Les Miles and Urban Meyer arrived in the SEC at the same time.
After the 2004 season, Miles left Oklahoma State for Louisiana State, and Meyer went from Utah to Florida. Both were home run hires. Meyer led the Gators to national championships in 2006 and 2008. Between those came LSU’s 2007 national title, orchestrated by the Mad Hatter himself.
The hirings of Miles and Meyer were sliding doors moments — not only for LSU and Florida, but also for Oklahoma State and Utah, which filled their head coaching vacancies from within.
Kyle Whittingham was named Meyer’s successor at Utah. Twenty-six days later, Mike Gundy was named head coach at OSU.
Almost 20 years later, Gundy and Whittingham are still in those jobs.
With Utah’s entry into the Big 12 , the second-and third-longest tenured coaches in college football are now in the same conference. Only Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, entering his 26th season, has held the same head coaching job for longer than Gundy and Whittingham — both of whom are in Year 20.
Today we’re ranking the best head coaches in the Big 12, and, spoiler alert, Gundy and Whittingham occupy the top-two spots. No other coach is close to matching their combined records of longevity and success.
Here are The Oklahoman’s rankings of Big 12 coaches from 16 to 1:
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16. Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State
- FBS head coaching record: 3-9
- Record at Arizona State: 3-9 (2-7 Big 12)
A lack of experience and track record is holding Dillingham down, but the 34-year-old will be a fast riser on this list if he leads a turnaround in Tempe. What would qualify as a turnaround? Any semblance of stability for what’s been a shoddy program, especially of late.
Dillingham is the youngest coach in college football, but he’s been an offensive coordinator under a few of the top minds in the game. Dillingham coached under Mike Norvell at Memphis and Florida State, under Gus Malzahn at Auburn, and most recently, under Dan Lanning at Oregon before getting the head job at his alma mater, Arizona State.
After going 3-9 last season, the Sun Devils were picked to finish last in what will be their Big 12 debut.
This is a long-term rebuilding job for which Dillingham deserves a long leash.
15. Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati
- FBS head coaching record: 75-49
- Record at Cincinnati: 3-9 (1-8, Big 12)
Satterfield won big (51-24) at Appalachian State, but everyone wins big at Appalachian State. Maybe that’s unfair, but it’s true. The Mountaineers’ success as a program predates its transition from the FCS to FBS, which Satterfield presided over.
Since leaving the peaks of Boone, North Carolina, Satterfield is 28-33 as a head coach.
After four mediocre seasons at Louisville, Satterfield fled to Cincinnati before the Cardinals could fire him. Good business on Satterfield’s part, but what was Cincinnati thinking?
The Bearcats were picked in the Big 12 preseason poll to finish 14th. That bad of a finish could be the end of Satterfield at UC.
14. Brent Brennan, Arizona
- FBS head coaching record: 34-48
- Record at Arizona: 0-0
Arizona hired a coach who went 34-48 in seven seasons at San Jose State. Doesn’t sound all that great, but this is San Jose State we’re talking about.
Brennan had the Spartans on an upward trajectory, with three bowl appearances in their last four seasons.
It’s hard to judge Brennan the coach, but it’s easy to understand Brennan the hire.
He’s a West Coast lifer, and spent one season at Arizona as a graduate assistant in 2000.
13. Dave Aranda, Baylor
- FBS head coaching record: 23-25
- Record at Baylor: 23-25 (15-21, Big 12)
Just three years removed from a 12-2 season capped by a Sugar Bowl win, Aranda might have the warmest seat of his Big 12 colleagues.
The shine of that one magical season has worn off. Aranda has had a losing record in each of his other three seasons in Waco.
It’s OK that Aranda doesn’t win press conferences, but not winning football games? He’ll get shown the door for that.
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- FBS head coaching record: 4-8
- Record at Colorado: 4-8 (1-7, Pac-12)
It’s hard to separate the coach from the character. Maybe they’re one in the same. Either way, as USA Today’s Mike Freeman wrote , Sanders’ act is wearing thin. He’s picking unnecessary fights, and what could be a mighty difficult season has yet to begin.
Sanders can clearly coach. He went 27-6 at FCS Jackson State. And winning four games in his first season at Colorado was no small feat.
Coach Prime’s biggest win is making college football fans across the country care about Colorado. How long that lasts, time will tell.
11. Neal Brown, West Virginia
- FBS head coaching record: 66-45
- Record at West Virginia: 31-29 (20-24, Big 12)
Brown needed a big year to keep his job, and he delivered.
The Mountaineers went 9-4 (6-3, Big 12), capped by a win against North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Nothing like a mayonnaise bath to celebrate a job well done.
Brown won 10-plus games in three of his four seasons at Troy, and West Virginia would have reached 10 wins had the Mountaineers not been on the wrong side of a Hail Mary at Houston.
10. Kalani Sitake, BYU
- FBS head coaching record: 61-41
- Record at BYU: 61-41 (2-7, Big 12)
BYU had a rough Year 1 in the conference, and Year 2 doesn’t figure to be much smoother, if at all.
Sitake is in no danger of losing his job — the former Cougar fullback is BYU through and through — but Sitake hasn’t matched the success of his predecessor, Bronco Mendenhall.
Mendenhall had a .697 winning percentage in 11 seasons at BYU. Sitake has a .598 winning percentage in eight seasons. Mendenhall led the Cougars to a bowl game in each of his 11 seasons. Sitake is 6 for 8 in leading the Cougars to bowl games.
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9. Joey McGuire, Texas Tech
- FBS head coaching record: 15-11
- Record at Texas Tech: 15-11 (10-8, Big 12)
Texas Tech went 5-4 in the Big 12 in both of McGuire’s first two seasons on the job.
Big whoop, right? But until McGuire came along, not since the Mike Leach days had the Red Raiders finished above .500 in conference play — much less do so in back-to-back seasons.
Matt Wells, Kliff Kingsbury and Tommy Tuberville? Twelve seasons among them. Twelve seasons of losing records in Big 12 play.
McGuire was an out-of-the-box hire who has so far paid off.
8. Willie Fritz, Houston
- FBS head coaching record: 72-54
- Record at Houston: 0-0
Post-World War II, only three coaches have coached Tulane to a better than .500 record.
Henry Frnka, who’s in Tulsa’s hall of fame, went 31-23-4 at Tulane from 1946-51.
Tommy Bowden (1997-98) went 18-4 in his two seasons before taking the Clemson job.
The third is Willie Fritz, who went 54-47 in his eight seasons at Tulane. Fritz was one win shy of tying Clark Shaughnessy for the most wins in Tulane history.
Alas, Houston hired Fritz away. And what a hire it was for the Cougars.
At 64, Fritz is the oldest coach in the conference.
7. Sonny Dykes, TCU
- FBS head coaching record: 89-72
- Record at TCU: 18-9 (12-6, Big 12)
In the 10-year history of the College Football Playoff, only 10 head coaches have led their teams to the national championship game.
Nick Saban (6), Dabo Swinney (4) and Kirby Smart (3) have multiple CFP title game appearances. Then you have names like Jim Harbaugh and Urban Meyer from the old guard, Ryan Day and Kalen DeBoer from the new.
The three remaining coaches? Mark Helfrich, Ed Orgeron and Dykes.
Orgeron coached an all-time LSU team to an undefeated record. Two seasons later, he was fired.
Helfrich led Oregon to the 2014 championship game. Two seasons later, he was fired.
Dykes will almost certainly avoid those fates. This will be his second season post title game appearance, but just third season overall at TCU. He led the Horned Frogs on that improbable run in his first season in Fort Worth.
6. Gus Malzahn, UCF
- FBS head coaching record: 101-54
- Record at UCF: 24-16 (3-6, Big 12)
Gundy has the best career winning percentage of any Big 12 coach (.678), followed closely by Whittingham.
Arthur Gustavo Malzahn III is third (.652).
Malzahn was Auburn’s coach from 2013 to 2020. He led the Tigers to the national championship game in his inaugural season. Auburn went 38-27 in SEC play in his eight years on the job.
You know what Auburn has gone in the SEC in the three seasons since it fired Malzahn? 8-16.
UCF, with its massive enrollment and convenient location, is a program to watch. Sounds crazy, but Malzahn is better off at UCF than he was at Auburn.
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5. Chris Klieman, Kansas State
- FBS head coaching record: 39-24
- Record at Kansas State: 39-24 (26-19, Big 12)
We’re only counting records at the FBS rank, but just a little reminder that Klieman went 69-6 with four FCS national championships in his five seasons at North Dakota State before taking the Kansas State job.
Klieman has proven to be an exceptional fit in Manhattan. His tough, no-nonsense brand of football is just what the Wildcats were used to under Bill Snyder.
Kansas State won the 2022 Big 12 championship. With OU and Texas out of the league, the Wildcats should be annual contenders to make it back to Arlington.
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4. Matt Campbell, Iowa State
- FBS head coaching record: 88-63
- Record at Iowa State: 53-48 (38-34, Big 12)
Campbell is three wins away from tying and four wins from passing Dan McCarney as Iowa State’s all-time winningest coach.
McCarney won 56 games over the course of 11 seasons. Campbell is likely to exceed that mark this season, his ninth at Iowa State.
Campbell has a .525 winning percentage at Iowa State. Since World War II, Earle Bruce (.529) is the only other Cyclone coach to have a winning record.
Campbell is tied with Sitake as the third longest-tenured coach in the Big 12 .
Campbell will be at Iowa State for as long as he wants to be.
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3. Lance Leipold, Kansas
- FBS head coaching record: 54-54
- Record at Iowa State: 17-21 (9-18, Big 12)
Think Leipold should be No. 1? You won’t get a strong rebuttal out of me.
There are all kinds of stats that speak to the remarkable job Leipold has done in Lawrence, but here’s my favorite: In three seasons under Leipold, Kansas has won nine Big 12 games. In the 12 seasons before his arrival, Kansas won a combined six Big 12 games! The guy has done more in three seasons than his predecessors did in a dozen.
And the arrow is still pointing up. The Jayhawks won one Big 12 game in Leipold’s first season, then three in 2022 and five in 2023.
Kansas is ranked in the preseason AP Poll for the first time since 2009 — Mark Mangino’s last year on the job.
Leipold has done the impossible in Lawrence.
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2. Kyle Whittingham, Utah
- FBS head coaching record: 162-79
- Record at Utah: 162-79 (65-48, Pac-12)
It comes down to Whittingham vs. Gundy for the top spot, so let’s just lay out the argument here.
First, their resumes are almost identical.
Whittingham is 162-79 (.672) in 19 seasons at Utah. Gundy is 166-79 (.678) in 19 seasons at OSU.
Only Ferentz at Iowa (196) and Swinney at Clemson (170) have more wins at their current schools than Gundy and Whittingham.
Whittingham had a .575 winning percentage in the Pac-12 (Utah was a member of the Mountain West in Whittingham’s first six seasons). Gundy has a .618 winning percentage in the Big 12.
Gundy has 12 bowl wins to Whittingham’s 11.
Under Gundy, OSU has finished inside the AP Top 25 10 times. Under Whittingham, Utah has finished inside the AP Top 25 eight times.
Gundy is the three-time Big 12 Coach of the Year, including last season. Whittingham also has three coach of the year awards — two in the Pac-12 and another in the Mountain West.
They’ve both coached nine consensus All-Americans.
It’s a tossup, but here’s a tiebreaker to settle it: The Big 12 has been better than the Pac-12/Mountain West over the last two decades. Gundy has had the harder job.
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1. Mike Gundy, OSU
- FBS head coaching record: 166-79
- Record at OSU: 166-79 (102-63, Big 12)
Gundy’s Big 12 record nearly matches that of another Big 12 legend: Bill Snyder.
Snyder went 104-64 (.619) in the Big 12. With three more conference wins, Gundy (102-63, .618) will pass Snyder on the Big 12’s all-time wins list. Former Sooners coach Bob Stoops occupies the top spot with 121 Big 12 wins and a staggering .807 conference winning percentage.
Gundy is far and away the greatest coach in OSU football history, and he gets the slight edge over Whittingham as the Big 12’s current No. 1 coach.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Big 12 football coach rankings 2024: Does Mike Gundy or Kyle Whittingham take top spot?
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