SWC Men's Championship: 1959, 1971, 1996 Track and Field Big 12 Men's Indoor Championship: 2018, 2019, 2023 Big 12 Men's Outdoor Championship: 2005, 2014, 2018, 2019 Soccer Big 12 women's tournament: 2015 Tennis Big 12 Men's Regular Season: 2016 Big 12 Women's Regular Season: 2012, 2013, 2017 Big 12 Women's Tournament: 2017 Border: 1936, 1937, 1950 Culture Nickname The Red Raiders were originally known as the "Matadors" from 1925–1936. 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 students followed the suggestion, and later chose red and black as the school colors to represent a matador's traditional garb. Coincidentally, the football team won its first game right after it had adopted the name. The nickname and school colors became official during a formal convocation on March 15, 1926. There are two main stories as to how the name "Red Raiders" replaced its predecessor. In one story, football coach Pete Cawthon ordered attractive scarlet uniforms to help the team's identity. The football team, wearing its new outfit, defeated heavily favored Loyola in Los Angeles on October 26, 1934. A Los Angeles sports writer called the Matadors a "red raiding team". Other writers who covered Tech sports caught on with the term and successfully promoted the use of "Red Raiders". In the other tale, former Lubbock Avalanche-Journal sports columnist Collier Parris, reporting on a 1932 Tech football game, wrote: "The Red Raiders from Texas Tech, terror of the Southwest this year, swooped into the New Mexico University camp today." The name soon became popular afterward and by 1936, it officially replaced "Matadors" at the same time the Saddle Tramps came about. Spirit Red Raider spirit is led by such organizations as the Saddle Tramps, the High Riders, and the spirit squads (consisting of the cheer squad and the pom squad). In April 2010, the Texas Tech cheer squad finished third at the National Cheerleaders Association and National Dance Association. Mascots The Masked Rider is Texas Tech University's oldest mascot. The tradition began in 1936, when "ghost riders" circled the field prior to home football games. 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