STORY: Big 12 Week 7 Picks: Marquee Matchups and Must-Win Games
- By T. Cobern
- Inside The Double T
- 8 Replies
RedRaiderSports - Big 12 Week 7 Picks: Marquee Matchups and Must-Win Games
Final score predictions and previews for every Big 12 game in week 7.
texastech.rivals.com
Texas Tech isn't playing, but we've got some great games this weekend!
What do you think? Let me know! Who will come out on top?
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UPDATE: Friday Flare
- By M. Clare
- Inside The Double T
- 14 Replies
congrats to the Astros for a hot start to the postseason...again
it is Friday, let's Flare...
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WEEKLY CLICKS
...a quick list of links from the various stories posted on RRS this week
Behren Morton makes first career start against Oklahoma State
Texas Tech falls to No. 7 Oklahoma State, 41-31, in Morton's debut start
Morton, McGuire speak on 41-31 loss in Stillwater
Likes & Dislikes after the loss to Oklahoma State in Stillwater
Grading the Red Raiders: OL struggles protecting Morton in Stillwater
Midterm Reports for the Red Raiders
Week 7 Big 12 Power Rankings: Kansas falls, Oklahoma alone at the bottom
Who's the midseason MVP, best group and transfer so far for Texas Tech
Texas Tech's homecoming game set for 2 p.m. start against West Virginia
Red Raiders in the NFL: 2022 Week Five
Bold Predictions for the Second Half of the Season
Texas Tech's Joey McGuire gives injury updates during bye week and more
The Notebook: Tyree Wilson & SaRodorick Thompson Speak on Adjustments
Bradley talks about his connection with Morton and love for Halloween
Tracking Former Red Raiders: McNeil, McIvor shine
Texas Tech commits and targets tracker: Week Seven
Kittley using bye week to self-scout, ready for healthy QB rotation
RRS TV: Mailbag - Bye Week Edition presented by BG Law
RRS TV: The Matador Report presented by Homefield Apparel
RRS TV: OL commit Kaden Carr
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TTU RECRUITING THIS WEEK
no new commitments this week, but the coaches were doing some recruiting during the bye week...
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The first offer to a 6-foot-5, 210-pound dual-sport athlete from Johnston, Iowa...because of course
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The first offer to a 6-foot-4, 230-pound East Texas standout, and the fact Jackson just received his first offer is somewhat surprising, the tape pops and Tyler Legacy isn't some hidden program from the Power Five
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Staying in East Texas, the Tech coaches were offer No. 4 for the 5-foot-11, 210-pound running back who scored four (4) times in his last game
the coaches are hitting the road during the bye week and the program shared graphics for the majority of the coaching staff, including info on where they are going
@B. Golan recapped in a board thread that includes details on the targets and potential targets at each stop, follow along here and we will update throughout the weekend
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BYE-WEEK & MIDSEASON RESET
ok, the Red Raiders are 3-3 on the season after playing five (5) nationally ranked programs. Joey McGuire talked about defending the Jones a lot in the offseason, and the Red Raiders have done just that - going 3-0 at home this season compared to 0-3 on the road.
looking at the remaining schedule, the Red Raiders will play four (4) more home games to finish the season - hosting West Virginia, Baylor, Kansas and Oklahoma
the remaining road games are @TCU - arguably a quazi 'home game' for the Red Raiders - and @Iowa State
here is how I see the second half of the season shaking out...
WVU - win
Baylor - win
@TCU - loss
Kansas - win
@Iowa State - loss
Oklahoma - win
the potential is there for one of these home games to turn into a close, wild, what-the-hell type of game that ends in a brutal loss...but I really like the timing of the bye week and it feels like this Texas Tech team is good enough to continue defending the Jones, regardless of who plays QB
the TCU game can obviously go either way and I'm not a 'buyer' of TCU, but the road has not been kind to this Texas Tech team and it should be a great game
on the road in Aimes has not been kind to Red Raider teams in recent history, the last road win for the Red Raiders coming in 2014...so although the Cyclones are not very good this season, the game seems like a tricky spot at the moment
odds are my guesses will be wrong, but six (6) wins seems easily obtainable and it feels like something would have to go horribly wrong for the Red Raiders to only win two (2) of these remaining six (6) games left of the schedule
7-5 at the end of the regular season, then call in the bulldozers and update the Jones
thoughts?
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PICK-A-PLAYER TTU JERSEYS
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the custom Texas Tech jerseys from Fanatics are officially here for the Red Raiders, and this is follows a trend in College Football where a percentage of the sales go to the players themselves - something that could prove pretty profitable for a standout player, imagine the check a Mahomes or any other popular TTU player over the past 10-20 years could have cashed
from the product description...
The jersey will be customized with the name and number you pick from the Name, Image and Likeness roster
if you or the kids are looking for a new Tech UA jersey, then make sure to order one of these and support a Texas Tech athlete
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BIG 12 POWER RANKINGS
no need to rank the conference anymore, Quinn Ewers was back and Texas is the best team ever...once again
1. Oklahoma State
The No. 8 Pokes tried to give away a home game to your Red Raiders last weekend, but to their credit, the Cowboys won a game they might have easily dropped in years past. Every team has to win ugly games sometimes and it sets up OkState for a road game against the No. 13 TCU Horned Frogs in Fort Worth, a matchup of the Big 12 conference's undefeated teams. They will have to play very well on defense and drum up some turnovers, because this could easily turn into a shootout on offense where the last to score wins the game.
2. TCU
The No. 13 Horned Frogs are scoring an average of 46.4 points per game through five (5) games on offense and they passed a tough road test against Kansas this past weekend. Most everyone believed the game last weekend was the 'prove it' game, but this weekends home game against the No. 8 Oklahoma State Cowboys could be a real opportunity for TCU to really grab the attention of the national media. This matchup and game is puzzling, because I still do not believe this TCU team has truly been tested and the same could be argued for their opponent (OkState). Max Duggen is playing very well at quarterback for Dykes and TCU, he could be the biggest difference in the game this weekend with his ability to scramble and score on any given play.
3. Texas
Yes, it was a reeling Oklahoma team, but rivalry games are rivalry games and anything can happen. Shutting out your rival in a complete domination of a game is always going to attract attention, and not just for the darlings of the media in Austin. This Texas team is much different with Quinn Ewers at quarterback, the former five-star prospect is living up to the longtime hype and it feels like the Longhorns could run the table with a healthy Ewers. Now, they could just as easily drop a game they aren't supposed to and fall back down the list, and a road game against No. 8 Oklahoma State is on deck after a home game against Iowa State this weekend. Like every other team in this conference, the Longhorns face a challenging backhalf of the schedule that features three (3) road games against nationally ranked programs, so there is a lot of work left for Ewers and his team...but they do look drastically different with the dyed blond mullet running the show.
4. Kansas
That was a brutal loss at home for the Cinderella Jayhawks, not only did they lose the game, Kansas also lost their starting quarterback. There were reports that Daniels will miss the remainder of the season, but those were quickly rebutted and now we are reading he could return later this season. We know that song and dance, similar to saying Shough could return later this season with no promise that he actually does return. Kansas deserves a ton of credit though, they continued to fight and had an opportunity to win the game despite losing Daniels to injury. The Jayhawks are nationally ranked and have been a story in this first half of the CFB season, but they go on the road with a backup quarterback to play a very hungry Oklahoma team this weekend and could slide down this list with a loss.
5. Kansas State
A 10-9 win sounds like an MLB wild card game final score, but no that was the final score for the Wildcats' road win against Iowa State last weekend. A win is a win and the Wildcats sit at the top of the conference standings with a 3-0 record in conference play. Like your Red Raiders, Kansas State is on a bye this week and return to action against TCU on the road next weekend and finish the month at home against Oklahoma State. This team was a preseason pick to win the conference, so the next few weeks will be very important in terms of what this team can or cannot be this season in the Big 12 conference.
6. Texas Tech
The Red Raiders enter the bye week with a 3-3 record on the season, three (3) wins at home and three (3) losses on the road. In the first half of the Joey McGuire tenure, we have seen an aggressive approach from the coaching staff and a competitive team in every game. The losses on the road, against the current No. 15, No. 8 and No. 17 ranked teams in the nation, were all games where the Red Raiders were in the game well into the 4th quarter. Texas Tech lost these games by 10 points on average and that is enough to provide hope for the second half of the season. The offense has played three (3) different quarterbacks and that usually means a team is losing games, missing players, etc. With four (4) home games remaining, the Red Raiders have a real shot at winning six (6) games and bowling in year one of the Joey McGuire era.
7. Baylor
The Bears dropped a wild game in Morgantown last night, but I still have them above West Virginia here in the rankings because of this...would you like to play West Virginia in Morgantown on a Thursday night? Yeah, no way, I imagine that place was rocking last night. That being said, the Bears should have been better than West Virginia in every perceivable category, but they gave up 43 points and turned over the football several times in this game. Like the Red Raiders, Baylor is 3-3 overall and 1-2 in conference play, they host Baylor next weekend and then travel to Lubbock for a sold out game at the Jones against Texas Tech.
8. West Virginia
After a rough start to the season, the Mountaineers won a big home game against Baylor last night and now sit at 3-3 overall and 1-2 in conference play. Inconsistent play has plauged this West Virginia team and the remaining schedule will be crucial for former Tech OC and WVU head coach Neil Brown. They travel to Lubbock next weekend to play your Red Raiders, then they host TCU in Morgantown to finish the month of October.
9. Oklahoma
Nobody here will feel bad for Oklahoma, nor should they. The Sooners have dominated the Big 12 conference for years, easily penciled in as the conference champion in most years, Sooner fans were offended that other teams were being picked to win the conference in the preseason. They were jaded by Lincoln Riley leaving for USC, they celebrated Venables coming in and were ready for something new, something exciting. The Sooners were dismantled and embarrassed in a rivalry game against Texas, getting shutout 49-0. They will host No. 19 Kansas this weekend, still seeking their first conference win this season. The Oklahoma defense is nearly non-existent, giving up an average of 48 points in their last three (3) games against Kansas State, TCU and Texas.
10. Iowa State
The Cyclones really miss Brock Purdy and his production at the quarterback position. Iowa State is playing good on defense and simply cannot score against teams with a pulse, which does not feel like a recipe for success in this Big 12 conference. It doesn't get any easier as they travel to Austin for a game against the now No. 22 Texas Longhorns, then the Cyclones finish the month with a home game against Oklahoma. Matt Campbell and his team can figure things out on offense, and Aimes is a very difficult place for opponents to play, so we aren't burying the Cyclones...but it does not look good with the remaining schedule and very little points on offense.
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have a great weekend everyone!
The Athletic: The Big 12's best, worst and most surprising football coaching hires
- Inside The Double T
- 7 Replies
It's behind The Athletic's paywall, so this is a freebie. And I'm doing so to remind The Athletic is BY FAR the best sports website out there, and maybe the cheapest
They have been doing a weeklong series of stories on College Football Coaching Carousel. The story on the hiring of Nick Saban was tremendous. They've also done the best, worst and most surprising football hires of each Power 5 conference since 2000. Here's the Big 12:
This Big 12 coaching carousel exercise goes back to 2000. Who was the league’s best coaching hire since then? What about the worst? Who hasn’t been a Big 12 head coach but should be? The Athletic’s Sam Khan Jr., Max Olson and Chris Vannini gathered to discuss.
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Vannini: Matt Campbell, Iowa State. It can’t be emphasized enough just how unprecedented Campbell’s sustained success has been in Ames. When Iowa State finished with an 8-1 Big 12 record in 2020, it was first time since 1912 that the Cyclones had the best record in their conference. Campbell accounts for five of the 21 seasons with at least seven wins in school history. He has the highest win percentage of any ISU coach since at least 1928, and he’s 11 wins away from tying the school record. He’s the only coach in program history to beat every conference mate at home and on the road. In a conference with a good history of hiring coaches, Campbell’s run relative to a school’s history is remarkable.
Is Mike Gundy the right call as the Big 12’s best hire since 2000? (Nathan J Fish / USA Today Network)
Olson: I recognize that promoting from within is not near as challenging as executing a successful coaching search, and that should be an important factor in this answer. Still, I arrived at the same conclusion as Sam: You can make the strongest case for Gundy. It’s tough to build a winner in college football, and it’s a whole lot tougher to sustain success. Oklahoma State is one of just three FBS programs that has played in 16 consecutive bowl games and had 16 consecutive winning seasons, which really says it all. No other coach in program history had more than three Top 25 finishes. Gundy has 10. Among the many Big 12 coaches who’ve had a transformative impact on their schools during this 20-year period, it’s hard to beat Gundy.
Khan: When Max and I ranked the all-time Big 12 hires last year, the bottom of the list was basically distinguishing which Kansas hire was the worst. There were plenty to choose from, including Weis, Miles and Turner Gill. But I agree with Chris: It’s Weis. The junior college transfer emphasis was sparked in large part by the fact that Weis ran off 29 players in his first year. When asked ahead of his second season how he was able to recruit players despite a poor record, he said he told recruits: “Have you looked at that pile of crap out there? Have you taken a look at that? So if you don’t think you can play here, where do you think you can play? It’s a pretty simple approach. And that’s not a sales pitch. That’s practical. You’ve seen it, right? Unfortunately, so have I.”
Olson: For me, it’s Kansas hiring Miles. That was a bizarre tenure from start to finish. Miles had been out of the business for two years when athletic director Jeff Long convinced him to give up his burgeoning acting career and lead the program. The coach who took over Kansas in 2019 was not the same coach who won a national title at LSU in 2007. It was an irresponsible hire that was doomed to fail, and the Jayhawks lost 18 of 21 games during his two-season stint.
Vannini: Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia. This is technically a Big East hire, but I’m going to count it, and this is mostly about the nature of Holgorsen’s hire. After eight years as a Texas Tech assistant and two as Houston’s offensive coordinator, Holgorsen was hired at West Virginia as offensive coordinator and head coach-in-waiting in 2011, with announced plans to replace Bill Stewart as head coach the next season. This was back when coach-in-waiting was en vogue, and nearly all of them didn’t work out. The relationship between Holgorsen and Stewart got very messy very quickly, and Stewart was forced to resign before the season, with Holgorsen taking over.
Khan: Texas Tech hiring Tommy Tuberville seemed like a strange fit from the start. Tuberville was out of coaching when Tech hired him and spent 14 years coaching SEC ball before that. He had a solid track record, going 85-40 at Auburn, including a 13-0 season in 2004, but he had never coached in the Big 12 and spent only one year coaching in the state of Texas before taking the Tech job (Tuberville was Texas A&M’s defensive coordinator in 1994). He lasted just three seasons and went 20-17 before he left recruits at a dinner to take the Cincinnati job.
Tom Herman looked like a perfect fit for the Longhorns … at first. But UT moved to replace him with Steve Sarkisian in January 2021. (Kirby Lee / USA Today)
Vannini: Herman took Houston to a Peach Bowl win and signed a five-star player with the Cougars, and he was the hot name in the 2016-17 hiring cycle. Herman spurned LSU to take the Texas job with much fanfare. It wasn’t a disastrous tenure by any means — a 32-18 record, three Top 25 finishes and four bowl wins, including a Sugar Bowl over Georgia. But he went 1-4 against Oklahoma, 1-3 against TCU, 0-2 against Maryland and 2-2 against Iowa State. He lost too many games he couldn’t lose, and it felt like Texas was stuck a level below the elite, playing in only one Big 12 championship game.
Olson: No debate from me. By the end of Herman’s second year, it seemed like Texas was heading in the right direction in a lot of ways. Kliff Kingsbury’s tenure at Texas Tech is another one that comes to mind. He was able to build top-five scoring offenses around Patrick Mahomes in 2015 and 2016. Bottom-five scoring defenses made it impossible for the Red Raiders to win big in those years. I still believed Kingsbury could get it turned from there as the defense improved, but he just couldn’t win enough Big 12 games to buy himself more time.
Khan: None of the successful Big 12 hires have really surprised me, but how quickly Rhule and Kansas’ Lance Leipold got their situations turned around did. Seeing what Rhule did at Temple convinced me he was a good coach, and though he wasn’t familiar with Texas, I thought that experience would serve him well in rebuilding Baylor. It did, but I didn’t expect the Bears to play for the Big 12 title and win 11 games in Year 3. Leipold’s track record as a builder speaks for itself, but Kansas has been in such dire straits for so long that I figured it would take much longer, especially considering how late in the 2021 cycle Leipold took the job. But here we are, in Year 2, with Kansas needing just one win to get to a bowl and still very much in the Big 12 race.
Olson: I agree on Rhule. Another hire that comes to mind is Kansas State bringing Bill Snyder out of retirement after the 2008 season. The program had endured four losing seasons in five years. It wasn’t surprising that Snyder knew how to turn things around, but winning 10 games within three years and a Big 12 title within four was truly remarkable, as was the sustained success of eight consecutive bowl games. Devoting another decade to the program and winning at that level in his 70s? A second act doesn’t get more impressive.
Vannini: Todd Graham. He was a Texas high school coach for more than a decade, building Allen into a powerhouse, and he was a college head coach at five different stops. Only one of those years came in Texas (Rice in 2006). He also coached at Tulsa, Pitt, Arizona State and Hawaii. His career success is mixed, and the end of his tenure at Hawaii will make it hard for him to get another head coaching job, but it’s a surprise he never found himself as a Big 12 head coach.
Khan: Bill Bedenbaugh. Oklahoma’s offensive line coach has been in the conference for 16-plus years as an assistant, has worked under former Big 12 head coaches Stoops, Lincoln Riley, Mike Leach and Holgorsen, and is well-versed in the air raid offense, once a staple of the conference. He’s been a Broyles Award finalist, his offensive line has won the Joe Moore Award and he’s been named one of the nation’s top recruiters multiple times. Maybe it’s because schools don’t often seek out offensive line coaches for head coaching positions, but Bedenbaugh’s resume is solid.
Editor’s note: This story is part of the 2022 edition of the Secrets of the Coaching Carousel series exploring unique aspects of college football coaching changes and more.
(Top photo of Patrick Mahomes and Kliff Kingsbury: John Weast / Getty Images)
They have been doing a weeklong series of stories on College Football Coaching Carousel. The story on the hiring of Nick Saban was tremendous. They've also done the best, worst and most surprising football hires of each Power 5 conference since 2000. Here's the Big 12:
This Big 12 coaching carousel exercise goes back to 2000. Who was the league’s best coaching hire since then? What about the worst? Who hasn’t been a Big 12 head coach but should be? The Athletic’s Sam Khan Jr., Max Olson and Chris Vannini gathered to discuss.
Who was the best hire in the Big 12 since 2000?
Khan: Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State. Although it was Les Miles who changed the trajectory of Cowboys football — the program had 11 losing seasons in 12 years before Miles was hired in 2001 and went 28-21 in his four years — Gundy elevated the program even higher and has become a model of consistency. He’s 154-69 in his 18-year tenure, with OSU winning the Big 12 in 2011 and claiming two Fiesta Bowls. Gundy has taken the Pokes to a bowl every year since 2006. They have won at least eight games 12 times since 2008 and at least 10 games seven times in that span. The program is well-positioned to lead the future Big 12 when Oklahoma and Texas depart, though Oklahoma State is already playing at that level, making the Big 12 title game in 2021 and looking like a serious contender to win the league this season.ADVERTISEMENT
Vannini: Matt Campbell, Iowa State. It can’t be emphasized enough just how unprecedented Campbell’s sustained success has been in Ames. When Iowa State finished with an 8-1 Big 12 record in 2020, it was first time since 1912 that the Cyclones had the best record in their conference. Campbell accounts for five of the 21 seasons with at least seven wins in school history. He has the highest win percentage of any ISU coach since at least 1928, and he’s 11 wins away from tying the school record. He’s the only coach in program history to beat every conference mate at home and on the road. In a conference with a good history of hiring coaches, Campbell’s run relative to a school’s history is remarkable.
Is Mike Gundy the right call as the Big 12’s best hire since 2000? (Nathan J Fish / USA Today Network)
Olson: I recognize that promoting from within is not near as challenging as executing a successful coaching search, and that should be an important factor in this answer. Still, I arrived at the same conclusion as Sam: You can make the strongest case for Gundy. It’s tough to build a winner in college football, and it’s a whole lot tougher to sustain success. Oklahoma State is one of just three FBS programs that has played in 16 consecutive bowl games and had 16 consecutive winning seasons, which really says it all. No other coach in program history had more than three Top 25 finishes. Gundy has 10. Among the many Big 12 coaches who’ve had a transformative impact on their schools during this 20-year period, it’s hard to beat Gundy.
What was the worst hire?
Vannini: Charlie Weis, Kansas. We all know Kansas football has struggled for a long time and for most of its history, but Weis’ tenure set the program back so much further. He went 6-22 in less than two seasons and 1-18 in Big 12 play. His emphasis on junior college recruiting destroyed any sense of roster balance, and when those players graduated or left for other reasons, the next head coach, David Beaty, took over an impossible situation. For years, the Jayhawks couldn’t get close to the 85 allotted scholarships due to recruiting class sizes, and they had no shot at being competitive. Oh, and Weis took home more than $5 million in buyout money. Just a disastrous hire in every sense.Khan: When Max and I ranked the all-time Big 12 hires last year, the bottom of the list was basically distinguishing which Kansas hire was the worst. There were plenty to choose from, including Weis, Miles and Turner Gill. But I agree with Chris: It’s Weis. The junior college transfer emphasis was sparked in large part by the fact that Weis ran off 29 players in his first year. When asked ahead of his second season how he was able to recruit players despite a poor record, he said he told recruits: “Have you looked at that pile of crap out there? Have you taken a look at that? So if you don’t think you can play here, where do you think you can play? It’s a pretty simple approach. And that’s not a sales pitch. That’s practical. You’ve seen it, right? Unfortunately, so have I.”
Olson: For me, it’s Kansas hiring Miles. That was a bizarre tenure from start to finish. Miles had been out of the business for two years when athletic director Jeff Long convinced him to give up his burgeoning acting career and lead the program. The coach who took over Kansas in 2019 was not the same coach who won a national title at LSU in 2007. It was an irresponsible hire that was doomed to fail, and the Jayhawks lost 18 of 21 games during his two-season stint.
Most surprising hire?
Olson: We’ve already written plenty about how Nebraska ended up hiring Bill Callahan in 2004, so let me throw another one out there. Did I think on the morning of Jan. 2, 2021, that Texas was about to replace Tom Herman with Steve Sarkisian? No way. The news that Herman was out, weeks after AD Chris Del Conte said he’d return for another year, was surprising enough. Finding out minutes later that Texas already had its next coach lined up and that it was Sarkisian, whose name hadn’t been rumored for the job at all, was seriously stunning. Of course, there was another layer of surprise underneath it all: The people making those decisions were eyeing a move to the SEC. So yeah, all in all, that one was pretty unexpected.Vannini: Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia. This is technically a Big East hire, but I’m going to count it, and this is mostly about the nature of Holgorsen’s hire. After eight years as a Texas Tech assistant and two as Houston’s offensive coordinator, Holgorsen was hired at West Virginia as offensive coordinator and head coach-in-waiting in 2011, with announced plans to replace Bill Stewart as head coach the next season. This was back when coach-in-waiting was en vogue, and nearly all of them didn’t work out. The relationship between Holgorsen and Stewart got very messy very quickly, and Stewart was forced to resign before the season, with Holgorsen taking over.
Khan: Texas Tech hiring Tommy Tuberville seemed like a strange fit from the start. Tuberville was out of coaching when Tech hired him and spent 14 years coaching SEC ball before that. He had a solid track record, going 85-40 at Auburn, including a 13-0 season in 2004, but he had never coached in the Big 12 and spent only one year coaching in the state of Texas before taking the Tech job (Tuberville was Texas A&M’s defensive coordinator in 1994). He lasted just three seasons and went 20-17 before he left recruits at a dinner to take the Cincinnati job.
Hire you are most surprised didn’t work out?
Khan: I could have been convinced to bet large sums of money in November 2016 that Tom Herman would take Texas to the College Football Playoff by the end of his tenure. It seemed like a home run. He had history there, spending time as a graduate assistant under Mack Brown. He spent most of his career either working in or recruiting players from the state of Texas. He won a national title as an offensive coordinator at Ohio State and he went 22-4 at Houston, with teams that played hard, with an edge and shined against Top 25 competition. Adding Texas’ brand and resources felt like a no-brainer recipe for success, but the program couldn’t maintain the momentum it built off the 2018 Sugar Bowl win. The 2019 recruiting class, which ranked third when it signed, turned out to be a disaster. And losing some key recruits late in his tenure, as well as the “Eyes of Texas” controversy, certainly didn’t help matters.
Tom Herman looked like a perfect fit for the Longhorns … at first. But UT moved to replace him with Steve Sarkisian in January 2021. (Kirby Lee / USA Today)
Vannini: Herman took Houston to a Peach Bowl win and signed a five-star player with the Cougars, and he was the hot name in the 2016-17 hiring cycle. Herman spurned LSU to take the Texas job with much fanfare. It wasn’t a disastrous tenure by any means — a 32-18 record, three Top 25 finishes and four bowl wins, including a Sugar Bowl over Georgia. But he went 1-4 against Oklahoma, 1-3 against TCU, 0-2 against Maryland and 2-2 against Iowa State. He lost too many games he couldn’t lose, and it felt like Texas was stuck a level below the elite, playing in only one Big 12 championship game.
Olson: No debate from me. By the end of Herman’s second year, it seemed like Texas was heading in the right direction in a lot of ways. Kliff Kingsbury’s tenure at Texas Tech is another one that comes to mind. He was able to build top-five scoring offenses around Patrick Mahomes in 2015 and 2016. Bottom-five scoring defenses made it impossible for the Red Raiders to win big in those years. I still believed Kingsbury could get it turned from there as the defense improved, but he just couldn’t win enough Big 12 games to buy himself more time.
Hire you are most surprised did work out?
Vannini: Matt Rhule, Baylor. Coming out of the sexual assault scandal under Art Briles, Baylor hired Rhule, a New Yorker who was leading the Temple program in Philadelphia. There were no Texas ties. It was a completely odd fit from a cultural standpoint, and it was a surprise Rhule would take over a program in such disarray and facing potential NCAA penalties — a seven-year contract emphasized the difficulty of the situation. But Rhule immediately jumped into the Texas high school ranks, hiring several coaches to his staff and embracing the association, something every college coach in the state must do. Within three years, Rhule took Baylor from 11 losses to 11 wins. Even after taking an NFL job with the Carolina Panthers, he showed up to the Texas High School Coaches Association gathering at the AFCA convention. A Yankee came to Texas and became one of its own. Can’t say I saw that coming.Khan: None of the successful Big 12 hires have really surprised me, but how quickly Rhule and Kansas’ Lance Leipold got their situations turned around did. Seeing what Rhule did at Temple convinced me he was a good coach, and though he wasn’t familiar with Texas, I thought that experience would serve him well in rebuilding Baylor. It did, but I didn’t expect the Bears to play for the Big 12 title and win 11 games in Year 3. Leipold’s track record as a builder speaks for itself, but Kansas has been in such dire straits for so long that I figured it would take much longer, especially considering how late in the 2021 cycle Leipold took the job. But here we are, in Year 2, with Kansas needing just one win to get to a bowl and still very much in the Big 12 race.
Olson: I agree on Rhule. Another hire that comes to mind is Kansas State bringing Bill Snyder out of retirement after the 2008 season. The program had endured four losing seasons in five years. It wasn’t surprising that Snyder knew how to turn things around, but winning 10 games within three years and a Big 12 title within four was truly remarkable, as was the sustained success of eight consecutive bowl games. Devoting another decade to the program and winning at that level in his 70s? A second act doesn’t get more impressive.
Coach you are surprised has never been a Big 12 head coach
Olson: I always thought Nick Saban would end up being the head coach of Texas. Nah, just kidding. A year ago, my answer to this would’ve been Sonny Dykes. Now that he’s off the list, perhaps it’s Tulane’s Willie Fritz? I could see him coaching in the Big 12 someday, especially if one of the more Midwestern jobs were to open up again. Here’s another one who’s interesting to think about: If Bob Stoops hadn’t fired Josh Heupel and sent his career off on a different path, does the Oklahoma assistant eventually land his first head coaching job in the Big 12? I don’t think that hypothetical is all that wild.Vannini: Todd Graham. He was a Texas high school coach for more than a decade, building Allen into a powerhouse, and he was a college head coach at five different stops. Only one of those years came in Texas (Rice in 2006). He also coached at Tulsa, Pitt, Arizona State and Hawaii. His career success is mixed, and the end of his tenure at Hawaii will make it hard for him to get another head coaching job, but it’s a surprise he never found himself as a Big 12 head coach.
Khan: Bill Bedenbaugh. Oklahoma’s offensive line coach has been in the conference for 16-plus years as an assistant, has worked under former Big 12 head coaches Stoops, Lincoln Riley, Mike Leach and Holgorsen, and is well-versed in the air raid offense, once a staple of the conference. He’s been a Broyles Award finalist, his offensive line has won the Joe Moore Award and he’s been named one of the nation’s top recruiters multiple times. Maybe it’s because schools don’t often seek out offensive line coaches for head coaching positions, but Bedenbaugh’s resume is solid.
Editor’s note: This story is part of the 2022 edition of the Secrets of the Coaching Carousel series exploring unique aspects of college football coaching changes and more.
(Top photo of Patrick Mahomes and Kliff Kingsbury: John Weast / Getty Images)
HOOPS: ESPN Top Coaches prediction for each conference (SIAP)
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Big 12 Conference
Mark Adams, Texas Tech Red RaidersThe reigning Associated Press Big 12 Coach of the Year could win the award again, despite adding nine new players -- including transfers Fardaws Aimaq (18.9 PPG, 13.6 RPG at Utah Valley) and De'Vion Harmon (10.8 PPG at Oregon) -- because the former junior college coach is so comfortable with change.
Top Competition: Scott Drew, Baylor Bears
Two years after leading the Bears to their first national title in school history, Drew could very well take his group -- with veterans Adam Flagler (13.8 PPG) and LJ Cryer (13.5 PPG) joining five-star recruit and projected lottery pick Keyonte George -- on another run.
Sizing up the coach of the year races in all 32 Division I college basketball conferences
Predicting the best coaches before the season even begins.
