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1. In a matter of hours after Fort Worth police arrested four TCU football players for selling drugs, they became “separated from the university.” TCU’s response gets no argument from me. The swift reaction will send the message that playing football for a free education is a privilege. But I can’t help but wonder if the zero tolerance policy is a reaction to the dithering that went on at Penn State in the Jerry Sandusky case. I expect universities will be quick, open and forthright in such cases from here on out.

2. As soon as West Virginia and the Big East agreed on their divorce, the Big 12 released its 2012 schedule that included the Mountaineers. And for all of the talk that West Virginia has played against distant conference opponents before, the consecutive games at Texas (1,400 miles away) and Texas Tech (1,465 miles away) illustrate just what the Mountaineers are in for. I’d say on the way home from Lubbock, West Virginia officials are going to be thinking, “We paid $20 million to put our teams through this?”

3. The key to minimizing the effects of a stroke depends on how quickly the victim can get treatment. It sounds like North Texas head coach Dan McCarney is one of the fortunate ones. I don’t know how long-term the effects will be of the numbness McCarney suffered on his left side. But I know this: McCarney talks fast and works faster, and no one has a more upbeat attitude. My money is on him making as full a recovery as modern medicine can provide.

We start the links with some good news ...

Northern Illinois linebacker Devon Butler has been upgraded to fair condition as he recovers from a gunshot wound to his back.

Boise State quarterback Joe Southwick is getting plenty of time with the first team.

Nevada coach Chris Ault has high expectations for his defense.

Can Lance Reynolds revitalize the tight ends at BYU?

UCF athletics director Keith Tribble predicts his school will get into an AQ league. "It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when," Tribble told an Orlando radio station.

Marco Nelson and Brian DeShane are antsy on the sideline of Tulsa spring practice as they rehab shoulder injuries.

Navy works on gaining secondary experience.

Dan McCarney is putting his own twist on the North Texas spring game this weekend.

Allen Sampson is making people notice him at Hawaii.

Kawaun Jakes has bounced back after a lackluster spring scrimmage.

We continue our look at the new non-AQ head coaches for the 2011 season. Up next: Sun Belt.

Arkansas State: Hugh Freeze.

Rating: Like it. Steve Roberts did an admirable job with Arkansas State in his nine seasons, taking the program to its only bowl game in 2005. But things had grown stagnant and a change was needed. It seemed easy enough to turn to Freeze, who directed the record-breaking offense in 2009. The RedWolves broke nine offensive school records that included 4,841 yards of total offense. Ryan Aplin broke the school records for total offense, passing yards, passing touchdowns and completions. Freeze is a solid recruiter as well. But he has never been a head coach on the FBS level, so that could be a factor.

Louisiana: Mark Hudspeth.

Rating: Like it. Hudspeth did a great job in his two seasons as an assistant at Mississippi State. This past season the Bulldogs went 9-4, were ranked and made it to a bowl game. He coached at North Alabama before that, so he has ties to the South, which is important for recruiting. But Louisiana is not an easy place to win. Rickey Bustle spent nine seasons there and never took his team to a bowl game. UL had been bowl eligible a few times, but with a .500 record could never quite break through.

North Texas: Dan McCarney

Rating: Love it. The Todd Dodge experiment went horribly wrong, so North Texas was absolutely right to go after a proven winner on the FBS level. McCarney spent 12 years as head coach at Iowa State, and remains the longest-tenured (141 games) and winningest (56) coach in school history. He spent the last several seasons as an assistant at Florida, and did the right thing when he kept Mike Canales on as offensive coordinator. With fertile recruiting ground all around him, plus a new stadium opening, McCarney has what he needs to build a winner.

One serving of lunchtime links, coming up!

Northern Illinois interim coach Tom Matukewicz is enjoying the ride.

Shaky Smithson is leaving Utah as an All-American.

Nobody at San Diego State envisioned the type of season running back Ronnie Hillman had.

The BYU run game was OK without Harvey Unga.

UTEP safety and former walk-0n Austin Contreras wins admiration with his hard work and toughness.

Hawaii WR Greg Salas is thankful to get All-America recognition.

With WAC realignment in full effect, what's next for New Mexico State?

New North Texas coach Dan McCarney has gotten a major bump in pay over predecessor Todd Dodge.

A bowl win for Middle Tennessee would top its in-state foes.

Here are a few news and notes from around the non-AQs:

-- BYU has signed bowl agreements with the S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl for 2012, and the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl for 2013. If the Cougars are not selected for a BCS game, those are the place they will land in those respective seasons.

“We are thrilled to have a relationship with these outstanding bowls. It’s an important step for our football program as we begin playing an independent schedule,” BYU athletics director Tom Holmoe said.

The Cougars will face a Mountain West team in the Poinsettia Bowl. They are scheduled to play a team from the Pac-12 at AT&T Park in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, which will feature a Pac-12 squad versus an independent in each of its next three games -- Army in 2011, Navy in 2012 and BYU in 2013. That bowl will continue to have a backup agreement with the WAC in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

-- Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw announced he would conduct a nationwide search for a head coach to replace Al Golden, who left for the University of Miami.

“Temple is firmly committed to finding the best possible person to continue the success it has experienced over the past two seasons and lead it to even greater heights,” Bradshaw said in a statement. "The program has never been in better shape, posting consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1978-79, with the 17 wins during that time tying the school record. Our goal is to find the right person to continue this success on the gridiron while also maintaining excellence in the classroom. With 14 starters, including five all-conference performers, this is a great opportunity for the right coach to keep the program on the winning track.”

-- New North Texas coach Dan McCarney announced the first official hires to his coaching staff. Clint Bowen will serve as defensive coordinator and safeties coach, while Nick Quartaro will be the assistant head coach and wide receivers coach. They join associate head coach and offensive coordinator Mike Canales as the first three assistants to be officially named.

-- Buffalo coach Jeff Quinn also announced some changes to his staff. Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Greg Forest and wide receivers coach Juan Taylor have both been relieved of their duties. Taylor was the senior member of the football staff, having come to Buffalo in 2006. Forest came to Buffalo last December with Quinn from the Cincinnati. Quinn set no timetable for replacing the positions, but hopes to have the positions filled in early January.

-- Nevada has sold out its ticket allotment for the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl against Boston College on Jan. 9. The school sold 15,369 tickets in five days, and the university will not be getting any more tickets.

-- Fresno State linebacker Kyle Knox, wide receiver Matt Lindsay and linebacker Daniel Salinas did not make the trip to the uDrove Humanitarian Bowl against Northern Illinois on Saturday for an unspecified violation of team rules. Coach Pat Hill made the announcement on Tuesday.

There have been plenty of head-coaching moves among the non-AQ teams so far this offseason. Here is a quick primer on who is out and who is in:

Arkansas State

Who's out: Steve Roberts.

Who's in: Hugh Freeze. He served as offensive coordinator under Roberts, and this past season, Arkansas State broke nine school records on offense. His previous head-coaching experience came on the high school level and at Lambuth (Tenn.) College.

Ball State

Out: Stan Parrish

In: The Cardinals have yet to make a hire, and athletic director Tom Collins has refused to comment about his search. A few names mentioned in the local newspaper in Muncie include Stanford special teams coach Brian Polian, Indiana offensive coordinator Matt Canada and New Orleans Saints assistant Mike Neu.

Kent State

Who's out: Doug Martin.

Who's in: The Golden Flashes have not made a hire yet, but have reportedly showed interest in West Virginia offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen, who has coaching experience in the MAC as an assistant at Ohio. Ohio State assistant coach Darrell Hazell is rumored to be a candidate as well.

Louisiana

Who's out: Rickey Bustle.

Who's in: Mark Hudspeth. He spent the past two seasons as an assistant at Mississippi State, as receivers coach and passing game coordinator. His previous head-coaching experience came at Division II North Alabama, where he went 66-21 with five NCAA playoff appearances in seven seasons. A news conference is scheduled for later today to introduce him.

North Texas

Who's out: Todd Dodge.

Who's in: Dan McCarney. After the Dodge experiment failed miserably, the Mean Green decided to turn to somebody with previous head-coaching experience. McCarney spent 12 seasons at Iowa State, taking the Cyclones to five bowl games. He most recently served as an assistant at Florida.

Northern Illinois

Who's out: Jerry Kill.

Who's in: Dave Doeren. The Huskies have scheduled a news conference for later today to introduce their new coach, and ESPN.com reports the choice is Doeren. He has been a Wisconsin assistant since 2006.

Temple

Who's out: Al Golden.

Who's in: Temple must search for a replacement for Golden, who left Sunday for the University of Miami. Expect defensive coordinator Mark D'Onofrio to be a candidate.

Andrea Adelson looks at the top storylines in the non-AQ Friday Four Downs.

Just two more days until the MAC title game!

Boise State kicker Kyle Brotzman on missing the game-winning field goal: "It was devastating." You can see more of his interview with Tom Rinaldi of ESPN today at 6 p.m. on "SportsCenter."

The BCS is simply absorbing the most nettlesome non-AQ schools, writes Doug Robinson of the Deseret News.

The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl will invite either Nevada or Boise State.

Ball State athletic director Tom Collins won't comment on his search for a new coach.

Hayden Fry believes North Texas made the right decision when it hired Dan McCarney.

A single, anonymous San Diego State donor has pledged $5 million to help retain coach Brady Hoke, who has had informal discussions with Minnesota. Hoke could not confirm he was out of the running for that job when asked by the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The sweeping changes at Miami (Ohio) began off the field.

Hawaii had face-to-face talks with the Mountain West on the mainland Tuesday in its pursuit to join the league.

Northern Illinois is looking forward to playing in a dome for the MAC championship after practicing in the cold this week in DeKalb.

SMU continues its turnaround under coach June Jones.

North Texas made the right call to go with Dan McCarney as its head coach. It was clear the Mean Green needed somebody with head coaching experience after the Todd Dodge experiment failed.

McCarney not only has that, he has winning in his background and lists former North Texas coach Hayden Fry as his mentor.

In fact, Fry's two sons were at the news conference officially announcing McCarney's hiring on Tuesday. McCarney thanked a long list of influential coaches in his life, including Fry and Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez, along with Florida coach Urban Meyer. There is no question McCarney has learned from some of the best, and he had some success at Iowa State, where he coached from 1995-2006.

His first team had gone winless the season before he got there. Though it took five years to rebuild, McCarney ended up going to five bowl games from 2000-2005.

"Dan McCarney is the embodiment of everything we were looking for when we began the process of looking for the head coach that was going to return North Texas to a championship caliber program,” North Texas athletic director Rick Villarreal said. “He has a proven record of success at the highest level of college football and has an infectious energy and passion that will motivate student-athletes, alumni faculty and the community to new levels of commitment for success. With this hire, we have a person who will be the face of our athletics department and a tremendous ambassador for this university.”

The road ahead is not going to be easy, though. North Texas is coming off a 3-9 season, and has won a total of 13 games in the past six seasons. The last winning season -- 2004, which is also the last time the Mean Green went to a bowl game. If McCarney is anything, he is passionate and enthusiastic, and that should help now that North Texas is set to open a new football stadium next season. McCarney vowed to fill the stadium or "die trying."

He also described a commitment to getting back to playing solid defense, a specialty of his. He spent the past three seasons as a defensive assistant at Florida, and also served as defensive coordinator at Wisconsin. After he left Iowa State, McCarney may have wondered whether he would be a head coach again. He recounted a story about his father, who died three years ago.

"He mentioned to me four weeks before he passed. He said, 'Dan, you're going to be a head coach again. You're going to be a winning head coach again,'" McCarney said. "I know he's smiling down on us. I'm really excited about this opportunity."

Now the work begins.

Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts resigned on Monday after nine seasons, according to the school. Arkansas State just finished its second straight 4-8 season, and the school has reached a financial settlement with him.

Roberts went 45-63 during his career there. Arkansas State is now the third Sun Belt team in search of a new coach. Louisiana coach Rickey Bustle is out after nine seasons, and North Texas fired coach Todd Dodge midway through the season. The Mean Green are expected to name former Iowa State coach Dan McCarney as its new head coach Tuesday.

Kent State and Ball State are also searching for new head coaches in the MAC.

What a wild weekend in college football. Still plenty of non-AQs in action in Week 14. Now on to some links:

TCU has accepted an invitation to join the Big East, leaving the Mountain West looking like ... the WAC.

The debate over Boise State K Kyle Brotzman has gone viral.

After years of misfortune and heartache, luck finally finds Nevada.

Northern Illinois was expected to make the MAC title game.

Dan McCarney is set to become the next head coach at North Texas.

The Utes are enjoying their dramatic win over BYU.

San Diego State is working on a retention package to try and keep coach Brady Hoke.

The New Mexico Bowl looks likely for BYU.

Tulsa coach Todd Graham is proud his team overcame adversity to finish 9-3.

UCF and Tulsa appear to be the leading candidates to play Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl.

Tim Brewster came to Minnesota talking big and dreaming bigger.

I can't remember how many times I heard Brewster mention Minnesota's 18 Big Ten championships and six national championships, never mind the fact that neither event had happened since 1967.

Brewster knew the bar needed to be raised in Minneapolis. You couldn't blame him for aiming high. Why else would the school fire a coach (Glen Mason) who consistently made bowl games?

But Brewster couldn't make Minnesota into a championship program. In fact, he couldn't get the Gophers to the level Mason had them at the time of his termination following the 2006 Insight Bowl. Brewster never won a trophy game and went 1-9 in November games, with his lone win coming against FCS South Dakota State. His teams have been outscored 67-0 in their past two meetings with rival Iowa.

When he stopped winning in September and October this season, his days became numbered. And after Minnesota lost its sixth consecutive game Saturday at Purdue, dropping to 1-6 on the season, the school pulled the plug on the Brewster era.

Brewster went 15-30 at Minnesota and 7-18 since November 2008.

"While I appreciate the passion and commitment that Coach Brewster has shown, it is clear that a change in the leadership of Gopher football is necessary," athletic director Joel Maturi said in a prepared statement. "We have high aspirations for our football program and we are not satisfied with its current direction. The results so far this season have been unacceptable and the program has simply not shown enough improvement over the past three and a half years to continue with the status quo."

Co-offensive coordinator Jeff Horton will take over for Brewster on an interim basis. I hate to see lame-duck coaches in college sports, so this seems like the right move.

Firing Brewster only cost Minnesota $600,000, a buyout lowered in his recent contract extension.

Brewster never lacked passion, and his recruiting abilities as a former Mack Brown assistant showed at Minnesota. I loved the way he upgraded Minnesota's schedule, which had been a joke during the Mason era, and added showcase nonconference games against teams like USC.

But he also showed too many signs of a first-time college head coach.

His decision to replace veteran offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar and switch from the spread to a pro-style offense didn't pay off. He replaced Dunbar with an NFL assistant in Jedd Fisch whose complex concepts flew over the players' heads. Brewster kept shuffling his staff, a formula that rarely works in a sport where sticking to your guns usually is the way to go.

Minnesota is the first FBS program to make a coaching change in 2010, and the school now begins what could be an extensive coaching search. There are some dream candidates Minnesota can pursue (alum Tony Dungy, former assistant Kevin Sumlin, Mike Leach) and some more realistic ones (Montreal Alouettes coach Marc Trestman, former Iowa State coach Dan McCarney).

It will be interesting to see how much control Maturi has in the search since he was the one who hired Brewster.

Minnesota is a challenging job, but it's a better job now with a beautiful on-campus stadium to sell.

There are no excuses why Minnesota shouldn't be a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team, building toward the high bar Brewster set but never could reach.

AMES, Iowa -- Paul Rhoads’ eyes are wandering. Not like the coach before him at Iowa State, but they’re wandering. He rushes to finish his sentence, slyly watching -- out of the corner of his eye -- a group of young linebackers run through a half-speed drill focused on taking angles and wrapping up ballcarriers.

“Are you driving? Do you have a plane to catch or anything?” he asks me. “Can you give me three minutes? I’ll be done in three minutes.”

Rhoads jogs a few yards over to his linebackers, throws his hat down to mark an angle for the drill, and gets back to coaching some extra work after practice. Two hours isn’t enough for Rhoads, even if it’s only April.

“Nice rep right there, nice rep!” he yells. “That’s what we want!”

Second halves of interviews can wait. It’s always time to coach.

A year ago, Rhoads was just Coach No. 3 for some of his players. Gene Chizik spent two seasons in Ames after Dan McCarney stepped down, but split for Auburn with just five wins on his resume.

“They’d been betrayed; they felt that way. There was bitterness. There was anger,” Rhoads said. “You go in having to earn their trust and credibility.”

Rhoads began by telling his players he was proud to be their coach, a refrain he repeated in the locker room after a season-defining upset of Nebraska and pleaded with them to trust him blindly. He believed those that did could be part of something special, and quickly, so did his team.

“Right when we got here, we saw Coach Rhoads, knew he was an Iowa guy and knew he wanted to be here,” senior quarterback Austen Arnaud said. “Everything about him was positive.”

A first-time head coach in his home state, Rhoads received that blind trust, and squashed any lingering doubts with a seven-win season in year one.

“When you’re coaching a kid on a field for 30 minutes and you’re drilling him and you’re wearing him out, and then you can turn around and show him game film or 11-on-11 film where that exact drill came into play and allowed him to be successful, then you’ve got your kids right here in the palm of your hand,” Rhoads said. “Because they trust you and they believe in what you’re giving them.”

Rhoads knows progress when he sees it, and he’s seen it this spring. But Iowa State has one of the conference’s toughest schedules, with games at Texas and Oklahoma and matchups with Northern Illinois, Iowa and Utah in its non-conference.

Rhoads believes the Cyclones could be better in 2010 and still win fewer games.

“He’s not going to lie to you,” said running back Alexander Robinson. “What you see is what you get with him, and he’s always positive.”

No one in the Iowa State program is settling for fewer wins. There’s only one way to one-up a schedule Rhoads says he’s embraced, and isn’t hiding from: Get even better. There’s plenty of room between the Cyclones and their ceiling.

“We had a winning season by one game. Otherwise, we were average,” Arnaud said. “We have to know we were average last year and be better, because you don’t want to be average. You want to be great.”

Last season’s win over Minnesota in the Insight Bowl legitimized Iowa State’s program, Rhoads says. But it’s only a step in the direction of an eventual goal -- a championship. The step the Cyclones are taking right now happens on the practice field.

“We have a team that’s upbeat about what we’re doing, that believes in what we’re doing, and that comes to work with a little bit of an extra bounce in their step,” Rhoads said. “We capitalize on that.”

Rhoads has the trust of his team. His depth chart is significantly less shallow than a season ago. He knows where he wants to go.

His eyes won’t be leaving that target anytime soon.

The arrival of Mack Brown and Bob Stoops late in the 1990s helped rejuvenate dormant programs at Texas and Oklahoma. By the end of the following decade, both traditional powers were clearly the Big 12's top two programs and among the nation’s best.

The return of Bo Pelini to Nebraska helped the Cornhuskers close the decade strongly and claim a spot just below the Big 12's "Big Two." Texas Tech has been among the nation's most consistent teams of the decade. North teams like Colorado, Kansas State and Missouri all popped up to make at least two appearances in the Big 12 title game.

But Oklahoma and Texas have been the Big 12's behemoths during the recent decade. Here's how I rank the programs ranked based on their accomplishments in the last decade.

1. Oklahoma: The Sooners earn a slight edge over Texas despite the same number of victories in the decade because Bob Stoops took them to six Big 12 titles. The earlier teams depended more on defense, while Stoops’ more recent squads have been offensive juggernauts to reflect the overall change in the Big 12.

2. Texas: A victory in the BCS title game earlier this month might have catapulted Texas into the top slot. Mack Brown has pushed his program into parity with Oklahoma after struggling with the Sooner dynasty built by Stoops earlier in the decade.

3. Nebraska: The Cornhuskers withstood more tumult in the last decade than in any era since Bob Devaney turned the program in 1962. Even with two coaching changes, Bo Pelini has the Cornhuskers steered to the top of the North Division and poised for much more heading into the new decade.

4. Texas Tech: Mike Leach took the Red Raiders to an 84-43 record during the decade, with another victory added by Ruffin McNeill in the Valero Alamo Bowl for third place among Big 12 teams in victories. They fall behind Nebraska because they still have never advanced to the Big 12 title game or claimed a BCS bowl berth. That will be Tommy Tuberville’s task to change the culture and break that ceiling for the program.

5. Kansas State: The program was at its best during the early part of the decade when Bill Snyder took the Wildcats to the last title by a North Division team in 2003. The program dipped under Ron Prince, but could be poised to make another step forward after confounding prognosticators by remaining in the North Division title hunt until the last game in 2009.

6. Missouri: Gary Pinkel has the program humming with two title-game berths, strong incoming talent and a reputation as the conference’s foremost developers of unheralded recruiting talent. Pinkel's growth has been strong, but he still needs to take them another step where they start winning conference championships and appearing in BCS bowl games.

7. Oklahoma State: The infusion of T. Boone Pickens’ money has helped make the Cowboys’ facilities as good as most in college football. That growth has helped pick up recruiting as Mike Gundy’s program has made a bowl trip in four of his five years coaching the Cowboys.

8. Colorado: Gary Barnett had the Buffaloes as the North Division’s most consistent program with four championship game appearances in five seasons, including the 2001 Big 12 title. They haven’t been nearly as successful since Dan Hawkins took over with one bowl trip, no bowl victories or trips to the championship game.

9. Texas A&M: The Aggies still have the elements that could return them to prominence with rich tradition, strong facilities and an ideal recruiting location. But it’s tougher for them to challenge in the South Division with Oklahoma and Texas at the highest levels in recent history and growing programs at Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and even Baylor.

10. Kansas: Mark Mangino has awakened football interest here, but it will be up to Turner Gill to build on that growth. The North Division looks open, but Gill will be challenged to match Mangino’s achievements early in his coaching tenure without an immediate replacement for Todd Reesing at quarterback.

11. Iowa State: Dan McCarney's turnaround of this program in the early part of the decade is one of the more underrated building projects in recent college football history after taking the Cyclones to five bowls in the first six seasons of the decade. Included in that run were two near-misses where the Cyclones legitimately could have made a championship-game appearance with more consistent kicking. Athletic director Jamie Pollard went for the sizzle when he hired Gene Chizik to replace McCarney. He now appears to have found a McCarney clone with steady Paul Rhoads in charge.

12. Baylor: The last decade will be marked by an incredible series of building projects at Baylor, but still no bowl game. The Bears appeared poised in 2009 before Robert Griffin's unfortunate season-ending knee injury. Art Briles turned down a couple of intriguing possibilities to remain at Baylor and try to stem the bowl drought, currently at 15 seasons and counting.

Only two coaches who started the decade coaching in the Big 12 were still in their jobs at the end of it.

Bob Stoops has helped turned Oklahoma into a consistent national power and Mack Brown has done the same with Texas. Both won national championships during the decade and also took their team to bowl games each season.

Their stability and staying power are the major reasons the Longhorns and Sooners have dominated the Big 12 during the decade.

The rest of the conference wasn't quite as fortunate.

Here's my list of the top-10 coaches of the past decade in the Big 12.

1. Bob Stoops, Oklahoma: Stoops and Brown have the same number of victories (110) during the decade. Texas actually has a better winning percentage. But Stoops gets the nod because of his consistent coaching excellence with six Big 12 titles over the decade, a national championship in 2000 and an unprecedented three-peat of conference championships from 2006-08.

2. Mack Brown, Texas: Brown had the best winning percentage and is tied for the most wins with Stoops during the decade. He's won two Big 12 titles in three trips to the championship game. Most importantly for his job security, he's turned around his slump in the Red River Rivalry after an earlier five-game losing streak to Stoops. Texas has won four of the last five games against the Sooners as Brown has boosted his program to arguably its highest point in history.

3. Bill Snyder, Kansas State: People forget how dominant the Wildcats were in the early part of the decade, when they won at least 11 games in three of the first four seasons. That run was punctuated by the 2003 Big 12 championship team that was memorable in that Snyder overcame an early-season three-game losing streak. Snyder came back rejuvenated and appears to be ready to continue his career after taking the Wildcats into unexpected North Division title contention in 2009. And he's headed to College Football Hall of Fame after his career ends.

4. Mike Leach, Texas Tech: Before his abrupt firing before the Valero Alamo Bowl last month, Leach had taken the Red Raiders to a bowl game every season in his career there. The Red Raiders never advanced above the Cotton Bowl in the Big 12’s pecking order and earned a share of one South Division title. But he sure made things interesting when he was coaching, and was the main figure in the Big 12's transformation into a cutting-edge passing conference.

5. Gary Barnett, Colorado: At the time of his firing, he had taken the Buffaloes to four Big 12 title games in five seasons, including the 2001 championship. Colorado has made one bowl trip since Barnett’s demise. I'm still surprised he hasn't gotten another opportunity after his dismissal.

6. Gary Pinkel, Missouri: After a slow start, he’s averaged nine wins over the last five seasons, and twice taken the Tigers to the Big 12 title game. In the process, his players have said the death of former player Aaron O’Neal has helped transform him into a more caring, compassionate leader -- a marked contrast from some of the recent events in coaching at other schools in the conference and beyond.

7. Mark Mangino, Kansas: Made history by taking the Jayhawks to back-to-back bowl trips for the first time in school history, including a 12-1 season in 2007 that earned him national coach of the year honors. The seven-game losing streak at the end of the 2009 season doomed his program's chances and led to his resignation.

8. Bo Pelini, Nebraska: In two-plus seasons with Nebraska, he’s already won three bowl games and taken the Cornhuskers to the Big 12 title game. More importantly, he’s reawakened the passion of Nebraska fans with a crowd-pleasing defensive style.

9. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State: Has led Oklahoma State to the exact same winning percentage -- .571 -- as his predecessor, Les Miles. Gundy gets the edge because he’s claimed two bowl victories while Miles won one. Both whiffed in every game against Texas.

10. Dan McCarney, Iowa State: Before he was fired after the 2006 season, McCarney had turned around fortunes for the long-struggling Cyclones program. In the process, he won the 2000 Insight Bowl -- the school’s first bowl victory -- among a run of five bowl trips in six seasons. And he might have taken the Cyclones to their elusive first division championship if they had a more reliable kicker.