Ranking the Big 12 Head Coaches
Texas Tech, TCU, and Oklahoma enter the 2022 season with a new head coach while Lance Leipold (Kansas), Steve Sarkisian (Texas), Neal Brown (West Virginia), Chris Klieman (Kansas State), and Dave Aranda (Baylor) all have less than four years of experience at their current school. Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy is the outlier of the Big 12 head coaches having been in Stillwater since 2005.
Where do the ten head coaches in the Big 12 rank heading into 2022? I break it all down.
10. Joey McGuire - Texas Tech
Career record: 0-0.
Record at Texas Tech: 0-0.
McGuire is a well-respected coach in the state of Texas from his days as a high school head coach at Cedar Hill to spending the last five years as an assistant at Baylor under Matt Rhule and Dave Aranda. I was a little shocked he got this job before getting some run at a smaller school, but the administration at Texas Tech has immense confidence in him. If they give him time, he'll have the chance to bring Tech back to where they were during the Mike Leach era.
9. Lance Leipold - Kansas
Career record: 39-43 (.476)
Record at Kansas: 2-10 (.167)
Leipold is a solid football coach at a place that is hard to win at. To be honest, it's probably the most challenging Power Five job to have in college football. He built a dynasty at Wisconsin-Whitewater (D-III) before making the jump to FBS with Buffalo a few years back. I believe he will find some success in Lawrence but the moment he does, other P5 schools will be doing everything they can to pry him away.
8. Steve Sarkisian - Texas
Career record: 51-42 (.548)
Record at Texas: 5-7 (.417)
Sark is a bright offensive mind, but his resume as a head coach doesn't leave much to be desired. I get it was his first season in Austin last year, but you just can't lose to Kansas. I mean, come on. That roster is loaded with high-end four-star and five-star talent. Landing Arch Manning was huge for the program, but that doesn't fix the team's issues in 2022. Another subpar season will have him on the hot seat.
7. Neal Brown - West Virginia
Career record: 52-34 (.605)
Record at West Virginia: 17-18 (.486)
Brown had a lot of success at Troy, but it has yet to translate to the Power Five level. That said, he didn't exactly enter the best of situations when he arrived at WVU. Much of the production from the 2018 roster that finished near the top of the league graduated and the previous coaching staff didn't put much effort into recruiting a quarterback that season either. Brown isn't necessarily on the hot seat, but if he doesn't win games in 2022, it could be his last dance in Morgantown.
6. Sonny Dykes - TCU
Career record: 71-63 (.530)
Record at TCU: 0-0
For the first time in over 20 years, someone other than Gary Patterson will be strolling the sidelines in Fort Worth. Dykes has some prior experience at TCU, working for the team as an offensive analyst in 2017 before being named the head coach at SMU. Dykes struggled during his four-year stint at Cal but went 52-33 combined at SMU and Louisiana Tech. He's a decent head coach who is getting a second shot at the P5 level. If he can recruit the state of Texas well, he'll have a shot to not only hang around but have success.
5. Brent Venables - Oklahoma
Career record: 0-0
Record at Oklahoma: 0-0
I normally don't like putting first-year head coaches this high on a list, but Venables is such a brilliant defensive coach and leader. The one thing that has prevented the Sooners from being a complete team over the last 10 or so years is their play on the defensive side of the ball. As long as Venables can keep a solid offensive staff together, Oklahoma will have an enormous amount of success under him.
4. Matt Campbell - Iowa State
Career record: 77-49 (.611)
Record at Iowa State: 42-34 (.553)
Campbell gets a lot of credit for the job he's done at Iowa State and he should. Prior to his arrival, ISU was an afterthought in the Big 12. That said, I think the hype surrounding him as one of the top coaches in the country is a bit much. Dana Holgorsen had a 61-41 record (.598) during his time at WVU. In terms of on the field success, Campbell and Holgorsen aren't far apart, in my opinion. The team that he had last year had way too much talent to only finish with seven wins.
3. Chris Klieman - Kansas State
Career record: 92-29 (.760)
Record at Kansas State: 20-16 (.556)
Klieman reminds me a lot of his predecessor, Bill Snyder. He's not going to be flashy by any means but he'll find ways to win games. He's consistent, makes great in-game adjustments, and knows how to build a strong, sustainable culture. In order to have success at a school like K-State, you have to have all of those qualities.
2. Dave Aranda - Baylor
Career record: 14-9 (.609)
Record at Baylor: 14-9 (.609)
Just as hard as it was to put Venables at No. 5, it was hard to sell myself on putting Aranda at No. 2 after just one good season. The biggest thing that stood out to me as how quickly he turned things around. After a tumultuous year one, things could have went south in a hurry. He got everyone to buy in and went from winning two games to hoisting the Big 12 championship just one year later.
1. Mike Gundy - Oklahoma State
Career record: 149-69 (.683)
Record at Oklahoma State: 149-69 (.683)
In my opinion, Gundy is mullet and shoulders above the other nine coaches. Sorry, Mike, I had to do that. All kidding aside, Gundy has been a consistent winner at Oklahoma State. He's won a lot of games with teams that had no business being as good as they were and last year is a perfect example. I pegged the Cowboys to only win six or seven games in 2021, yet he had them potentially one win away from making the College Football Playoff. That was his best coaching job yet.
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