Big 12 coach rankings for 2020: Will Tom Herman live up to ranking at Texas?

Bill Bender

Big 12 coach rankings for 2020: Will Tom Herman live up to ranking at Texas? image

Texas had high expectations heading into last season, and the Longhorns missed the mark in Tom Herman's third season.  

Early-season losses to LSU and Oklahoma led to a five-loss season, and Herman enters his fourth year still trying to close the gap with five-time defending champion Oklahoma. That's the trick with the Big 12 coach rankings. Lincoln Riley is a no-doubt choice at No. 1 and a top-five coach in our 1-130 rankings. The rest of the conference is trying to catch up. Herman, however, faces more pressure than the rest of those coaches because of the Texas brand.  

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Texas is a half-game behind Oklahoma State for the second-best record in the conference the past three seasons, but we still picked Herman at No. 2 in our Big 12 coach rankings. At least for this year.  

Here's a deeper look at our Big 12 coach rankings for 2020:  

2020 Big 12 Coach Rankings   

RANK COACH SCHOOL W L PCT OVR
1 Lincoln Riley Oklahoma 36 6 0.857 4
2 Tom Herman Texas 25 15 0.625 16
3 Gary Patterson TCU 172 70 0.711 17
4 Mike Gundy Oklahoma State 129 64 0.668 20
5 Chris Klieman Kansas State 8 5 0.615 33
6 Matt Campbell Iowa State 26 25 0.510 34
7 Les Miles Kansas 3 9 0.250 36
8 Neal Brown West Virginia 5 7 0.417 37
9 Matt Wells Texas Tech 4 8 0.333 60
10 Dave Aranda Baylor 0 0 0.000 63

Quick reads   

— Kansas State's Chris Klieman led the Wildcats to eight wins — including a victory against Oklahoma — in his first season. That led to a 37-spot jump in our overall rankings. Klieman showed he's a championship-caliber coach at North Dakota State and continues to build on that in Manhattan.  

— The other second-year coaches struggled in Year 1. West Virginia's Neal Brown, Kansas' Les Miles and Texas Tech's Matt Wells combined for a 12-24 record in 2019. Brown and Miles will have to do better than that to hold on to their spots in the overall top 50.  

— This is an interesting year for Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy. The Cowboys are 25-14 the past three seasons, which is the second-best record in the conference. Oklahoma State also is a trendy Playoff pick given that Chuba Hubbard returned for another season. Gundy is primed for a big season, but it's less hyped than Texas and Herman. Can the Cowboys deliver?  

— Dave Aranda is our lowest-ranked coach, and the longtime LSU assistant made an interesting choice with Baylor. The Bears are coming off an 11-win season under Matt Rhule, and it will be interesting to see whether Aranda can keep that momentum rolling.  

Bill Bender

Bill Bender Photo

Bill Bender graduated from Ohio University in 2002 and started at The Sporting News as a fantasy football writer in 2007. He has covered the College Football Playoff, NBA Finals and World Series for SN. Bender enjoys story-telling, awesomely-bad 80s movies and coaching youth sports.