Some coaches are on a hot seat. Some coaches are under significant pressure to win. The Big 12 has several coaches that are worth monitoring this season.
Well, there is pressure on 16 Big 12 coaches. But some have more pressure than others. With the college football season set to begin this weekend, here are the five Big 12 coaches that are under the most pressure entering the season.
Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati
Satterfield enters his third year with the Cincinnati Bearcats trying to get them to a bowl game for the first time. He and the program improved from 2023 (3-9) to 2024 (5-7). But the Bearcats went into a swoon last season after a 5-2 starts, as Cincy lost its final five games.
Consistency in personnel has been a problem since he arrived from Louisville. The Bearcats have brought in as much talent through the transfer portal as they’ve lost. He inherited a program that went to the College Football Playoff in 2021. Satterfield made what to national observers was a lateral move, leaving Louisville after four seasons where he went 25-24. Another under-.500 season, on the back of getting a shiny new football facility, may cost him his job.
Brent Brennan, Arizona
I’m not a proponent of a second-year coach being under this much pressure. But Brent Brennan is in that boat. He’s coming off a 4-8 season in 2024, during which the Wildcats won just two league games and the program lost seven of their last eight games. He had an offseason of high turnover in the portal but was able to hang on to quarterback Noah Fifita. There was a sense that he may have been over his head last season.
He may also be suffering from what’s happening around him, and it’s not Arizona’s financial issues. The men’s basketball program went to the Sweet 16 and reached the Big 12 Tournament title game. The softball team went to the NCAA Tournament. The baseball team reached the Men’s College World Series. When everyone else around you is having success, well, it can reduce your job security.
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech
Joey McGuire isn’t in danger of losing his job. He is 23-16 in three seasons, and one could argue that he has improved the program each season. But the 2025 campaign will be different. Texas Tech’s NIL collective spent big money in the offseason to help McGuire and his staff bring in every potential recruit they could bring in to make a big move in the conference.
Texas Tech has never won a Big 12 title. In fact, the Red Raiders haven’t won a solo league title since 1955 in the Border Conference. Those were the days for Texas Tech. That year wrapped up a run of seven titles in nine seasons. Red Raiders fans just want one. They hope McGuire can deliver. He invited the pressure at Big 12 media days. It’s here.
Lance Leipold, Kansas
This weekend the new “Booth” opens in Lawrence, as the re-made David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium debuts. Shiny new toys can sometimes put more pressure on a coach like Leipold.
He’s now entering Year 5 at Kansas. That can be a precarious time for a coach at a program that has posted an average record for four seasons — 22-28 overall with a best of 9-4 2023. The Jayhawks followed that with a 5-7 record. Leipold went to Kansas to help raise the expectations at the program. He’s done that. Now, it’s about consistency. It’s not the high-water marks that get coaches in trouble. It’s the multi-year ruts that are much more dangerous.
Deion Sanders, Colorado
Coach Prime thrives on pressure. It seems like every year there is a new question about the coach’s trajectory. Health issues aside, there are on-the-field considerations as he enters Year 3. The question — can he sustain what he built last season without Shedeur Sanders at quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter?
Sustainability is the mark of a coach that can build a winner. This new era makes it harder. Sanders’ use of the transfer portal makes it even riskier. The pressure is on him to show he can do it without the stars that helped him get the job in Boulder.
