The state of Texas is blessed with tremendous coaching at the college level, illustrated by 10 of the 13 FBS programs in the Lone Star State reaching bowl eligibility in 2024. Two teams made the College Football Playoff. In fact, at least one team from Texas has made the CFP over the last three seasons after missing out as a state from 2010-22. 

With the offseason in full swing, we wanted to rank the FBS head coaches in Texas by winning percentage. Note: Only FBS seasons count on this list and we used sports-reference.com for data. 

1. Rhett Lashlee, SMU 

Overall record: 29-12
Winning percentage: 70.7 percent 
Yrs as FBS head coach: 3
Conference championships: 1

The former offensive coordinator has helped the Ponies return to national prominence in only three years as a head coach. He’s 22-6 over the last two years with an AAC championship in 2023 and a berth into the CFP and the ACC championship in 2024. At 41, the Arkansas native is one of the top young head coaches in America. 

2. Jeff Traylor, UTSA 

Overall record: 46-20
Winning percentage: 69.7 percent  
Yrs as FBS head coach: 5
Conference championships: 2

Add in Traylor’s 175-26 record leading the Gilmer Buckeyes and he’s 221-46 as a head coach. He’s transformed the Roadrunners into a household G5 program despite only one bowl appearance before his arrival in 2020. Traylor’s led UTSA to two conference titles in Conference USA. 

3. Mike Elko, Texas A&M

Overall record: 24-14
Winning percentage: 63.2 percent  
Yrs as FBS head coach: 3
Conference championships: 0

Elko is still young in his head coaching career, but early signs suggest the Ivy League graduate is made for the main chair. He led Duke to back-to-back winning seasons in his two years in the ACC and marched the Aggies to eight wins in Year 1 in College Station. 

4. Steve Sarkisian, Texas 

Overall record: 84-52
Winning percentage: 61.8 percent  
Yrs as FBS head coach: 11
Conference championships: 1

A 34-29 record in five years as the head coach at Washington to start his career pulls Sark’s career winning percentage down, but he’s 33-10 over his last three seasons at Texas with a Big 12 championship, an appearance in the SEC championship game and two trips to the College Football Playoff under his belt. He’s widely considered the best head coach in Texas and amongst the Top 3 coaches in college football. 

5. G.J. Kinne, Texas State

 Overall record: 16-10
Winning percentage: 61.5 percent 
Yrs as FBS head coach: 2
Conference championships: 0

Kinne would be higher on the list if his one season as an FCS head coach at Incarnate Word counted towards his FBS winning percentage. Still, he’s led Texas State to two bowl trips after a decade-plus of not reaching a single postseason. The Bobcats are now a Sun Belt contender and a G5 program on the rise thanks in large part to Kinne. 

6. Joey McGuire, Texas Tech 

Overall record: 23-16
Winning percentage: 59 percent  
Yrs as FBS head coach: 3
Conference championships: 0

McGuire is the first Texas Tech head coach to lead the Red Raiders to three consecutive winning records in conference play to start his tenure since DeWitt Weaver was in charge when the program was in the Border Conference. That was in the 1950s. Steve Sloan, Spike Dykes, and Mike Leach couldn’t do it. 

7. Sonny Dykes, TCU

Overall record: 98-76
Winning percentage: 56.3 percent  
Yrs as FBS head coach: 15
Conference championships: 1

Dykes is the only coach on this list who has led a team to the national championship game. He won a conference championship at La Tech, led an eight-win season at Cal and was the first coach since the Death Penalty to lead SMU to a 10-win season before he arrived at TCU and took the Horned Frogs into the CFP and past Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl. 

8. Willie Fritz, Houston 

Overall record: 75-62
Winning percentage: 54.7 percent  
Yrs as FBS head coach: 11
Conference championships: 2

For our purposes, Fritz’s head coaching career began in 2014 when he led Georgia Southern to nine wins. He also resurrected Tulane football and is trying to do the same for Houston as the head man for the Cougars. But that doesn’t quite tell the full story. He won two national championships at Blinn Junior College, was 97-47 at Central Missouri and 40-15 at Sam Houston. Overall, he’s 251-129-1 as a college head coach, which is a 65.8 winning percentage.

9. Dave Aranda, Baylor 

Overall record: 31-30
Winning percentage: 50.8 percent 
Yrs as FBS head coach: 5
Conference championships: 1

The Aranda tenure at Baylor has been a strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde since arriving in Waco in 2020. The Bears won two games in his first year before exploding for a program record 12 wins in a 2021 campaign that included a Big 12 championship and a win in the Sugar Bowl. Baylor posted losing record in 2022 and 2023, but Aranda saved his job last year when the Bears went 8-5 and won their last six regular season games. 

10. Eric Morris, North Texas 

Overall record: 11-14
Winning percentage: 44 percent  
Yrs as FBS head coach: 2
Conference championships: 0

Morris is an offensive wizard who led Incarnate Word to a 24-18 record and a pair of conference championships in four years as an FCS head coach. The trajectory at North Texas is pointing upwards after leading the Mean Green to a bowl game in 2024. 

11. Scotty Walden, UTEP

Overall record: 4-12
Winning percentage: 25 percent 
Yrs as FBS head coach: 2
Conference championships: 0 

Walden has inherited a pair of tough jobs early in his head coaching career. He was 1-3 as the interim head coach at Southern Miss in 2020. But his record outside the FBS suggests it is only a matter of time before the energetic Walden turns it around in El Paso. He was 7-3 in one year in charge at East Texas Baptist and 26-14 with two conference titles in four years at Austin Peay. 

*Rice’s Scott Abell and Sam Houston’s Phil Longo are entering their first seasons as an FBS head coach.