Tom Herman can thank an old friend for helping him land the Texas job.
After Kansas stunned Texas last November — their first win over the Longhorns since 1938 — Jayhawks' head coach David Beaty rushed the field alongside his players in a rare celebratory moment for a program who just won their fifth Big 12 game in the last eight seasons.
"It's great to send the seniors out like this," he said. "They've been through some struggles, some adversity, so it means a lot."
They were also sending Charlie Strong out. Though Strong may have been dismissed regardless, the loss in Lawrence all but guaranteed he'd be done after three disappointing seasons. Strong was fired a week later on Nov. 26. Tom Herman was hired on Nov. 27.
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Ten years ago, Beaty and Herman was assistant coaches at Rice. Though Herman didn't need Beaty or the Jayhawks' victory to earn a big-time job, it was still an interesting assist from an old colleague.
Here's a look at where each Big 12 coach was 10 years ago.
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Matt Rhule – Baylor
10 Years Ago: Quarterbacks Coach – Temple
Matt Rhule's jump from Western Carolina to Temple in 2006 was arguably the most important step of his coaching career.
He started as Al Golden's defensive line coach before moving to quarterbacks in 2007 and offensive coordinator in 2008, a position he held through the 2011 season, the first year after Al Golden left for Miami and was replaced by Steve Addazio.
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Matt Campbell – Iowa State
10 Years Ago: Offensive Line Coach – Bowling Green
Matt Campbell was a 27-year-old offensive line coach at Bowling Green in 2007. It was his first season as a full-time FBS head coach after spending two grad assistant years (2003-04) with the Falcons and two as offensive coordinator (2005-06) at Mount Union, his alma mater.
He stayed at Bowling Green for two years before taking the same position at Toledo, where he was promoted to head coach in 2012.
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David Beaty – Kansas
10 Years Ago: Receivers Coach – Rice
Like a growing number of FBS head coaches, David Beaty's career began coaching Texas high school football, which was doing as recently as 2005. A year later, Rice head coach Todd Graham hired the 36-year-old Texas native to be receivers coach.
He then went to Kansas, back to Rice, back to Kansas, to Texas A&M and — again — back to Kansas in 2015 as head coach.
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Bill Snyder – Kansas State
10 Years Ago: Retired
Ten years ago Bill Snyder was two years into his much-deserved retirement after rebuilding the nation's worst program. Little did he know that two years later he'd be back on the sidelines, trying to rebuild the Wildcats again, this time after Ron Prince crawled to 19 wins in three seasons.
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Lincoln Riley – Oklahoma
10 Years Ago: Receivers Coach – Texas Tech
No, Lincoln Riley wasn't playing Pop Warner 10 years ago. He's not that young.
But he was just a 23-year-old entering his first season as a full-time coach. He was a student assistant under Mike Leach at Texas Tech, his alma mater, from 2003-05 and grad assistant in 2006 before getting the receivers job in 2007.
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Mike Gundy – Oklahoma State
10 Years Ago: Head Coach – Oklahoma State
One of two Big 12 coaches who were in their current positions 10 years ago, Mike Gundy was entering his third season at his alma mater in 2007.
Only 40 years old at the time, Gundy had gone 11-13 in two seasons. He went 7-6 in 2008 before turning it on and winning at least nine games in seven of the next nine seasons.
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Gary Patterson – TCU
10 Years Ago: Head Coach – TCU
The second-longest-tenured head coach in the nation, Gary Patterson was already a coaching veteran in 2007. One of two current Big 12 coaches who were in their current position a decade ago (Gundy), Patterson already had 44 career wins entering the 2007 season.
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Tom Herman – Texas
10 Years Ago: Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach – Rice
Tom Herman and David Beaty were colleagues under Rice head coach David Bailiff in 2007. For the 32-year-old Herman, it was his first full-time FBS job. He was previously an assistant at Texas Lutheran (1998), grad assistant at Texas (1999-2000) and assistant at Sam Houston State (2001-04) and Texas State (2005-06).
Herman stayed at Rice for two years before jumping to Iowa State as offensive coordinator in 2009.
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Kliff Kingsbury – Texas Tech
10 Years Ago: Quarterback – Winnipeg Blue Bombers
That's quarterback — singular. Kliff Kingsbury was not a quarterbacks coach in the CFL; he was still playing quarterback.
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After playing at Texas Tech from 1998-2002, he bounced around the NFL for three seasons, only making one appearance for the New York Jets in 2005. That was followed by a year in NFL Europe and the one year in Winnipeg. Kingsbury's coaching career started a year later as an offensive quality control coach for Houston.
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Dana Holgorsen – West Virginia
10 Years Ago: Offensive Coordinator – Texas Tech
Dana Holgorsen and Lincoln Riley know each other well. Holgorsen was Texas Tech's receivers coach in 2002, Riley's final season on the roster, and the two became colleagues a year later when Riley joined the staff as a student assistant in 2003.
Holgorsen was offensive coordinator in 2007, his final season in Lubbock before taking the same position at Houston in 2008.
