Five Thoughts on a Wacky Wednesday for OSU Athletics

Since I started covering OSU Athletics as a student reporter at the O’Colly, there haven’t been many crazier days than Wednesday.

From sunrise to sunset, something was going on. Here are five thoughts on it.

1. OSU Lets Go of Its Coordinators

After OSU’s 52-0 loss in Boulder to finish Big 12 play 0-9, I don’t know that anyone really thought OSU was just going to run it back in regards to its coaching staff, but things lingered a while before any news started to leak out.

Finally, reports started surfacing that Kasey Dunn and Bryan Nardo were being let go. On a personal level, it stinks, but in terms of the business of college football, it was probably warranted.

The offense just couldn’t ever find solid enough footing under Dunn. The best finish OSU had in total offense in his five seasons was 46th in 2021. This past season was his worst to date in that stat, finishing 83rd nationally. Dunn more than deserved his shot as the Cowboys playcaller for how good he was as OSU’s wide receivers coach. It simply didn’t work out.

I feel for Nardo in that OSU turned away from the 3-3-5 defense he was brought into run after just one season. If you hired a guy from Gannon to run a specific defense, and then stopped running that defense, what was the point? Regardless, being the worst power conference defense in college football is a fireable offense.

2. Huge Hires, Portal Season

There’s been a sense of renewed optimism among the OSU fanbase since the reported staff changes, and that’s great considering how down the fans have been over the past three or so months. But, now a lot of work has to be done.

For starters, OSU needs not one new coordinator but two. Then the transfer portal opens on Monday, and OSU is going to need a lot of players out of it. This offseason OSU is going to have get at least two new coaches up to speed and implement their schemes to a swarm of new players. Gundy discussed after the Colorado game that they need to do a better job at figuring out who their team is in the spring and not letting that linger into fall camp (ala three-quarterback rotation of 2023). That sounds easier said than done when there is going to be so many new aspects to this team.

The portal and hires are also huge because, if this season was anything to go by, the fanbase is no longer OK with mediocrity as it might’ve once been before Gundy’s tenure. Gundy has built OSU into a winner, and its fans expect a winner. Maybe next season doesn’t end in a Big 12 title, but it also can’t end in a 52-0 shutout to go winless in conference play.

3. OSU’s Signing Day

What nearly got lost in all the madness of Wednesday was that the day started with OSU signing 18 players as part of the Cowboys’ 2025 class.

It was a fight to the finish that saw OSU land a couple of recruits in the days leading up and losing some, as well. The big news of the day was an unfortunate one for the Pokes. Jett Niu, a quarterback from Utah who committed in September, signed with Oklahoma after new Sooners OC Ben Arbuckle offered him the night before. It continued a string of gut punches that this season has brought OSU fans. Of course their lightly recruited quarterback commit was stolen by their most hated rival at the last second. Of all the quarterbacks, that one specific kid from Utah was who OU wanted?

The start to OSU’s defensive rebuild was evident in the Cowboys taking a trio of junior college defenders: defensive end Rashod Bradley, defensive end Chandavian Bradley and defensive back Chase Pinkston. The Cowboys also signed four wide receivers just hours before Dunn, also the receivers coach, was let go.

All and all, it was a classic OSU recruiting class — one that wasn’t all that high in the rankings but you expect a handful of guys to stand out from it in two or so years.

4. Is College Football Really Changing?

It wasn’t only a busy race to Signing Day in Stillwater — all over the map, high school kids were flipping left and right and playing a high-stakes game of musical chairs.

On top of that, this past weekend was rivalry week, and nearly every game ended in some sort of skirmish between teams. No one condoned the fighting. But in a world where we’re all worried about college football losing some of its identity, we have high school kids are flipping all over the place and rival schools getting into extracurriculars after a hotly contested game. I’m not sure college football has ever been more college football.

5. It’s Basketball Season, by the Way

Oh, and both of OSU’s basketball teams played on Wednesday.

Jacie Hoyt’s Cowgirls moved to 8-1 on the year by absolutely dismantling Houston Christian 93-39. Sophomore Stailee Heard was unguardable. She had 29 points and 10 rebounds, going 11-for-14 from the field and 7-for-7 from 3. Tenin Magassa joined in on the double-double party with 15 points and 10 boards.

While that was happening in GIA, the Cowboys got on the turnpike and went to Tulsa to beat the Golden Hurricane 76-55 in a game in which the Cowboys attempted only eight 3s. That’s the fewest 3s OSU has attempted in a game since Feb. 11, 2020 — prepandemic. You can find my full thoughts on that game here.