Josh Pate has long referred to himself as “the future college football commissioner.”
Joey McGuire wouldn’t mind seeing the college football personality’s bit come to life.
With conference championship games this weekend and the College Football Playoff selection show on Sunday, it’s officially campaign season in the sport. But while there are certainly plenty of prominent SEC and even Big Ten personalities flooding the airwaves this week, you’d be hard-pressed to find a prominent college football talking head with obvious allegiances to the Big 12.
Speaking to reporters ahead of Texas Tech’s matchup with BYU in the Big 12 Championship Game, McGuire was asked who should be publicly lobbying on the league’s behalf. And although the Red Raiders head coach didn’t explicitly call for Pate to campaign for the conference, he did make it clear that he has a lot of respect for the On3 and ESPN personality’s approach to covering the game.
“I think it’s really important, people understand that understand football as a whole, no matter what,” McGuire said. “I think Josh Pate does a great job. I think he’s a guy — I wouldn’t be mad if he was the commissioner of college football. I know he would take the job and do a great job.”
“I wouldn’t be mad if he (@JoshPateCFB) was the commissioner of college football.”
–@JoeyMcGuireTTU pic.twitter.com/kxeA9OKM4T
— DIEGS (@TexasDiegs) December 1, 2025
As McGuire said, Pate would almost assuredly take the gig. Not only is his desire to be college football’s top decision-maker well established, but he’s even laid out the changes he would make, including a much-needed adjustment to the sport’s calendar.
It’s also worth noting that Pate and McGuire have been friendly over the years, with the Columbus, Georgia, native interviewing the Texas Tech head coach as a part of his “Pate State Speaker Series” last offseason. But even if McGuire might have some bias of his own, Pate could certainly do worse in his quest for his dream job than receiving a public endorsement from the head coach of the nation’s No. 4 team.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.