes

When reports began that the Red Raiders' roster would cost north of $20 million, outcries poured in about Joey McGuire's team needing to buy talent and poach it from other teams to find any semblance of success. Yet, they are nowhere near the first teams to do this, nor will they be anywhere near the last.

Teams have done it for years, even before the NIL days. Even last season, with the reported roster prices for eventual national champions Ohio State and the Texas Longhorns, they were viewed as "buying in" to their program and going all in for a championship.

Now that it's happening in West Texas, in a little town most people around the country have never even heard of, it's a problem. They took the last year of the "wild west" in NIL, before regulations were implemented, and created a new baseline for their program and what they can be under GM James Blanchard.

Now that they have found success in it, after a beatdown of the Utah Utes, they cry foul play. Except the players that beat the Utes weren't new additions; they were homegrown. Will Hammond and Jacob Rodriguez? They were homegrown and believed in McGuire's coaching abilities.

See, that's the difference between what is happening in Lubbock compared to other places around the country trying the same thing. Money buys talent, and talent buys wins, but a culture can't be purchased. McGuire has built a culture that might bring more than wins, with some trophies, back to their small town.

Money can buy happiness, and for the Red Raiders, they found that out, and for the rest of the Big 12, they will find that out soon enough as well.

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