Ranking the Big 12 Coaches (Part 2)

We looked at the bottom tier of Big 12 coaches on Tuesday — the unknown group. Today we look at those who still have something to prove before looking at the big dogs of the league on Thursday.

Group 2 — Something to Prove

All of these guys have been at their respective schools a few years, and probably need to show a bit more to get a long term commitment.

7. Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech

Other than a riding the Johnny Football gravy train for one year as an offensive coordinator at Texas A&M and looking like Ryan Gosling, Kliff Kingsbury really hasn’t done anything.[1. Editor’s Note: Whoa! Just blazing in with that. I love it.] In three years at Texas Tech, Kingsbury has gone 19-19. Exactly average. They unsurprisingly scored on everyone last year (Finishing 3rd in the country with 43.9 points per game), and stopped no one (125th in scoring defense, allowing a whopping 43.5 points per game).

Kingsbury has and will continue to get a long leash as a former QB and fan favorite in Lubbock, but the results haven’t matched his hype yet. As a player, Kingsbury left Lubbock with an astounding 39 school records, 13 conference records, and 7 NCAA FBS records in passing. As a coach, Kingsbury is signed through 2020, with his yearly salary eventually reaching $5.5 million per year in 2020.

6. Charlie Strong (Texas)

Strong has been a lightning rod since he arrived with sky high expectations in Austin in 2014. Quite frankly, he’s been a flop so far. He went 6-7 in his first season, at losing in the Texas Bowl. Then last season the Longhorns went 5-7, and missed a bowl for the first time since 2010. Texas is one of the premier coaching jobs in the entire country, and Strong may only have one more season to save his skin. He may have even been gone last season before a shocking victory over Oklahoma bought him more time.

Strong’s track record before Texas is in fact solid. At Louisville, Strong went 37-15, winning the Big East twice and the Sugar Bowl over Florida in 2013 in impressive fashion, 33-23. Strong was hired at Texas and expected to bring his high-powered offense to Austin to combine with a bevy of 4-star and 5-star recruits, which in theory sounded like a terrific match. However, Strong has still not found his QB yet, and his time is running out fast. If he cannot make a push for the top 3-4 in the Big 12 this year and show significant improvement, he should be gone.

5. Dana Holgorson (West Virginia)

It may surprise some to see the former Oklahoma State offensive coordinator ranked this highly, but his 36-28 record as a head coach at West Virginia is above average (even if boosted by his 10-3 record in his first year in 2011, while the Mountaineers were still in the Big East). Dana came to West Virginia originally in 2010 as the offensive coordinator and head play caller on offense, and took over the job after then HC Bill Stewart was let go. Stewart and Holgorson were known to have a strained relationship, but there is no doubt that Holgorson was and still is the future of the program.

Tomorrow — The Established Giants