That said, I'm not convinced the Big 12 is on that much of an upswing. Not that the conference is bad per se, but they need to win more OOC games and get a CFP win IMHO.
Do not get me wrong, I am not saying they will be the SEC of years ago but, I think that the schools who picked new coaches recently were smart in their choices and did so better better than other conferences. For example, The SEC a couple years ago just recycled coaches already in the conference and in my opinion the SEC hurt itself as a conference doing so.
Time will tell but, I think after a couple years when these coaches get settled the Big XII is going to be in a better place.