Gary Patterson has been winning football games for a long time. Tom Pennington/Getty Images
Texas college football has been a bit of a mishmash of late. Texas A&M has started well every year, then finished 8-4. Texas made a sexy coaching change, picking up Tom Herman and ditching Charlie Strong. Coach Development U. — aka, University of Houston — added Major Applewhite as the next potentially big thing.
For our purposes, Applewhite does not make our list, since he is a first-time head coach. But he could easily move up fast. As of today, here are the top five coaches in Texas FBS college football:
5. Frank Wilson, UTSA
This might seem high, but he is a terrific recruiter whose team got better in year one as the season went on. They went 6-7 after a bowl loss, but he showed things were headed in the right direction. He already has a signature win over Baylor this year, and his name will come up for a lot of future jobs.
He just edges out David Bailiff of Rice, who has a better overall resume but his teams have fallen off a cliff this year, and Matt Ruhle of Baylor, who was terrific at Temple but has yet to show he can do it in Texas and in the Big 12.
4. Chad Morris, SMU
Morris was OC at Clemson and a hot commodity. He has found success at SMU, where it is nearly impossible to recruit. Expect his name to pop up for every big job out there over the next couple years.
3. Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Sumlin has been consistent at A&M, a program which had a hard time winning before he showed up. But this is a big year, and any regression might mean he is out of work.
2. Tom Herman, Texas
Herman brought some magic to UH in two seasons, including a 13-1 mark and Peach Bowl win over Florida State. The team regressed slightly last year, but Herman was already eyeing the big prize in his mind: UT. Will he have success there? Would be shocking if he did not, although it might take more than a year or two.
1. Gary Patterson, TCU
All he does is win. In 16 full seasons, he has only two losing seasons and one .500 year. He has 10 seasons with at least 10 victories, and a Rose Bowl win, things Herman may eventually accomplish, but has not yet. All at TCU — not exactly an A-list program. Will go down as one of the state's all-time best.
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Astros keep doing this, and it’s getting hard to ignore
Jun 25, 2025, 10:01 pm
While the rolling Astros have a week of possible World Series preview matchups against the Phillies and Cubs, it’s the Rockets who made the biggest local sports headline with their acquisition of Kevin Durant. What a move! Of course there is risk involved in trading for a guy soon to turn 37 years old and who carries an injury history, but balancing risk vs. reward is a part of the game. This is a fabulous move for the Rockets. It’s understood that there are dissenters to this view. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, including people with the wrong opinion! Let’s dig in.
The Rockets had a wonderful season in winning 52 games before their disappointing first-round playoff loss to the Warriors, but like everyone else in the Western Conference, they were nowhere close to Oklahoma City’s caliber. While they finished second in the West, the Rockets only finished four games ahead of the play-in. That letting the stew simmer with further growth among their young players would yield true championship contention was no given for 2025-26 or beyond.
Kevin Durant is one of the 10 greatest offensive players the NBA has ever seen. Among his current contemporaries only Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic make that list. For instance, Durant offensively has clearly been better than the late and legendary Kobe Bryant. To view it from a Houston perspective, Durant has been an indisputably greater offensive force than the amazing Hakeem Olajuwon. But this is not a nostalgia trip in which the Rockets are trading for a guy based on what he used to be. While Durant could hit the wall at any point, living in fear that it’s about to happen is no way to live because KD, approaching his 18th NBA season, is still an elite offensive player.
As to the durability concern, Durant played more games (62) this past season than did Fred VanVleet, Jabari Smith, and Tari Eason. The season before he played more games (75) than did VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Alperen Sengun. In each of the last two seasons Durant averaged more minutes per game (36.9) than any Rocket. That was stupid and/or desperate of the Suns, the Rockets will be smarter. Not that the workload eroded Durant’s production or efficiency. Over the two seasons he averaged almost 27 points per game while shooting 52 percent from the floor, 42 percent from behind the three-point line, and 85 percent from the free throw line. Awesomeness. The Rockets made the leap to being a very good team despite a frankly crummy half-court offense. The Rockets ranked 21st among the 30 NBA teams in three-point percentage, and dead last in free throw percentage. Amen Thompson has an array of skills and looks poised to be a unique star. Alas, Thompson has no credible jump shot. VanVleet is not a creator, Smith has limited handle. Adding Durant directly addresses the Rockets’ most glaring weakness.
The price the Rockets paid was in the big picture, minimal, unless you think Jalen Green is going to become a bonafide star. Green is still just 23 years old and spectacular athletically, but nothing he has done over four pro seasons suggests he’s on the cusp of greatness. In no season has Green even shot the league average from the floor or from three. His defense has never been as good as it should be given his athleticism. Compared to some other two-guards who made the NBA move one year removed from high school, four seasons into his career Green is waaaaaay behind where Shae Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, and Devin Booker were four seasons in, and now well behind his draft classmate Cade Cunningham. Dillon Brooks was a solid pro in two seasons here and shot a career-best from three in 2024-2025, but he’s being replaced by Kevin Durant! In terms of the draft pick capital sent to Phoenix, five second round picks are essentially meaningless. The Rockets have multiple extra first round picks in the coming years. As for the sole first-rounder dealt away, whichever player the Rockets would have taken 10th Wednesday night would have been rather unlikely to crack the playing rotation.
VanVleet signs extension
Re-signing Fred VanVleet to a two-year, 50 million dollar guarantee is sensible. In a vacuum, VanVleet was substantially overpaid at the over 40 mil he made per season the last two. He’s a middle-of-the-pack starting point guard. But his professionalism and headiness brought major value to the Rockets’ kiddie corps while their payroll was otherwise very low. Ideally, Reed Sheppard makes a leap to look like an NBA lead guard in his second season, after a pretty much zippo of a rookie campaign. Sheppard is supposed to be a lights-out shooter. For the Rockets to max out, they need two sharpshooters on the court to balance Thompson’s presence.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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