Texas had high expectations heading into last season, and the Longhorns missed the mark in Tom Herman's third season.
Early-season losses to LSU and Oklahoma led to a five-loss season, and Herman enters his fourth year still trying to close the gap with five-time defending champion Oklahoma. That's the trick with the Big 12 coach rankings. Lincoln Riley is a no-doubt choice at No. 1 and a top-five coach in our 1-130 rankings. The rest of the conference is trying to catch up. Herman, however, faces more pressure than the rest of those coaches because of the Texas brand.
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Texas is a half-game behind Oklahoma State for the second-best record in the conference the past three seasons, but we still picked Herman at No. 2 in our Big 12 coach rankings. At least for this year.
Here's a deeper look at our Big 12 coach rankings for 2020:
2020 Big 12 Coach Rankings
| RANK | COACH | SCHOOL | W | L | PCT | OVR |
| 1 | Lincoln Riley | Oklahoma | 36 | 6 | 0.857 | 4 |
| 2 | Tom Herman | Texas | 25 | 15 | 0.625 | 16 |
| 3 | Gary Patterson | TCU | 172 | 70 | 0.711 | 17 |
| 4 | Mike Gundy | Oklahoma State | 129 | 64 | 0.668 | 20 |
| 5 | Chris Klieman | Kansas State | 8 | 5 | 0.615 | 33 |
| 6 | Matt Campbell | Iowa State | 26 | 25 | 0.510 | 34 |
| 7 | Les Miles | Kansas | 3 | 9 | 0.250 | 36 |
| 8 | Neal Brown | West Virginia | 5 | 7 | 0.417 | 37 |
| 9 | Matt Wells | Texas Tech | 4 | 8 | 0.333 | 60 |
| 10 | Dave Aranda | Baylor | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 63 |
Quick reads
— Kansas State's Chris Klieman led the Wildcats to eight wins — including a victory against Oklahoma — in his first season. That led to a 37-spot jump in our overall rankings. Klieman showed he's a championship-caliber coach at North Dakota State and continues to build on that in Manhattan.
— The other second-year coaches struggled in Year 1. West Virginia's Neal Brown, Kansas' Les Miles and Texas Tech's Matt Wells combined for a 12-24 record in 2019. Brown and Miles will have to do better than that to hold on to their spots in the overall top 50.
— This is an interesting year for Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy. The Cowboys are 25-14 the past three seasons, which is the second-best record in the conference. Oklahoma State also is a trendy Playoff pick given that Chuba Hubbard returned for another season. Gundy is primed for a big season, but it's less hyped than Texas and Herman. Can the Cowboys deliver?
— Dave Aranda is our lowest-ranked coach, and the longtime LSU assistant made an interesting choice with Baylor. The Bears are coming off an 11-win season under Matt Rhule, and it will be interesting to see whether Aranda can keep that momentum rolling.