The Big 12 Conference has two of the deans of college football head coaches in its ranks with Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy and Utah’s Kyle Whittingham — a rarity in the game with each headed into their 20th seasons in 2024.
It doesn’t stop there. The coaching talent in the Big 12 is elite and adds some more to its ranks with the addition of eight new schools over the last two seasons. Here’s a ranking of every head coach in the Big 12 headed into the 2024 season.
(All coaching records for current schools)
1. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State (20th season, 166-79): Gundy is almost 100 games above .500 for his career and appears to have a team that could make the College Football Playoff in 2024.
2. Kyle Whittingham, Utah (20th season, 162-79): The future College Football Hall of Famer took over for Urban Meyer for the final game of Utah’s undefeated season in 2004 and never left. Whittingham has indicated 2024 might be his last season.
3. Chris Klieman, Kansas State (7th season, 39-24): Klieman already has one Big 12 championship and now has one player who could change the trajectory of his career with sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson.
4. Matt Campbell, Iowa State (10th season, 53-48): Campbell has turned down numerous Power Four and NFL offers to stay at Iowa State and bounced back from a 4-8 season in 2022 to go 7-6 last season.
5. Lance Liepold, Kansas (4th season, 17-21): Liepold has taken one of the worst programs in college football and turned it into a Big 12 contender. Could 2024 be the year the Jayhawks break through?
6. Willie Fritz, Houston (1st season, 0-0): One of the most respected college football coaches in the country finally gets his chance at a Power Four school and arguably the best high school football in the country is being played in his backyard. Watch out now!
7. Sonny Dykes, TCU (3rd season, 18-9): The 2022 run to the College Football Playoff championship game seems like a lifetime ago. Check back to see where Dykes is on this list one year from now.
8. Gus Malzahn, UCF (4th season, 24-16): Malzahn should have a better go of it in 2024 with a very good and possibly great quarterback out of the transfer portal in KJ Jefferson, who started three seasons at Arkansas.
Mike Gundy, 14 years ago today: “I’M A MAN. IM 40!”pic.twitter.com/WuwGSQqZ0K
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 22, 2021
9. Kalani Sitake, BYU (9th season, 61-41): The Cougars should have been more competitive in the first year in the Big 12 but went 5-7, including a 2-7 record in league play. Sitake has been a very good coach in the past, but there could be more losing in store in 2024.
10. Joey McGuire, Texas Tech (3rd season, 15-11): McGuire has recruited like a maniac since he touched foot in Lubbock. The 2024 season could be the first time we see the fruits of those labors.
11. Neal Brown, West Virginia (6th season, 31-29): Brown went 9-4 in 2023 — a make-it or break-it year — after three losing records in his first four seasons. That WVU’s fourth-place finish last season is their highest under Brown isn’t exactly setting the world on fire and their 2024 schedule is brutal, with possibly six Top 25 teams in the first eight games.
12. Brent Brennan, Arizona (1st season, 0-0): Few first-year coaches come into better situations than Brennan does at Arizona, where he has high-level NFL prospects all over the field. Can Brennan continue the success he had at San Jose State?
13. Deion Sanders, Colorado (2nd season, 4-8): Nowhere did the Colorado coaching staff seem more lost than when they blew a 29-0 lead to Stanford at home, falling 46-43 in overtime. It was one of four games the Buffs lost by one score or less. That’s not bad luck that’s bad coaching.
14. Dave Aranda, Baylor (5th season, 23-25): Four seasons and one winning record. It’s a safe bet the Aranda era is coming to an end in Waco after the 2024 season.
15. Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati (2nd season, 3-9): Getting beat by Miami of Ohio in your first season is not the move.
16. Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State (2nd season, 3-9): The Sun Devils were bad in their final year in the Pac-12. They’re going to be even worse in the Big 12.
