The 2024 college football season is over. The parades in Columbus, Ohio, have come and gone and the rest of the country has Ohio State’s seat on the throne in their crosshairs heading into the winter portion of the 2025 schedule.
It was an incredible season for Big 12 football, as the league ended the regular season with a four-way tie for first place and saw Arizona State take home a conference title after an unforgettable season.
While the 2025 season will be unpredictable and entertaining in its own right, the Big 12 is going to look a lot different. Neal Brown and Gus Malzahn are out, and two familiar faces are back in their places. The rest of the league looks the same, but the upcoming seasons will probably look a lot different, for one reason or another.
Let’s look at some of the head coaches from across the league and take stock of where they’re at heading into 2025.
Stock Up
Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State
While Marcus Freeman and Curt Cignetti both had incredibly impressive seasons, I would argue that Kenny Dillingham did enough to prove he deserved the Coach of the Year Award in 2024. Arizona State was picked to finish dead last in the Big 12 and won the conference in dominant fashion. Then, he took one of the most talented teams in the nation to the wire in the College Football Playoff.
The stock for Dillingham couldn’t get much higher, and if he finally awakens the beast that is Arizona State football, he might finally start to get the national respect he deserves.
Kalani Sitake, BYU
There was a little anxiety about Kalani Sitake’s job coming into the 2024 season, as his team missed a bowl in Year 1 of the Big 12 and dropped several winnable games. He proved the doubters wrong, and then some, this season though, winning 11 games and finishing with the top winning percentage of all Big 12 teams in ’24.
Kalani Sitake has become synonymous with BYU football, and that doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon.
Dave Aranda, Baylor
Aside from Neal Brown, there wasn’t a coach in the Big 12 feeling more pressure ahead of 2024 than Dave Aranda. In fact, when his team got off to a 2-4 start, it appeared that he was as good as gone. Then, after a much-needed bye week, the Bears won the final six games of the year and ended the year with eight wins.
Heading into 2025, it appears Aranda has a legitimate contender, and he deserves a lot of credit for that.
Deion Sanders, Colorado
There was never a lack of doubters that Deion Sanders could find success as the head coach at Colorado. But, Sanders and his squad went out and proved every single detractor wrong, leading the Buffs to nine win in just his second season at the helm.
Now that the Dallas rumors are behind him, Sanders can focus on turning Colorado a sustainable winner. If there’s anyone that can do it, it appears to be him.
Stock Down
Kyle Whittingham, Utah
It feels odd to be saying this about someone entering their 20th season with a program, but there’s real doubt surrounding Utah for the first time under Whittingham’s watch. Utah wasn’t just bad in their first year in the Big 12, they weren’t even competitive in the league race.
The 2025 season feels like a chance for Whittingham to right the ship and sail off into the sunset. Will he do it, though?
Brent Brennan, Arizona
The Brent Brennan hire never felt like the proper fit, even if it did bring a familiar face back to Tucson. The Wildcats were terrible in all but one or two games throughout the 2024 season, and the regression that we saw from Noah Fifita is almost unexplainable given that he still had one of the top wideouts in the country.
There aren’t many coaches that get the hook after just two seasons, but Brennan is in serious danger of just that if he doesn’t turn things around in a big way in 2025.
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
Like Whittingham, it feels weird to have Mike Gundy on a “stock down” list, but there are no excuses after an 0-9 record in Big 12 play. Oklahoma State was the worst offense and worst defense in the Big 12 across multiple statistics, and the coordinator firings were well past due. There’s something to be said about Gundy’s loyalty, but it nearly cost him his job.
As impossible as it may sound, 2025 feels like a make-or-break season for Gundy.
Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati
Perhaps the only coach with a hotter seat than Brent Brennan heading into 2025 is Cincinnati’s Scott Satterfield. The Bearcats have a proud football program and wont settle for a third-straight season without a bowl game, especially after a 5-2 start turned into a 5-7 record in 2024.
Satterfield was a questionable hire then, and it feels like it might be time to hit the reset button if there aren’t tangible results in 2025.
