LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech Athletics on Friday announced the promotion of Michael Ramirez to Associate Athletics Director and Director of Football Sports Medicine, and Katherine Carden To connect sports coach and football rehabilitation coordinator.
Ramirez replaces Drew Krueger, who has accepted the position of head athletic coach with the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL. Previously, Krueger was part of Texas Tech’s sports medicine team for nine seasons, including each of the last seven as head football athletics coach.
“We’re excited for Drew and we know he’s going to be great in the NFL,” said Grant Stovall, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Health and Wellness. “I am delighted that Mike has accepted this new role and I know he will be great at leading this group who will continue to take excellent care of our student athletes. Katie has done a great job during her time here and has earned the trust of our players, team doctors and coaches. She will be outstanding in this new role coordinating and managing the rehabilitation needs for the football programme.”
In his new role, Ramirez, who is entering his seventh season on Texas Tech’s sports medicine team, will oversee the 24/7 mentoring of more than 100 student athletes at the Football Training Facility. He will lead a staff of three additional athletic coaches who will work alongside team doctors to provide the most advanced prevention, treatment and rehabilitation services for football students and athletes.
Ramirez joined the athletics department in 2017 as an assistant physical coach for the soccer program before being promoted to associate physical coach a year later, a role Carden will now assume. In addition to his role as Texas Tech’s senior football athletics coach, he will also oversee sports medicine requirements for both men’s and women’s golf programs.
During his time at Texas Tech, Ramirez served as mentor to undergraduate and graduate level athletic training students as part of the football program as well as the athletics department’s relationship with Gatorade.
Ramirez also coordinated the athletics department’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, establishing protocols for all sports for testing procedures in accordance with NCAA and Big 12 guidelines, and securing appropriate test supplies. In response, Ramirez received the Director of Athletics Award of Excellence at Texas Tech’s 2021 year-end banquet.
Prior to Texas Tech, Ramirez was the senior athletic coach at Desert Ridge High School in Arizona from 2015-2017 and the athletic coach at Deer Park High School in Texas from 2013-2015. He was previously an athletic training intern for the Houston Texans of the NFL from 2011-2013.
Ramirez graduated from Arizona State with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology (2009) and from Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, where he earned his Masters in Athletic Training in 2011. He and his wife Lizzy live in Lubbock with their parents children, Rory and Banks.
“We’re fortunate to have the best medical team in the country here at Texas Tech,” said the head coach Joey McGuire called. “Our student athletes truly receive the best possible care and that is because of the work that Drew, Mike, Katie, Steve (Lapso) and their team put in every day. We can’t thank Drew enough for the time and effort he put into making our program and especially our student-athletes better. We know he’s going to have great success in the NFL. We are thrilled that Mike has accepted this new position as he has quickly gained the trust and respect of our entire program during my tenure.”
Carden is entering her third season on Texas Tech’s sports medicine team when she joined the football program as an assistant athletic coach ahead of the 2021 season. She joined Texas Tech after two seasons as an athletic training intern with the San Francisco 49ers from 2019-21.
Prior to her time in the NFL, Carden was a graduate athletic coach in Oklahoma from 2017-2019, where she assisted with sports medicine requirements for football and the women’s gymnastics and spirits programs.
Carden received her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from the University of Massachusetts in 2014. Like Ramirez, she is also a graduate of Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, having earned her Masters in Athletic Training in 2017. She later added a Master of Education in Intercollegiate Sports Administration from the University of Oklahoma in 2019.
The sports medicine staff is part of Texas Tech’s health and wellness division, which also includes other important student and athlete services such as sports nutrition, sports psychology, and strength and conditioning. The four units oversee the health and well-being of more than 400 student-athletes on campus across all 17 sports.
