CBS Sports ranked every Power Five coach; how did the Big 12 fare?
The Big 12 welcomes three new coaches to its ranks in 2022. Brent Venables at Oklahoma, Sonny Dykes at TCU, and Joey McGuire at Texas Tech. Each come in with different expectations and experiences.
Dykes has 12 years of head coaching experience, including four at the Power Five. Venables has been a defensive coordinator for more than 20 years at Oklahoma and Clemson, winning three national titles, and learning under some of the legends of the game. McGuire, a high school coaching legend, spent time on Dave Aranda’s staff but hasn’t been a coordinator at the college level.
There’s no right path to a head coaching gig and the Big 12’s coaches come from a vast array of experiences. Chris Klieman was dominant at FCS North Dakota State. Steve Sarkisian had stops at USC and Washington before resurrecting his career as the offensive coordinator for Alabama. Dave Aranda rode LSU’s 2019 national title success to his first head coaching job at Baylor. Lance Leipold took over at Kansas without much time to prep for the 2021 season. Mike Gundy and Matt Campbell have been mainstays of the conference. Campbell has been a head coach for 11 seasons, including the last six at Iowa State while Gundy has been the head coach at Oklahoma State for the last 17 seasons.
It’s an interesting cast of characters in the Big 12, but how do they stack up compared to the rest of the Power Five. Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports ranked all 65 head coaches ahead of the 2021 season.
You can take a look at the coaches ranked 26-65 and the top 25 from Tom Fornelli and CBS Sports.
10. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State Cowboys
Sep 19, 2020; Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma State Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy during the game against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane at Boone Pickens Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Ferguson-USA TODAY Sports
The longest-tenured head coach in the conference is also the head coach with the highest winning percentage in the conference, Mike Gundy. That has to count for something. The Oklahoma State Cowboys were inches from winning the Big 12 championship in 2021 and possibly punching their ticket to the College Football Playoff. Will that near-miss fuel them in 2022 to get further, or will those inches become the nightmare that haunts Stillwater for years to come?
11. Dave Aranda, Baylor Bears
FILE – In this Oct. 3, 2020, file photo, Baylor head coach Dave Aranda calls to his team during an NCAA college football game against West Virginia in Morgantown, W.Va. Texas’ Tom Herman and Baylor’s Aranda are old friends and college teammates who will meet for the first time Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020, as opposing head coaches. (William Wotring/The Dominion-Post via AP, File)
Dave Aranda took a two-win team from 2020 to Big 12 champion in 2021. In 2022, will the real Baylor Bears please stand up? Aranda’s a great coach, but a turnaround of that magnitude has some luck factored in. Can they stay at the top or is some regression in order this season?
12. Matt Campbell, Iowa State Cyclones
Nov 20, 2021; Norman, Oklahoma, USA; Iowa State Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell reacts during the second half against the Oklahoma Sooners at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
2021 was supposed to be the Iowa State Cyclones’ year to ascend the Big 12 mountain and claim its first conference title. The talent was there, the coaching was there, but the Cyclones just couldn’t reach the pinnacle. It was a failure of a year for a team that was top 10 to start the season. So how is Matt Campbell ranked so high? Sure he’s overachieved at Iowa State and taken teams that weren’t expected to do much and help them get into the conference title game. But then when expectations were high, Campbell failed to deliver. You’d think this would knock him back a touch.
31. Chris Klieman, Kansas State Wildcats
Dec 31, 2019; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Kansas State Wildcats head coach Chris Klieman during the first half against the Navy Midshipmen at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports
Chris Klieman’s two wins over Lincoln Riley and the Sooners in his first two years at Kansas State set him off on the right path. But the Wildcats haven’t been more than a middle-of-the-pack team during Klieman’s tenure. Will 2022 be any different?
35. Sonny Dykes, TCU Horned Frogs
FILE – New TCU NCAA college football head coach Sonny Dykes speaks during an introductory news conference in Fort Worth, Texas, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. TCU coach Sonny Dykes and Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire wrapped up their first spring drills without naming a starter, though both inherited multiple quarterbacks with starting experience. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
Sonny Dykes is the only new Big 12 coach that has experience as a head coach. He’s been at Louisiana Tech, California, and SMU. Each time his Group of Five squad helped him back into the Power Five. Will this go-round work better than his tenure at Cal?
39. Steve Sarkisian, Texas Longhorns
Oct 16, 2021; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian is escorted off the field by police after a loss against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports
2021 didn’t go the way anyone would have thought as the Texas Longhorns floundered a second-half lead against the Sooners and then lost to Kansas in a game the defense gave up 50+ points. Optimism abounds again for 2022 with the influx of talent on both sides of the ball. However, the message out of Austin is clear for Steve Sarkisian, there needs to be vast improvement from his first season at the helm.
42. Lance Leipold, Kansas
Oct 23, 2021; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; Kansas Jayhawks head coach Lance Leipold leads the team onto the field before the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
Kansas won’t contend for the Big 12 in 2022, but their win over Texas and the way they were playing at the end of the 2021 season has a lot of folks optimistic that the Jayhawks are on the come-up. Lance Leipold took over that program after the spring and has them believing they can play with the best in the Big 12.
45. Brent Venables
April 23, 2022; Norman; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables speaks to former player Brian Bosworth during the spring game at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
According to Fornelli, this is the highest a first-time coach has ranked in their preseason rankings. Brent Venables may not have been a head coach before, but there are few people that doubt his readiness for the job. He’s been the hottest assistant coach candidate for much of the last decade, but biding his time, he waited for the right opportunity. The timing was perfect for the Oklahoma Sooners.
Of note, three SEC coaches ranked behind Venables. Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz, Auburn’s Bryan Harsin, and Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea.
52. Neal Brown, West Virginia
Dec 5, 2020; Ames, Iowa, USA; West Virginia head coach Neal Brown shouts during their football game at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday. Iowa State would go on to defeat West Virginia 42-6. Brian Powers-USA TODAY Sports
Neal Brown has yet to fulfill the promise that came with the success he had with Troy. There’s some defensive talent there, but they’ve struggled to put together an offense that can consistently compete in the Big 12. With the additions of Graham Harrell and J.T. Daniels, this might be the year for Neal to come through and push to the top of the Big 12.
62. Joey McGuire, Texas Tech Red Raiders
Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire talks to the crowd during the halftime of an NCAA college basketball game against North Florida, Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, in Lubbock, Texas. (Brad Tollefson/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal via AP)
The enthusiasm of Joey McGuire is infectious. It’s helped the Texas Tech Red Raiders jump out and land 20 commitments in the 2023 recruiting cycle. While most of those are three-star players, he’s already increased the number of four-star commits the Red Raiders have compared to their class a year ago.
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