Which Big 12 school has best football/basketball coaching duo? Let's rank all 14 pairs

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Which Big 12 school has best football/basketball coaching duo? Let's rank all 14 pairs

Joe Mussatto, The Oklahoman · The Oklahoman

Tue, Nov 7, 2023 ·

8 min read

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Welcome to crossover season, where college football and college basketball coexist.

Around here it's still football season (when isn't it?), but OU and OSU's women's and men's basketball teams opened their seasons Monday.

Today, we have a two-sport themed edition of Big 12 tiers.

Which school has the best football/men's basketball head coaching duo?

More: Mussatto's Minutes: OSU has clear path to Big 12 Championship. Who might the Cowboys play?

Tier 1: Rock Chalk, Jayhawk

Kansas : Lance Leipold (15-19, 8-16 Big 12), Bill Self (580-132, 276-68 Big 12)

What Lance Leipold has accomplished in Lawrence is extraordinary.

From 2009-20, Kansas football won a grand total of seven Big 12 games. In not even three full seasons, Leipold has guided the Jayhawks to eight Big 12 wins.

Kansas (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) beat OU this season for the first time since 1997, and the Jayhawks have reached seven wins for the first time since 2008.

And then there's Bill Self, who's entering his 21st season as KU's basketball coach. The Jayhawks have won two national championships and a whopping 16 regular-season Big 12 titles in Self's tenure.

The controversies have piled up at Kansas, but Self, like it or not, has reached untouchable status.

More: What Chad Weiberg said about Oklahoma State football's win vs. OU, Big 12's future & more

Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self watches during the Jayhawks' game against Oklahoma State on Feb. 15 at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.

Tier 2: One-sided relationship

Baylor: Dave Aranda (23-22, 15-18 Big 12), Scott Drew (422-232, 178-166 Big 12)

Dave Aranda might be on the hot seat after what's going to be back-to-back disappointing seasons, but he's also just two years removed from leading the Bears to a Big 12 title and a Sugar Bowl victory.

Scott Drew is the star of this duo, though. He took the Baylor hoops job in 2003 under the worst of circumstances. Two decades later, Drew and the Bears cut down the nets as NCAA champions. Drew has guided the Bears to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances.

Oklahoma State : Mike Gundy (163-77, 100-62 Big 12), Mike Boynton (107-90, 47-61 Big 12)

Mike Gundy, Bob Stoops and Bill Snyder. The only three coaches with 100 Big 12 football wins on their resumes.

The Cowboys will play in a bowl game this season for the 18th time in Gundy's 19-year tenure.

Mike Boynton was put in a tough spot, dealing with the aftermath of NCAA sanctions, but the Cowboys have qualified for the NCAA Tournament just once in the five seasons they've been tournament-eligible under Boynton. The Cowboys have been sub .500 in Big 12 play in five of his six seasons.

More: Oklahoma State men's basketball upset by Abilene Christian to open season

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton Jr. yells to players in the first half during a college basketball game in the quarterfinals of the National Invitational Tournament between the Oklahoma State Cowboys (OSU) and the North Texas Mean Green at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla., Tuesday, March 21, 2023.

Houston: Dana Holgorsen (31-25, 20-16 AAC/Big 12), Kelvin Sampson (232-74, 117-44 AAC)

Dana Holgorsen's squad has shown some life of late. Houston football is 2-4 in its first Big 12 season, tied with BYU for the best record among the four newcomers. Low bar, huh?

This ranking is all about Kelvin Sampson. The former OU coach is set to enter his ninth season at Houston, where he's revived a sleepy program into a national power.

Sampson's club has reached the Sweet 16 in four consecutive NCAA Tournaments, including a Final Four appearance in the 2020-21 season.

It'll be great to have Sampson back on the Big 12 basketball scene.

Kansas State : Chris Klieman (36-23, 24-18 Big 12), Jerome Tang (26-10, 11-7 Big 12)

Klieman is an excellent football coach and a perfect fit at K-State. The Wildcats, fresh off a Big 12 championship and Sugar Bowl appearance, are back in the Big 12 hunt this season.

It's only a one-year sample for Jerome Tang, but so far so good. The longtime Scott Drew disciple led the Wildcats to a surprise Elite Eight run last season.

This duo has a long way to go, but I like its Tier 1 potential more so than any other in this group. It might not be as one-sided as the others.

More: Five things to know about Oklahoma State men's basketball team for 2023-24 season

TCU: Sonny Dykes (17-7, 11-4 Big 12), Jamie Dixon (139-97, 51-73 Big 12)

I don't care how bad the Frogs are this season. Quit calling last season a fluke. It totally discounts TCU's unbelievable run to where no other Big 12 team has gone: the College Football Playoff final.

And for that, Sonny Dykes deserves a ton of credit.

Dixon, meanwhile, had an excellent run at Pittsburgh , and he's turned TCU into a respectable basketball program. The Horned Frogs won the NIT championship in Dixon's first season, and he's recently guided TCU to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons.

Iowa State: Matt Campbell (51-46, 36-33), TJ Otzelberger (41-27, 16-20 Big 12)

Only two Iowa State football coaches have had a winning record since World War II. Earle Bruce, who went 36-32 from 1973-78, and Campbell.

Things looked bleak for Campbell and the Cyclones earlier this season, but Campbell righted the ship. He can coach in Ames, Iowa, for as long as he wants to.

Otzelberger is under .500 in the rugged Big 12, but he's 2-for-2 on making the NCAA Tournament.

More: Oklahoma State basketball: Breaking down the Cowboys' roster for the 2023-24 season

Tier 3: High upside

Texas : Steve Sarkisian (21-13, 14-10 Big 12), Rodney Terry (22-8, 12-6 Big 12)

The Longhorns have gradually gotten better in each of Sarkisian's first three seasons, and this year's Texas squad is a College Football Playoff contender. It's still prove-it-time for Texas, but the Sarkisian-led Longhorns are certainly heading in the right direction.

Rodney Terry did an excellent job taking over the Texas basketball program midseason in the wake of Chris Beard's dismissal last December. It was good to see Terry get rewarded with the full-time gig.

Oklahoma: Brent Venables (13-9, 7-8 Big 12), Porter Moser (34-33, 12-24 Big 12)

When criticizing Brent Venables and the Sooners, it's easy to lose perspective of just how bad they were last season and how much they've improved this season. It was just a month ago that OU upset Texas.

Is Venables the guy ? It's too early to know, but the Sooners are recruiting well and have already won more games than they did last year, so that's a start.

As for Moser, it's been rough. You can't win the same way at OU as you did at Loyola Chicago. Sister Jean ain't walking through that door.

More: OU men's basketball: Breaking down the Sooners' roster for the 2023-24 season

OU men's basketball coach Porter Moser entered last night's season opener 34-33 in two seasons with the Sooners.

Tier 4: High floor

BYU: Kalani Sitake (61-37, 2-4 Big 12), Mark Pope (85-40, 39-21 WCC)

Sitake, a former BYU fullback, guided the Cougars to a bowl game in six of his first seven seasons. But the Cougars are no longer an FBS Independent. I don't know how BYU will adapt to being a power program, but Sitake should keep the Cougars on solid ground.

Pope is entering his fifth season as BYU's basketball coach after four years at Utah Valley. Like with Sitake and the football program, BYU basketball likely doesn't have a high ceiling, but it's hard to see Pope or Sitake flaming out.

UCF : Gus Malzahn (22-14, 12-10 AAC/Big 12), Johnny Dawkins (131-87, 65-61 AAC)

Only three Big 12 football/men's basketball head coaches have won a national championship (as a head coach): Self, Drew and Gus Malzahn.

UCF's maiden Big 12 football season has not gone well record-wise, but the Knights have been competitive. Malzahn remains one of the best offensive minds in college football.

In 15 seasons as a head coach — eight at Stanford and seven at UCF — Dawkins has only coached two teams to the NCAA Tournament. Stanford and UCF aren't exactly hoops powerhouses, though. Dawkins has done a fine job.

More: Five things to know about OU men's basketball team for 2023-24 season

Tier 5: Wait and see

West Virginia : Neal Brown (28-28, 18-23 Big 12), Josh Eilert (0-0)

Neal Brown entered this season, his fifth as West Virginia's head coach, on the hot seat. We'll see how the year ends, but this might be Brown's best squad yet. The Mountaineers are tied for second place in the Big 12.

Eilert, a 42-year-old from Osborne, Kansas, has no head coaching experience. He was named West Virginia's interim head coach following the resignation/ousting of Bob Huggins. Maybe Eilert can pull a Rodney Terry.

Texas Tech: Joey McGuire (12-10, 8-7 Big 12), Grant McCasland (0-0)

McGuire & McCasland. Sounds like a Lubbock law firm.

McGuire, an out-of-the-box hire, is off to a respectable start on the gridiron and McCasland is set to make his debut as Texas Tech's head men's basketball coach following Mark Adams' resignation.

It's been a successful yet tumultuous last several years for Red Raider basketball. McCasland, who won big at North Texas, is seen as a rising star.

Cincinnati : Scott Satterfield (2-7, 0-6 Big 12), Wes Miller (41-28, 18-18 AAC)

Count me as skeptical that Scott Satterfield will succeed at Cincinnati. He went 15-18 at Louisville against ACC competition.

Miller is entering his third season as UC's basketball coach after 10 years at UNC Greensboro. Cincinnati has a proud basketball tradition, and Miller seems like a good fit.

Note: Records reflect win/losses at current school

Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com .

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Ranking Big 12 Conference's top football/men's basketball coaching duo

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