Texas Tech icon Graham Harrell returns to Lubbock and will man the opposite sideline in the Red Raiders' season-opener.
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Very rarely do you see an assistant coach travel to face an opponent, only to look up from the field and see his own name plastered on the stadium.
That will be the case for Graham Harrell, the former Texas Tech star quarterback who now calls the shots at Abilene Christian as offensive coordinator.
Harrell's Wildcats play their second game of the year against a Red Raiders squad looking to defend something Harrell's teams never won in Lubbock: a Big 12 championship.
Harrell accounted for 134 passing touchdowns across his three full seasons under center for Mike Leach's Red Raiders from 2005 to 2008. He finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting as a senior, capping a year that was widely regarded as the most successful in school history until the 2025 campaign.
"Lubbock is a place that I obviously spent a lot of time," Harrell said this week ahead of his return. "I enjoyed my time out there. I don't get to go back near as often as I would like to, so it will be fun to go back."
ACU is coming off a 21-14 loss to Lamar in Week Zero. Texas Tech will hope to christen the newly dubbed Galaxy Stadium with a victory as 40-plus-point favorites.
For Harrell, who was inducted into Tech's illustrious Ring of Honor in 2025, he knows how raucous the environment can get - regardless of what the stadium is named.
"Tech has great fans," said the program's all-time leading passer. "They were more friendly when I was the opponent than sometimes when I was the player."
Texas Tech alum Joel Filani is also on Abilene Christian's staff under head coach Keith Patterson, a former Tech staffer in his own right.
Filani was a receiver for Harrell during their time together in Lubbock, and they remain teammates as co-offensive coordinators.
After playing for the Red Raiders from 2003 to 2006, Filani was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the 2007 NFL Draft.
He will be inducted into Texas Tech's Hall of Fame later this season.
Harrell and Filani joined forces in Abilene last season, so they were not in Lubbock for the Wildcats near upset win in 2024, where Tech escaped with a 52-51 win in overtime thanks to a 2-point conversion stop at the goal line.
The Red Raiders host the Wildcats on Saturday with kickoff slated for 6 p.m. and aired live on FS1.
