Here are the two men who will be roaming Big 12 sidelines this coming basketball season.
West Virginia Mountaineers
In: Ross Hodge
Out: Darian DeVries
After just one season under Darian DeVries, the Mountaineers are set to begin their third straight year with a new head coach. Ross Hodge arrives after two successful seasons at North Texas, where he won 46 of 70 games, leading the Mean Green. As a player, Hodge competed at Paris Junior College and then Texas A&M Commerce, where he later began his coaching career as an assistant.
DeVries, who went 19-13 in his lone year with West Virginia, has moved on to Indiana University for his first Big Ten opportunity. Prior to Morgantown, he spent six seasons at Drake, making three NCAA Tournament appearances.
Utah Utes
In: Alex Jensen
Out: Craig Smith
Alex Jensen, 49, returns to his alma mater after several seasons as an assistant coach in the NBA. He began his college coaching career under the late Rick Majerus at Saint Louis. As a player at Utah, Jensen was twice voted First Team All-WAC and named Mountain West Conference Player of the Year.
He takes over for Craig Smith, who went 15-12 to start the 2024-25 season before being fired. Smith spent three full years with the Utes but never reached the NCAA Tournament.
Two new coaches step into the spotlight with plenty to prove. Both face high expectations in a league that has produced national contenders year after year. With Jerome Tang (Kansas State) winning Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2023, followed by Kelvin Sampson in back-to-back seasons, and Scott Drew’s three-year run from 2019 to 2022, the standard is clear.
The question now is whether Hodge or Jensen can make an immediate impact in one of college basketball’s toughest conferences.