ESPN just dropped its early rankings for the new college football coaching hires, and the Big 12 made a strong showing. Four new coaches from the league cracked the top 20, with Oklahoma State’s Eric Morris leading the way at No. 3 overall. That came with a flat-out A grade from ESPN, which seems pretty sold on what Morris brings to Stillwater.
Here’s the breakdown: ESPN said Oklahoma State was at its best under Mike Gundy when it was putting up points with creative offenses. Morris checks that box. They pointed to his work with Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech, then with Cam Ward at Incarnate Word, and even brought up what he did with a walk-on named Drew Mestemaker at North Texas. The guy clearly has a track record with quarterbacks, and ESPN made it clear he might be the best in the country at developing them. Add in that he’s turned around two tough jobs already, and it’s easy to see why they ranked him that high.
Next up was Collin Klein at Kansas State. He landed at No. 11 with an A- to B+ grade. The vibe here was simple: K-State had a plan when Chris Klieman stepped down, and Klein was that plan. He played quarterback for the Wildcats, led them to a Big 12 title in 2012, and just put together a top-ten offense in SP+ as Klieman’s coordinator before heading to Texas A&M. ESPN said he’s basically built for this job. And while they threw in a comparison to Scott Frost that nobody really asked for, they still liked the hire.
Right behind him at No. 13 was Iowa State’s Jimmy Rogers. Same grade range. ESPN talked about his 27-3 run at South Dakota State and how he took over a good thing, then kept it rolling. They liked what he did at Washington State, too, where his defense gave some solid teams trouble. They mentioned this could be a “Klieman to Kansas State” kind of hire, just with a guy who’s only 38 and stepping into a stable spot.
Utah’s Morgan Scalley rounded out the group at No. 16 with a B. ESPN acknowledged his long run under Kyle Whittingham and said the succession plan makes sense, even if those don’t always work.
Four Big 12 hires. Four top-20 spots. Not a bad haul at all.
