Texas Football: What losing Baylor’s Matt Rhule would mean for the Big 12

Could the Big 12 be losing two head coaches heading into the 2020 offseason? Losing both could have a big impact on the Texas football program.

There was never really a point when there was a real threat of the Texas football program losing their head coach to the NFL of late. Any murmur that came about in the last two decades would’ve involved former Texas head coach Mack Brown, if anyone. Current head Texas football coach Tom Herman definitely would not be getting too much attention from the NFL at the moment.

However, a Big 12 foe of the Texas Longhorns football program could have their head coach poached by an NFL team. According to a report from ESPN’s David Newton, Baylor Bears 44-year-old head coach Matt Rhule is interviewing with the Carolina Panthers for their opening in the same position.

Rhule is one of a number of college football head coaches that is getting attention from the NFL right now. Oklahoma Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley is pretty constantly rumored to be a candidate to be the Dallas Cowboys next head coach if they were to ever part ways with Jason Garrett anytime soon.

According to a report from the NFL’s Ian Rapaport and Tom Pelissero, Riley is “highly” on the radar of Jerry Jones for the Cowboys. That could be two Big 12 head coaches that are taken out of the college football coaching ranks to move to the NFL.

Rhule and Riley coached the top two teams in the Big 12 this season. Baylor and Oklahoma met in the Big 12 Championship Game, with the Sooners coming out on top by stopping the Bears on their final drive. As a result, Oklahoma met the LSU Tigers in a College Football Playoff Semifinal game where they were dominated in the Peach Bowl.

Baylor is set to face the SEC runner-up Georgia Bulldogs in the same bowl game the Longhorns played in last season, the Sugar Bowl.

This is a distraction that has to be noticeable within the Baylor program to some degree. But this is not the first time that Rhule reportedly interviewed for an NFL head coaching job. Rhule interviewed with the Indianapolis Colts before they hired Frank Reich early in 2018.

Could this interview process that Rhule is apparently going through with the Panthers cause the Bears to lapse in the Sugar Bowl?

A lapse in the Sugar Bowl for Baylor could mean that the Big 12 goes undefeated against the SEC during the bowl season. Oklahoma already lost to LSU in the Peach Bowl and the Oklahoma State Cowboys were defeated by the Texas A&M Aggies in the Texas Bowl.

And this is a major trend from the Big 12 to have former head coaches leaving for the NFL. Last offseason, former Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach wound up getting that same position with the Arizona Cardinals after he saw the door in Lubbock.

TCU Horned Frogs head coach Gary Patterson reportedly “received votes” to be an NFL head coaching candidate last year. Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy had to address any potential interest he would have to coach in the NFL back in June too, according to the Tulsa World.

For a conference that seemingly plays such a different style compared to the NFL, the Big 12 is certainly getting a lot of interest from the pros to snag their head coaches away. The Big 12 has a number of programs that bring a lot of head coaching stability to the table. The Kansas State Wildcats were a good example of that before former head coach Bill Snyder retired after the 2018 college football season.

Furthermore, Rhule would be interviewing to replace the former Panthers head coach Ron Rivera heading into the 2020 offseason. Rivera is getting interest from other NFL openings, but it seems like the Panthers are looking to hit the reset button heading into the offseason.