The Wildcats averaged over 33 points per game while going 7-1 in United Athletic Conference play in the 2024 season.

They won the UAC Championship and defeated the Northern Arizona University Lumberjacks in the first round of the playoffs before falling to the eventual FCS champions, North Dakota State University.

This year, the team will look to build on its success with West Texas football legend and 2025 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Graham Harrell as its new offensive coordinator.

Harrell comes from Purdue University where he was the program’s quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. He will serve in those same positions with the Wildcats.

“It’s like coming home,” Harrell said.

Harrell played for Texas Tech University from 2005 to 2008, throwing for 15,793 yards and 134 touchdowns while graduating with an average quarterback rating of 154.3. Harrell also finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting during the 2008 season, a mark only Donny Anderson had achieved before Harrell in TTU football history.

In addition to Harrell, former TTU wide receiver Joel Filani has been hired by Head Coach Keith Patterson to coach the wide receivers.

Harrell said as the wide receivers coach Filani not only brings his credibility as a wide receiver to the team, but he brings a high level of knowledge and experience with the style of offense he looks to implement.

“He played it,” Harrell said. “He did it at a high level.”

Between his 2005 and 2006 seasons, his two seasons with Harrell at quarterback, Filani recorded 156 catches for 2,307 yards and 21 touchdowns while being a first-team All-Big 12 selection both years.

Harrell and Filani both played under Head Coach Mike Leach at TTU. Leach is widely considered one of the best football minds of all time after developing the air raid offense and being named National Coach of the Year twice in his 10 seasons with the program.

“Every time we’ve been together things usually go well,” Harrell said. “We see it the same way and we understand what we are trying to accomplish.”

Filani coached with Harrell at the University of North Texas from 2016-2018 when the offensive coordinator and wide receiver coaching duo led the team to score 35.5 points per game in 2017 and 34.62 in 2018 after scoring just 24.77 points per game in 2016.

“KP has done a good job of making this a really attractive job,” Filani said. “It’s cool to be able to get the band back together. We got linked up with KP and found a way to get Graham here too.”

In his early work with the Wildcats’ roster, Harrell is impressed with the work ethic of the players and looks forward to working across the ball from Patterson. He spoke on the accomplishments of the team last year and attributed it to the way Patterson treats his players and pushes them to “do hard things.”

“When you see tough teams that do hard things, they have more success,” Harrell said. “The other thing you see is just a genuine care for each other. That’s the ACU culture and what ACU stands for.”

When it comes to the game, Harrell wants to utilize his background with a spread-style offense and “get our best players the ball in space.”

“He’s my guy,” Filani said. “He’s done a good job offensively at a lot of different places and now it’s time for us to put it together.”

For Patterson, the goal remains the same offensively; protect the football, keep the game simple, extend drives on third down and score 70% of the available points.

“If you do those things right there, you’re going to have success offensively,” Patterson said.

The Wildcats will have a very different look personnel-wise in 2025. The team graduated several players, including leading wide receivers Blayne Taylor and Nehemiah Martinez and its starting offensive guards Jacob Thielen and Alan Hatten. The team also saw starting quarterback Maverick McIvor transfer to Western Kentucky University, where he will play his seventh season of NCAA Division I football. Starting center Tay Yanta also announced he was transferring to UNT after playing three seasons for the Wildcats. Between Hatten, Thielen and Yanta the offensive line had over 112 combined career starts. 

Despite the graduates and transfers, Patterson is confident in his team’s ability on the field and in the locker room.  

“Every year we’ve raised the standard and expectations of a football program,” Patterson said. “We want to make sure that we continue to set the bar high so that we continue to move this program forward.”