{"id":426235,"date":"2026-09-04T16:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T16:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/426235\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T16:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T16:30:08","slug":"harrell-filani-return-to-lubbock-as-acu-coaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/426235\/","title":{"rendered":"Harrell, Filani return to Lubbock as ACU coaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t \"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> <\/p>\n

Fans stand in the crowd wait for the next play. The Jones AT&T Stadium had a sold-out crowd. (Photo by Daniel Curd)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

September 4, 2026 by Carter Calvin<\/a> Leave a Comment<\/a> <\/p>\n

For several members of the ACU football team, Saturday\u2019s trip to Lubbock will not feel like traveling to an unfamiliar stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Head coach Keith Patterson, co-offensive coordinator and QB coach Graham Harrell and co-offensive coordinator and WR coach Joel Filani all have ties to Texas Tech.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harrell, who was inducted into the Texas Tech Hall of Fame in 2021, said returning to Galaxy Stadium, formerly known as Jones AT&T Stadium, as an opposing coach will be different from his previous visits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you go in as an opponent, you don\u2019t really get to do much except play games,\u201d Harrell said. \u201cSo it\u2019s not like you\u2019re going to experience anything other than you\u2019re going down there to play a game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrell will also return to Lubbock alongside Filani, who is being inducted into the Texas Tech Hall of Fame this year. The two played together at Texas Tech (2005-06) and have coached together at multiple spots since then.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harrell said he was excited to see Filani receive the honor, noting that he voted for him when Filani appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had an unbelievable career there,\u201d Harrell said. \u201cIf anyone deserved it, it was him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patterson, who was previously a defensive coordinator at Texas Tech (2019-21), said the connections between the two programs have benefited ACU, particularly through the transfer portal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patterson said players who left Texas Tech and transferred to ACU have been \u201cinstrumental and critical\u201d to the teams\u2019 success and helped accelerate the program\u2019s turnaround.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Harrell, the trip will provide another opportunity to return to a place that played a significant role in his career while preparing to lead ACU against his former team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got great fans,\u201d Harrell said. \u201cIt\u2019ll be fun to go back, but again, it\u2019s more of a, you\u2019re just going out there to play a game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alongside the coaches who are returning, six players currently on the Wildcats\u2019 roster previously played for the Red Raiders:<\/p>\n

TE Jayden York, DB Jocelyn Malaska, DB Javeon Wilcox, LG Kaden Carr, WR Deante Lindsey and DE Tanner Allen<\/p>\n

Four players played at least one year of high school football in Lubbock:\u00a0<\/p>\n

C Colter Lynch (Lubbock-Cooper), DE Hudson Page (Frenship), K Giovani Cardenas (Monterey) and LG Kaden Carr (played his senior year at Lubbock-Cooper)<\/p>\n

Four other coaches worked\/played at Texas Tech:<\/p>\n

DL Nick Holt (analyst, 2021)
\nTE Stanton Keane (player, 2014-15; student coach, 2016-17; GA, 2018)
\nLB Conor Dubin (quality control assistant, 2019-21)
\nDef. Assistant Joseph Punk (player 2020-24)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fans stand in the crowd wait for the next play. The Jones AT&T Stadium had a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-426235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}