Big 12 Football Mailbag: Who is the Next Coach to get Fired?
Welcome to the HCS Big 12 mailbag. This mailbag is for all you football junkies out there who root for a Big 12 school who not only have questions about your team, but other teams in the conference as well. So, join me, grab a cold brew or your favorite drink and relax as I answer all your Big 12 questions in my mailbag. For those interested, I will send out a tweet (@Derekduke25) every Monday at noon until last call (No, not 2 AM) at 8 PM CT for you to send in your questions to be answered every Tuesday right here at Heartland College Sports.
I will pick the best question for each mailbag and label it as my question of the week. The winner gets a free HCS Koozie to keep your beer cold (Unless you like it warm, but that’s just plain wrong). It was busy question day which tells me that this mailbag is working harder than me at my day job. Unlike the “Big 12 blog” over at ESPN (I say that loosely because one story a month is a tragedy), we here at HCS are determined to give you the best Big 12 coverage on the planet. I want to thank each one of you who submitted a question this week and for those reading, I am glad you could join me. This week’s mailbag was so full, I had to break it up into two parts. Part one on Tuesday and part two on Wednesday. So, if you don’t see your question here, it will be on the next mailbag tomorrow. I am doing this on Monday evening and of course this mailbag wouldn’t be nearly as fun without a cold beverage right next to me. Today’s drink of choice? My personal favorite, an old fashioned. Cheers!
@jonkev50 asks: Are there any head coaches in the Big 12 that would fit better with another Big 12 school than the one they are currently at now?
Duke: Man, that’s tough. I think we would have to exclude any of the new coaches in the conference since we have no idea how those hires will all shake out but nothing really jumps out to me from the rest of the group that includes Tom Herman, Matt Rhule, Gary Patterson, Lincoln Riley, Mike Gundy and Matt Campbell. I think there would be some interesting fits, but I wouldn’t necessarily say they would be hands down better at another school. I would be interested to see what Gary Patterson could do at a school like Texas or Matt Rhule at a place like Kansas since he has what it takes to build a program. Maybe Matt Campbell at a bigger school like Oklahoma? I don’t know. It is so hard to picture some of these coaches elsewhere. Selfishly I would love to see Lincoln Riley and Gary Patterson team up one day. I don’t care what school they do it at, I would LOVE to see how dominant those two would be on the sidelines with Lincoln calling the offense and Gary calling the defense. That would be scary to the rest of college football.
@GregSadler73 asks: Rank the field based on the palette of Les Miles. Should be based on texture, fiber, color and taste.
Duke: I can for sure tell you that he isn’t going to eat turf. So, if your school has artificial turf then you don’t stand a chance here. To my knowledge, only Jack Trice Stadium (ISU) and Amon G. Carter Stadium (TCU) have natural grass fields. So, the other eight schools would without a doubt take a backseat. I haven’t been to Jack Trice yet so I couldn’t tell you what the grass taste like. Hell, I have been to Amon G. (TCU) before, but I wasn’t brave enough to taste the grass. I know Matthew Postins goes there a lot so maybe I can talk him into munching on a little grass next time he goes to Fort Worth. To stop dancing around your question even more, my final two answers are TCU and Iowa State. Everyone else doesn’t matter outside of those two schools. Maybe Les would try turf but I truly doubt it. Although I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if he did.
scottwildcat asks: Who is the next Big 12 head coach to: Get fired, retire, take another job, win the conference and go to the playoff?
Duke: Although it seems like a lot to ask for, I feel like these are all great questions. I am just surprised that no one has asked that since I started this mailbag over a year ago. So, I will go down the list just like you have it in order.
Get fired: To me, it must be one of the new coaches in the league. I’ll lean Matt Wells at Texas Tech. For those who have been reading my mailbag religiously know that I am not too fond of the hire made by Tech considering I think that Kliff deserved another year with QB Alan Bowman. If Bowman was healthy all last season, I don’t think Kliff would be gone right now. But the past is over and now it is Matt Wells program. He was way to inconsistent for my liking at a small school like Utah State. In his last four seasons at Utah State, his overall record was 25-25. I rest my case with that.
Retire: If Bill Snyder was still coaching, he would be the favorite without a doubt. Even with Bill gone at K-State, look at their in-state rival Kansas. Les Miles is no spring chicken as he will turn 66 this fall. So, for me, this one is easy and it’s Les Miles at Kansas. Who knows, maybe after one year at Kansas he decides to call it a career.
Take another job: There have been plenty of rumors before surrounding Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell. From Ohio State rumors as well as some other big-time jobs. I know he is under contract until after the 2024 season, but I honestly have a hard time seeing him stay until then before some college football blue blood picks him up and buys him out. Maybe Matt stays and leaves a huge legacy at Iowa State and maybe he still will in a short period of time but right now, he would be the next Big 12 coach to take another job in my eyes.
Win the conference and go to the playoff: You see how I combined those last two? That’s because Lincoln Riley has done both in two consecutive seasons. Oklahoma has won four straight Big 12 titles and have had three playoff appearances. No other Big 12 school can say that. In fact, no other Big 12 school has made it to the CFP Playoff besides Oklahoma. Although back in 2014, the Big 12 got screwed out of a playoff berth.
@RPTexan asks: Which person is LEAST integral to their duo’s success: Andrew Rigley from Wham! Or the tall, skinny hat wearing part of Florida Georgia Line?
Duke: I have no idea who in the hell either of these guys are. I had to google Wham! and I still don’t have a clue who they are. Maybe it is my youth showing but I have never even heard of the band Wham! Unfortunately, I have heard of Florida Georgia Line and I think still need to take a Tylenol pill just thinking about that sorry music group because their music gives me headaches. I am a Texas country kind of guy and I don’t mess with today’s “Pop” or “Bro” country. It all sounds the same to me. I hate to do this, but I will have to hit the “Next question” button here. Sorry Robert.
@ia11stat asks: Did you ever rate the quarterbacks you’d like running your team?
Duke: No, I don’t believe I have ever been asked that before. In fact, I really have never thought about it to be honest with you. I’d go with either Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger or Texas Tech quarterback Alan Bowman. Sam would be perfect for a smashmouth power spread I like but Bowman would be awesome if I wanted to sling the ball all over the yard. I’d be happy with either one of those guys running my team.
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