College Football 2025: Big 12 Head Coach Rankings

Power rankings often highlight the teams on the field, but here the focus shifts to the men on the sidelines. Ranking coaches is subjective, blending past achievements with current performance, yet their influence is impossible to ignore. Coaching shapes how programs compete in the present, how they are built for the future, and even how you approach betting outcomes.

From proven winners and long-time stalwarts like Utah’s Kyle Whittingham and Kansas State’s Chris Klieman to more recent league additions with strong pedigrees and intriguing potential such as Willie Fritz and Deion Sanders, the Big 12’s coaching depth is as competitive and volatile as the teams themselves.

Here is how the Big 12 coaches stack up through a Sandman Sports lens:

1) Kyle Whittingham – Utah (3-1, 0-1)

Utah under Whittingham remains a model of continuity and results. Entering his 21st season as head coach, he has compiled a 167–86 record with 11 bowl victories, tied for the most of active coaches, and back-to-back Pac-12 conference titles in 2021–22 before Utah’s move into the Big 12. It is evidence that his build-and-develop blueprint sustains across leagues and cycles.

2) Chris Klieman – Kansas State (1-3, 0-1)

Despite the slow start, we cannot ignore the fact that Klieman’s résumé blends hardware and stability. He captured the 2022 Big 12 Championship in an overtime classic vs. TCU and sits at 48–28 through six seasons at Kansas State, the second-most wins in school history over that span, while posting five 8+ win campaigns. The profile, plus frequent top-10 pelts, keeps the Wildcats in the annual title conversation.

3) Lance Leipold – Kansas (3-1, 1-0)

Kansas’ transformation is measurable and institutionally supported. The Jayhawks snapped a long bowl drought by beating UNLV 49–36 to finish 9–4 in 2023, then extended Leipold on a contract reported at more than $7 million AAV, signaling alignment between on-field gains and off-field commitment.

4) Kalani Sitake – BYU (3-0, 0-0)

BYU’s second Big 12 season validated Sitake’s build. After a 5–7 (2–7 Big 12) debut in 2023, the Cougars surged to 11–2 in 2024 and pounded my Buffs 36–14 in the Alamo Bowl, finishing No. 13 in the final AP poll after being picked 13th in the 2024 Big 12 preseason media poll. The jump reflected cleaner situational defense and improved line play that traveled. The 2025 start has leaned on a balanced run game and efficient quarterback play.

5) Matt Campbell – Iowa State (4-0, 1-0)

Iowa State set a new bar with its first 11-win season in 2024, sealed by a 42–41 Pop-Tarts Bowl comeback over Miami, and Campbell notched career win No. 100 in the Aer Lingus Classic on August 23, 2025. Late-game execution and defensive resilience have become repeatable traits. The Cyclones are off to an intimidating start, and I like them over visiting Arizona this weekend.

6) Sonny Dykes – TCU (3-0, 0-0)

Dykes brings Texas roots and a quarterback-first build to Fort Worth. A Big Spring, Texas native and the son of longtime Texas Tech head coach Spike Dykes, Sonny’s path ran through head jobs at Louisiana Tech, Cal, and SMU before taking over at TCU in late 2021. His debut season in purple remains the calling card: TCU went 13–2 in 2022, beat Michigan 51–45 in the CFP semifinal, and reached the national title game while Dykes collected a sweep of national Coach of the Year honors, including the Eddie Robinson Award and Paul “Bear” Bryant Award.

Tactically, Dykes leans into tempo and vertical stress with heavy portal usage at WR/QB, then asks his defense to play fast behind complementary leads. When the quarterback play is stable, the whole profile clicks. Off to a strong start, TCU looks like a 2025 threat.

7) Rich Rodriguez – West Virginia (2-2, 0-1)

Rodriguez’s return to Morgantown (December 2024) came after a winding, high-profile run that included Michigan, Arizona, Ole Miss, Louisiana–Monroe, and Jacksonville State, where he helped steer the FCS to FBS transition and won the New Orleans Bowl in 2023. The throughline is his spread-option DNA and quarterback run/conflict targeting, which fit WVU’s identity. Early roster work has prioritized the line of scrimmage and value at quarterback. The next step is reestablishing explosive run rate while the defense tightens third-down efficiency.

8) Joey McGuire – Texas Tech (4-0, 1-0)

With a pristine record going into a bye in Week 5, McGuire’s rebuild is now a brand: relentless recruiting inside Texas, developmental depth at EDGE, and enough offensive pace to pressure secondaries even as personnel cycles. After back-to-back winning league records in 2022–23, Tech leveled up in 2024 with a 6–3 Big 12 mark and has opened 2025 with a 4–0 start, capped by a statement 34–10 road win at Utah.

The operational piece, including aggressive fourth-down math and game-state awareness, continues to be a weekly edge. The fact that McGuire sits at No. 8 in these rankings speaks to the depth of the good coaching in this conference.

9) Willie Fritz – Houston (3-0, 1-0)

Hired in December 2023, Fritz inherited a roster coming off a rough Big 12 debut and went 4-8 (3–6 Big 12) in 2024 before opening 2025 at 3–0, including a 36–20 league win over Colorado. His calling cards have carried over from Tulane: mistake-averse offense, special-teams execution, and field-position discipline. Houston is one of a handful of FBS teams with zero turnovers through three games and a +6 margin this fall. For 2025 he upgraded quarterback play with Conner Weigman and leaned into ball security and takeaways after last year’s sluggish offense.

10) Dave Aranda – Baylor (2-2, 0-1)

Aranda, hired in January 2020, delivered Baylor’s 2021 Big 12 title and a 21–7 Sugar Bowl win behind a havoc-driven defense, then hit turbulence from 2022–24. Entering this week, Baylor sits at .500 overall. Aranda’s strength remains defensive structure (multiple fronts, simulated pressure) and game-plan specificity. The task now is stabilizing offense and turnover margins since the 2021 peak.

11) Scott Frost – UCF (3-0, 0-0)

Frost engineered UCF’s 13–0 season in 2017, capped by a Peach Bowl win, before returning to Orlando on a five-year deal through 2029. Year 1 of the reunion is about re-establishing tempo and identity at a Big 12 line-of-scrimmage standard. UCF opened 2025 at 230 with wins over Jacksonville State, North Carolina A&T, and UNC, showing improved quarterback efficiency and pace. The rebuild aims to pair Frost’s QB development with better short yardage and pass protection after back-to-back losing seasons under the prior regime.

12) Deion Sanders – Colorado (2-2, 0-1)

Colorado’s 9-4 finish and AP No. 25 ranking in 2024 represented substantial progress even with the Alamo Bowl loss to BYU. Sanders’ health battle adds important context: after two toe amputations in 2022 and vascular surgeries in 2023, he revealed in 2025 that he had battled aggressive bladder cancer, underwent major surgery, and is now cancer-free.

To rise in these rankings, the path is straightforward: stack top-15 finishes and contend for the league title. The jury is still out on whether or not Coach Prime is the right guy to bring that home.

13) Brent Brennan – Arizona (3-0, 0-0)

Brennan arrived in January 2024 with a culture-first, development-driven approach built at San José State and then undertook a significant roster reset to meet Big 12 line-of-scrimmage demands. Early 2025 indicators in efficiency, penalties, and depth suggest progress toward stability.

14) Kenny Dillingham – Arizona State (3-1, 1-0)

Dillingham, hired at age 32 and among the youngest FBS head coaches at the time, came to Tempe with a modern offensive pedigree and in-state recruiting gravity. With two full cycles, Arizona State’s roster shows better balance and a defined identity. The next step is translating momentum into sustained Big 12 contention.

15) Scott Satterfield – Cincinnati (2-1, 0-0)

The Big 12 climb has been uneven, but the broader résumé travels: three Sun Belt titles at Appalachian State, a 4–1 bowl record overall, and ACC Coach of the Year honors in 2019 at Louisville. Cincinnati’s pathway under Satterfield remains familiar: defensive reliability, portal hits at quarterback, and incremental offensive efficiency gains to flip one-score games.

16) Doug Meacham (Interim) – Oklahoma State (1-2, 0-0)

Oklahoma State fired Mike Gundy earlier this week, ending his 21-year run amid an 11-losses-in-12-games slide that stretched from late 2024 into this season. Doug Meacham, an alum and offensive coordinator, was named interim head coach.

The program cited a need to recommit to championship standards, resetting one of the league’s most stable chairs. Gundy leaves as the program’s all-time wins leader with 170–90, 18 straight winning seasons, eight 10-win campaigns, and 10 AP Top 25 finishes. The interim tag necessarily places OSU at the bottom until a permanent hire clarifies direction.

How Can Coach Rankings Influence Your Wager?

If I am betting a Big 12 game, this ranking is my tiebreaker for close spreads. Coaches in the top tier (Whittingham, Klieman, Leipold) get extra trust in one-score, late-game situations, or in live markets when win probability swings on fourth-down choices and timeout discipline.

Mid-tier builders (Sitake, Campbell, Dykes) earn props and derivative looks for wagers like team totals and second-half lines because their identities (defense, adjustments, tempo) are consistent week to week. Programs with new regimes or an interim (UCF under Frost early, Oklahoma State with Meacham) introduce volatility; I will price in a wider range of outcomes and either demand a better number or pivot to unders and first halves until data stabilizes.

As for Colorado under Deion Sanders, the ranking says respect the ceiling but price the variance. I will target matchup-specific plays such as passing yardage props or explosive plays, rather than paying a premium for the full-game side unless the trenches matchup clearly favors CU. After the Buffs’ convincing Week 4 win against Wyoming, with quarterback Kaiden Salter going 18-for-28 for 304 yards and hitting his stride, it may be wise to keep an eye on him for prop bets in his next few games.

Want more Sandman? Come connect with us here at sandmansports.com/onestopshop