The Kansas City Star has a list of the worst fires and best hires in the Big 12 since the conference formed.
Worst Firings
1. R.C. Slocum, Texas A&M, 2002
Probably. Blame Mack Brown for taking over the recruiting rackets, but the writing was on the wall since Texas won in College Station in '95. The Aggies never lost less than 3 games in a season after that.
2. Frank Solich, Nebraska, 2003
Yes. You don't fire a guy after he goes 9-3, and it was made even worse when they went out and hired Bill Callahan. Now they've brought back Tom Osborne as AD and Solich's former defensive coordinator Bo Pelini as head coach. Hmm.
3. Chuck Reedy, Baylor, 1996
No. Reedy made a living off of Prop 48 players that suddenly dried up when new conference rules went into effect. The writer notes his 14-9 record in the final two years of the SWC, but that's because Reedy went 8-0 against TCU, Rice, SMU and Houston. He then went 1-7 in the Big 12. That wasn't going to change.
4. Dan McCarney, Iowa State, 2006
Yes. Iowa State forgot who they were.
Best Hirings
1. Bob Stoops, OU, 1999
Duh.
2. Mack Brown, Texas, 1998
Duh II.
3. Mark Mangino, Kansas, 2002
4. Gary Pinkel, Missouri, 2001
I'm curious to see what will happen over the next couple of years with both Kansas and Missouri. If Nebraska gets on its feet again, how will that impact both schools? What about Kansas State and Colorado? Is there enough room in the North for more than two or three consistently good programs?
Thoughts?