Five Things Chad Weiberg Said About OSU’s Football Head Coaching Search

Cowboy fans have had plenty of questions about the search for OSU’s next head football coach. The school tried to answer some of them, even if some of those answers were effectively “you’ll have to wait and see.”

Oklahoma State put out an interview with athletic director Chad Weiberg about the search to replace all-time winningest head football coach Mike Gundy. In it he addressed several things about the hiring process, starting with specifics on a connection with another recent hire.

1. Same Firm as Lutz

Cowboy fans might be riding a little high after OSU basketball’s win over a ranked Auburn team (preseason or not), but the Lutz era is at least promising. So, it doesn’t hurt to tie the football coaching search into the hoops search whenever appropriate and available.

OSU has employed a search firm, and Weiberg named the group as Turnkey and mentioned OSU’s experience with the organization. The school used them “in the men’s basketball search as well.”

The Pokes haven’t quite punched a ticket to the NCAA Tournament, but things are at least nominally looking up. Hopefully that positive energy can blead over into a program that’s desperately craving it.

2. Timing Was Intentional

Outsiders observing the dip in OSU football over the last three-ish years probably weren’t that shocked by Gundy’s firing, but some took umbrage with the timing. Weiberg addressed that, as well.

“Part of the benefit of getting the process early is, they will only take on so many searches in a cycle,” said Weiberg. “Again, I think we could have picked any number of them [firms] but in this case, I think we got to go into the market and have our choice.”

Maybe that’s oversimplifying the timeframe, but it’s a valid point. As much respect as the Cowboys want to put on Gundy as the GOAT, Weiberg needs to thing about the future and nailing down a quality coach when available — and adequately vetting those candidates.

3. It Might Take a Minute

Again, people want to know which sexy NFL coordinator with a school tie Weiberg and Co. are talking to, but it’s even more important that OSU brass keep their card close. But it’s not because they’re teasing you.

“I hope everybody understands is we’re working on this every day,” said Weiberg. “It is a top priority. Just because you’re not hearing about it doesn’t mean that nothing is happening. There’s a lot happening. Um, but we’re not going to talk about it. And that’s not so much because we’re trying to keep it from our people, but it is about being able to have a very strong pool of candidates.”

We’re early into a long head coach replacement process. But OSU is confident in Chad Weiberg and is going to give him the opportunity to play the process out. Of course, his tenure at OSU is largely going to be defined based on this decision. I guess we can extend him a bit of patience.

4. But Weiberg Has a Timeframe Goal

Although this search will take time, there are also some looming dates that it is important to have things at least relatively in place by.

The early signing period for high schoolers opens Dec. 3 and closes Dec. 5. The Cowboys have seen much of their 2026 recruiting class reopen their recruitment, but some have noted they’ll still keep an eye on OSU as it pertains to their next coach.

The most important date, though, is Jan. 2 — the day the transfer portal opens.

Weiberg said he wants to move on a hire as soon as that hire is done with whatever his season is.

“That doesn’t leave a lot of time in the start of the high school signing period, but it does give you time before the new portal window opens on Jan. 2,” Weiberg said. “So, we’ll have to see how all that plays out and work that as best we can. …

“If I were king of the world, we’d make an announcement the Sunday after the regular season ends, whatever that looks like. I know there’s conference championship games and all that, that could factor it, so that extends what a, quote, unquote, regular season can look like for some people.”

5. Penn State’s Impact on This Job

It’s likely just the modern age of college football, but there have been a lot of midseason coaching moves made this year.

What many would consider to be the biggest opening is at Penn State after the Nittany Lions’ brass let go of James Franklin.

OSU moving as early as it did allowed the university to get ahead of some of these schools that are just having openings in terms of getting ducks in a row. That could be a benefit to whatever string of dominoes the Penn State move sets off.

“Any time another job opens, it has the potential to do that (impact the search),” Weiberg said. “I don’t know that we’ve seen an impact on our search yet because of the Penn State opening, but I think they’re early in their process. So I don’t think that we know yet, for sure, what direction they’re moving in or who’s at the top of their list, or who they’re interested in, or anything like that.

“But what is interesting about all these searches is the domino effect that it creates. Depending on who Penn State may hire and at what point — I’m guessing they’re up against the same sort of thing in terms of candidates being in the middle of their season. So, timing plays a factor in this, but depending on who they hire, does that create another opening that then is in the market for a coach? And what are all the domino effects on how that plays out?”