It’s been a wild year of Big 12 coaching turnover, and we might not be done yet.

It’s no secret that Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham is a Michigan target, and his public comments continue to leave the door open for a move to Ann Arbor. 

For the record, I think he’s playing this perfectly. Either he lands one of the best jobs in the sport, or he leverages the interest into a new contract, more NIL support, and a bigger assistant coach salary pool in Tempe.

Regardless of what Dillingham winds up doing, the Big 12 is going to look dramatically different next season. 

The league has lost a Mount Rushmore of veteran coaches since September: Mike Gundy, Chris Klieman, Kyle Whittingham, and Matt Campbell. Three of them won Power Four conference championships, and the other (Campbell) played for two of them.

Three of the four can easily lay claim to being the best coach in program history. Only Bill Snyder at K-State keeps that from being a clean sweep. 

That’s a lot of production, stability, and star power to replace. 

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake is now the longest-tenured coach in the Big 12. Baylor’s Dave Aranda is second. 

We’re entering a totally new era of the conference. The current NIL and transfer portal environment has certainly ushered in much of that, but this is also now a league being navigated in large part by a wave of new young coaches. 

Don’t get me wrong, some of these moves had to be made. Gundy clearly had not adapted, and the Oklahoma State program completely tanked. Scalley probably would have left for another opportunity if Whittingham continued to block him. Klieman grew weary of players demanding more money in the middle of the season.

But what are the odds Oklahoma State’s Eric Morris, K-State’s Collin Klein, Iowa State’s Jimmy Rogers, and Utah’s Morgan Scalley match the success their predecessors had? It would be a huge win for the league if even one or two of them did.

These guys represent the new breed of coaches in the wild-west NIL era. Only Scalley is over 40. They’re built to understand and lean into the current dynamics of the sport in a way the old guard often wasn’t.

Dillingham is only 35, and he’s already proven himself to be perfectly cut out for this college football world. Did you see him tweeting well-wishes for his former QB, Sam Leavitt, who is heading to the portal?

It’s going to be fascinating to see if the league can replenish the stable of proven coaches it had just two years ago when this current iteration of the Big 12 began. 

In some ways, it’s fair to say there’s a power vacuum in the league right now. But Texas Tech and BYU can certainly claim that they’ve already grabbed hold of the throne with what they’ve accomplished the last two seasons. 

And that might be the real challenge for this new crop of young guns: can you outmaneuver the most well-resourced operations in the league?

Scalley might have the best short-term odds. He’s taking over a ten-win program that just secured $500 million in private equity cash. Say what you will about the long-term risk, but the resources to compete should be there on day one. 

Morris, Klein, and Rogers will have their work cut out for them to keep up.

What You Need to Know

• Cincinnati transfer QB Brendan Sorsby seems to have his next school lined up, and it’s in the Big 12. If he doesn’t go to the NFL draft, it appears he’ll stay in the conference. 

• One of the Big 12’s best receivers is hitting the transfer portal. It’s another tough blow for Deion Sanders’ program.

• Here are the most likely transfer destinations for former Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt. 

• Former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham was asked if he’s actually planning to coach again next year or if he’ll be retiring. Here’s what he said. 

• As it stands right now, the Big 12 is guaranteed a spot in the 2026 College Football Playoff next season. Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger reports that a slight tweak to the structure means all four power conference champions will get a spot, no matter what. 

• K-State’s new special teams coordinator, Stanton Weber, joined the 3MAW podcast to give a deep dive into what life is like on the Wildcats’ staff with Collin Klein working two jobs. 

• Kansas star guard Darryn Peterson missed another game this week for the Jayhawks. Here’s the latest on his hamstring situation.

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