This season, there are arguably more new head coaches at high-profile football schools than ever before. The 2017 season ended with 13 Power Five programs hiring new coaches, including several marquee names in the sport – Florida State, Florida, Nebraska, Oregon, UCLA, Texas A&M, Tennessee and more – adding even further intrigue heading into this season.
With that in mind, Rivals.com took a closer look at how head coaches around the country began their tenures on the recruiting trail. Today, the Big 12 is under the microscope.
NOTE: TCU's Gary Patterson was not included in this study because data on his first recruiting class is unavailable. Year One represents a coach's first full recruiting cycle as head coach at that school.
MORE FIRST-YEAR COACH BREAKDOWNS: Big Ten | SEC | ACC | Pac-12
Observations: Looking at this data from a wide angle, a lot of these Big 12 coaches did a good job of securing commitments consistently throughout their first full recruiting class. During the first three-month period of the recruiting calendar, coaches are allowed to host players on-campus and have consistent communication with them. Texas Tech's Kliff Kingsbury, former Texas head coach Charlie Strong, Iowa State's Matt Campbell, Baylor's Matt Rhule and Oklahoma's Lincoln Riley did a good job of parlaying that into recruiting success, getting at least 20 percent of their commitments for their first full recruiting class in that period.
The second three-month period of the recruiting calendar is mostly comprised of an NCAA-mandated dead period but that didn't stop six of these 10 Big 12 coaches from making some waves on the recruiting trail. Rhule and West Virginia's Dana Holgorsen pulled in just over 30 percent of their first commitments during these few months. Texas' Tom Herman, Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy, Kansas State's Bill Snyder and Riley all secured at least one-third of their first full recruiting class in this time period.
Unsurprisingly, the rate of commitments slowed for nearly all of these Big 12 coaches during the season, the next three-month period of the recruiting calendar. Snyder and Iowa State's Matt Campbell were the only two coaches that picked up at least 20 percent of their first commitments of their initial recruiting class during the season.
The final three-month period of the recruiting calendar is when most players end up taking official visits and coaches are allowed to conduct in-home visits. Every Big 12 coach in this study locked up at least 23 percent of their first full recruiting class in these few months. Campbell picked up one-third of Iowa State's class during this period, while Herman and Kingsbury got 37 percent and 38 percent, respectively, of their commitments during the final stretch of their first full recruiting class. Holgorsen, Gundy, Kansas' David Beaty and Strong all got at least half of their first full recruiting class in the final period of the recruiting calendar.
Farrell's take for new coaches: There are no new coaches in the Big 12, but it's interesting to look at Herman at Texas and Riley at Oklahoma because they are natural rivals. Riley has done a better job of recruiting overall, but both have done a nice job in this respect. Remember the days when Texas used to take 20-plus commitments by June and be done with its class? Those days are over, and both schools do a good job of balancing commitments when it comes to the time frame in which they take them.
Observations: Four of the 10 Big 12 coaches in this study represented schools located in Texas, one of top talent-producing states in the country, and they definitely used that leg up on the competition to their advantage. Texas Tech's Kingsbury and Strong, the former Texas head coach, signed significantly more in-state prospects than out-of-state prospects in their first two full years at those schools. Baylor's Rhule and Texas' Herman did the same in their first full recruiting classes and are well on their way to accomplishing the same feat in year two.
All of the other coaches,Gundy at Oklahoma State, Holgorsen at West Virginia, Beaty at Kansas, and (so far) Riley at Oklahoma, have signed many more out-of-state prospect than in-state prospects.
Farrell's take for new coaches: Herman has done a solid job of taking commitments out of state but, as expected, much of his focus has to be on in-state kids. Meanwhile, Riley has to recruit out of state and has done a great job in his short time at Oklahoma landing kids from all around the country. Oklahoma is one of the best national recruiting programs out there.
Observations: These are some pretty mixed results for the Big 12 coaches. Of the seven coaches that aren't in the middle of their second full recruiting cycle, only two saw their team recruiting ranking fall more than ten spots from year one to year two. Campbell got Iowa State inside the top 45 in year one, but the Cyclones fell to No. 55 in year two. Holgorsen posted an impressive top 25 recruiting class for West Virginia in year one, but in year two the Mountaineers fell to No. 45. The rest of the changes from year one to year two were minimal, except for Beaty at Kansas. After a horrendous No. 95 team recruiting ranking in year one, Beaty got the Jayhawks into the 60 in year two.
Riley at Oklahoma and Herman at Texas have tall tasks ahead of them if they hope to beat their first recruiting class team ranking. Oklahoma finished at No. 8 in year one and Texas finished at No. 4. Rhule at Baylor sits at No. 36 in the 2019 team recruiting class rankings, so it would be surprising he couldn't get the Bears to at least tie last year's No. 32 ranking.
Farrell's take for new coaches: Both Oklahoma and Texas are having good recruiting years this season, but improving on year one isn't that easy. Both are expected to be in the national Top 10 or 15 at least every season and if they fall short of that it would be considered a failure.
