Chad Weiberg’s Five-Year Vision for OSU Athletics

Chad Weiberg has been in his role as OSU’s athletic director for nearly three weeks now, but his vision — which he laid out in part when he formally transitioned to the role once-occupied by Mike Holder — will take years to unfurl in Stillwater.

Weiberg sat down with Jessica Morrey when he took over the job and expounded upon said vision, and as I was watching the video I started taking notes (and figured a short blog was in order).

Weiberg is inheriting a well-oiled machine with entrenched coaches in softball, football and basketball, so it’s not as if some major overhaul is in order. That’s where he started with his vision: keeping things operating at a high level and not trying to fix something that is not broken. He then dove into the changes taking place in college athletics and how he intends — with an ever-shifting landscape — to manage OSU at the top.

Weiberg’s vision

“I think that’s another thing that Coach Holder leaves as part of his legacy,” Weiberg said. “The ability to continue what we’ve been doing here. Nothing needs to be fixed or anything like that. It’s our vision, it’s not about me or my vision, but it’s about our vision, and that really comes first and foremost by having great people here. Whether that is our head coaches, assistant coaches, support staff, the people around our student-athletes. It starts there. What I hope we do is continue to do what it is they think is the right thing to do with their programs for the student-athletes to continue to move us forward.”

The priority at OSU

“The No. 1 thing is, has been and will always be the student-athlete and the student-athlete experience,” said Weiberg. “These are the sons and daughters of parents who bring them to school here. They trust they’ll have a great experience here, and that’s exactly what we want to give them.

“Part of that is being able to compete for championships. We believe that is part of the great experience. We will continue to do everything we can from a resource perspective to try and give our programs what it is they need to compete for those championships. A big part [coming out of COVID] is how we deploy our resources, how do we manage our resources in a way that matches the time and the new things that are coming on into the college landscape and recover from COVID.”

Where he sees OSU in five years with NIL era changing

“There is so much change going on right now it’s hard to wrap your mind completely around,” Weiberg said. “… What I’m confident in goes back to the people we have here in this department. We’ve already rolled out some things for the student-athletes in preparation for the NIL. I couldn’t feel better and more comfortable about what it is we have in motion and what we continue to work on as these things come along and as things change.”

How OSU roots will help him

“I’m an OSU fan,” said Weiberg. “Being from here I know [what makes OSU unique]. I feel like that gives me an advantage in that regard. It is a passion for me. It is in so many ways more than a job for me. Hopefully that translates into something good.”

Weiberg also gave a hearty update on his vision earlier this month (which Marshall covered extensively here) where he talked about facility upgrades for wrestling, softball and track as part of a masters facilities plan currently in the works. No timetable here, and as Weiberg notes it’ll be dependent upon how much support those projects get.

“We do have a facilities master plan and will continue to work on that plan,” Weiberg said. “I’m not going to stand up here and tell you exactly the order of it, but we have been public with the fact that a wrestling training facility is one of our priorities. Because of the success we’ve had in softball, we know we need and want to address that facility as well. One of the final major pieces of the master plan is an indoor track. We’ve got to have a facility where our track student athletes can train when it is cold and raining.”