One Big 12 Coach Makes Athlon Sports’ List of Next First National Championship Coach

Athlon Sports ranked the top 10 coaches to win their first national championship during the 2025 college football season. There were some big names in their Top 10 list, but none were in the Big 12 Conference.

The Top 3 listed were Texas‘ Steve Sarkisian at No. 1, followed by Penn State’s James Franklin and Oregon’s Dan Lanning. Then, it was Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman, LSU’s Brian Kelly, and moving down from there was Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, Miami’s Mario Cristobal, Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, with Tennessee’s Josh Heupel and Michigan’s Sherrone Moore rounding out the Top 10.

No Big 12 names.

But then, came the list of “The Next Tier/Longshots”, which included one Big 12 coach: Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham.

Here was the full list:

Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State
Shane Beamer, South Carolina
Bret Bielema, Illinois
Curt Cignetti, Indiana
Mike Elko, Texas A&M
Billy Napier, Florida
Matt Rhule, Nebraska
Lincoln Riley, USC

Arizona State’s 2025 Prospects

After finishing as Big 12 Champions in 2024 and taking Texas down to the wire in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, the Sun Devils will be a trendy pick to win the Big 12 in 2025. However, the Big 12 hasn’t had a back-to-back champion since Oklahoma in 2020.

But Kenny Dillingham returns 17 starters for the 2025 season. This includes 10 defensive starters. Among the returning players are key figures like quarterback Sam Leavitt, wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, and linebacker Keyshaun Elliott.

Dillingham is the 26th head coach in Arizona State football history, replacing Herman Edwards in November of 2022. After a 3-9 season in 2023 in the Pac-12, Dillingham went 11-3 in 2024 in Year 1 in the Big 12.

However, the Big 12 remains as wide-open as its ever been, with half the league likely having a strong case to be the team to come out on top in the conference in 2025.