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

By Joey Loose | Apr 6, 2023

Mar 29, 2021; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Baylor Bears assistant coach Jerome Tang (left) with head coach Scott Drew against the Arkansas Razorbacks during the Elite Eight of the 2021 NCAA Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

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Big 12 Basketball Texas Longhorns interim head coach Rodney Terry Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports /

9. Rodney Terry – Texas

Early in his career, Terry was certainly under the radar, playing D2 ball and coaching at the high school level. He was an assistant at Baylor and spent a long stint at Texas before beginning his head coaching career at the college level. Terry had decent success at Fresno State and UTEP across a decade before joining Chris Beard’s Texas staff, succeeding him this past season as interim head coach before getting the full-time job.

Terry led Fresno State to an NCAA Tournament and was starting to rebuild UTEP, but it’s what he’s done already with the Longhorns that’s caught national attention. He steered this program through Beard’s dramatic exodus, leading Texas to a Big 12 Tournament title and a trip to the Elite Eight this past season. He earned the full-time job by how he handled this team the last few months, winning the first three Tournament games of his career.

Clearly, Terry would not have gotten this job based on his resume prior to that run as interim head coach. He’s been a decent head coach in the Mountain West and Conference USA, but it’s his 22-8 run with the Longhorns that cemented his value for this program. Will things be different now that he’s running the show and not just inheriting what he helped Beard build the last year and a half?

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