The initial team organized in 1925 and the first game, an 18–9 victory over West Texas State Teachers College, was played in 1926.

In the same time period, the women's team won 32 All-America awards, 29 Big 12 championships, and five individual national titles.

[15] In 2015 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships, Jacorian Duffield and Bradley Adkins won 1st and 2nd place respectively in the high jump event.

Tech's Elson Archibald seemed to have kicked a game-winning 20-yard field goal but the referee ruled that the clock had run out before the score.

[24] The Red Raider Men's golf team is the most successful sport at Texas Tech as it has made the most appearances in the NCAA tournament.

Robertson has led the Raiders to regional play nine of the ten seasons since she had been named the fourth head coach of the team.

Though Ballard coached only a single season, it was during his time that the team won their milestone 100th game, a one-point victory over House of David.

On New Year's Day 2007, a 70–68 defeat of New Mexico by Tech marked the 880th total win for Knight, making him the winningest coach in men's college basketball history.

After Pat Knight's termination, Billy Gillispie was named head coach on March 20, 2011 and subsequently resigned for health reasons after one season following while also being amidst allegations of mistreating players.

In March 2013, Tubby Smith was named the new men's basketball coach and led the team to its first upset over a top 25 opponent since 2009.

When Texas Tech joined the Big 12 Conference as a charter member, the program was resurrected in time for the inaugural 1996 season.

[35] Of the varsity sports, Texas Tech has had its greatest success in women's basketball with 13 conference titles and 1 national championship.

Led by its star player Sheryl Swoopes and head coach Marsha Sharp, the Lady Raiders won the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship in 1993.

Curry accepted the same position at The University of Alabama on May 11, 2013 and was replaced by Candace Whitaker, a former player for Texas Tech in the 1990s, who was named head coach on May 22, 2013.

As a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, the Red Raiders compete with Big XII Conference Teams as well as with colleges throughout the United States and Canada.

Six years later, the team beat in-state rival Texas A&M to win the United States Polo Association National Intercollegiate Championship.

The $11 million project also includes a significantly upgraded jumbotron with a new sound system, a Spanish Renaissance-themed colonnade, and a new north end zone concourse connecting the two stadium halves.

As the school was thinking of an appropriate nickname for its athletic teams in 1925, the wife of the first football coach suggested "Matadors" to reflect the influence of the campus' Spanish Renaissance architecture.

The Masked Rider became an official mascot in 1954, when Joe Kirk Fulton led the team onto the field at the Gator Bowl.

According to reports from those present at the game, the crowd sat in stunned silence as they watched Fulton and his horse, Blackie, rush onto the football field, followed by the team.

Ed Danforth, a writer for the Atlanta Journal who witnessed the event, later wrote, "No team in any bowl game ever made a more sensational entrance.

This mascot, adorned in a distinctive gaucho hat like the ones worn by members of the marching band, is one of the most visible figures at Texas Tech.

Ashley Wenzel, a sophomore education major from Friendswood, Texas, will represent the university as the Masked Rider during 2012–13.

Beginning with the 1971 football season, the Southwest Conference forbade the inclusion of live animal mascots to away games unless the host school consented.

[63] Though the Masked Rider's identity is public knowledge, it has always been tradition that Raider Red's student alter ego is kept secret until the end of his or her tenure.

[65][66][67] It is common for people to camp out in front of Jones AT&T Stadium a few days prior to home football games against the Aggies, the Longhorns, and the Oklahoma Sooners.

[68][69] In March 2009, Texas Tech and Baylor reached an agreement to move their next two football games to the Dallas metropolitan area.

The next game was scheduled for October 9, 2010, at the Cotton Bowl Stadium during the State Fair of Texas, with Tech emerging victorious again.

[72] In sports other than football, Eastern New Mexico University are seen as a regional rival due to the close proximity of the two schools and frequency of match-ups between them.

Current alumni standouts include Super Bowl Champion Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, Wes Welker of the Denver Broncos,[81] Super Bowl Champion Danny Amendola of the New England Patriots, and Michael Crabtree of the Oakland Raiders.