Big 12 Basketball: Ranking all 14 head coaches in 2023 after realignment

1. Bill Self – Kansas

Self was born in Oklahoma and played and coached at Oklahoma State, though that seems like ages ago. He began his head coaching career at Oral Roberts before successful stints taking both Tulsa and Illinois to Elite Eight runs. Self’s impressive work at those latter schools is a big reason why he was brought in to succeed Roy Williams twenty years ago.

Kansas has been college basketball’s most consistent winner in the two decades under Self’s leadership. They claimed national championships in 2008 and 2022 and made two other Final Four appearances. The Jayhawks have won 17 Big 12 regular season titles (that’s 85%) and Self has won a slew of postseason games along the journey. That second championship came just two seasons ago, with the Jayhawks continuing to maintain their spot among basketball’s elite programs.

Self has won more than 80% of his conference games in the Big 12, which just sounds insane when you say it out loud. Not only has Kansas proven to be a powerful Blue Blood program, but Self might just be the best coach in active college basketball today. He gets results, has recruited impressive talent, and puts them in position for success. Even in a changing Big 12 landscape, we can all expect Kansas at or among the top of the conference standings.

We’ve looked closely at the head coaches in the Big 12 and tried our best to rank them as they currently stand. Do you agree with the order we’ve put these coaches in or have we underrated or overrated a few of these names? Time will tell, especially as this new-look conference gets underway this upcoming Fall.