Replacing Mike Gundy: What Is the Timeline for Oklahoma State’s Coaching Search?

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State is searching for a head football coach for the first time since 2005.

For context, the iPhone wouldn’t exist for 2.5 years.

Although considering Gundy’s introduction took place almost simultaneously when former Cowboys coach Les Miles was introduced at LSU, this will arguably be the program’s first search since 2000.

Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg was just a senior director of field operations for OSU back then. That was the same year Remember the Titans came out in theaters.

It sounds like OSU will make up for lost time with a lengthy search this time.

“Probably the biggest difference is more time,” Weiberg said when asked if this search would resemble the one for men’s basketball coach Steve Lutz. “But I think the most important thing is we run a high-integrity search. And the importance of that is, if everyone knows it’s going to be a high-integrity search, then your candidate pool increases. Because there are people out there that have jobs, and they might not want everyone to know they have interest in this job.”

Weiberg made it clear he would be in charge of the search, despite outstanding contract issues. It took six weeks for him to hire Lutz following Mike Boynton’s dismissal. This one will almost certainly take much longer.

Because, though Weiberg said he preferred not to describe his ideal candidate on Tuesday, he offered a few bread crumbs.

“Virtually, everyone that we’ll be looking at is going to be coaching (this season),” Weiberg said. “But (I) think that what this does is it allows us to be in a good position for moving as soon as they are finished with their coaching.

“But it also helps us be able to lay a lot of groundwork about our program, again, and get it ready for success. Answer those questions that any candidates may have about our program over the course of these next few weeks.”

Of course, an active football coach doesn’t narrow things down very much. Oklahoma State has a history of hiring coaches with existing connections to the university, including both Gundy and Miles.

“That can be a factor as I think, as it is, probably at any school,” Weiberg said. “It’s not the only factor. We’ve had a lot of success here right, with our, with our alums, and coach Gundy obviously being one of the best examples of that. But we’ve also had a lot of success here with non-alums. So we will be looking for the best person for the job, regardless of that.”

Weiberg said Gundy proved what Oklahoma State could be, and the AD stressed that capitalizing on that potential would take priority when candidates are evaluated.

“I’m going to be interested in seeing how they see building the program, building the vision for how they establish a winning program,” Weiberg said. “Look, we’ve proven that we can win here. … But there are things about the game that has changed. So I wanna hear what the vision is from any of our candidates with how they would approach that.”

In the hours between Gundy’s exit and Weiberg’s press conference, OSU commits had already begun decommitting to the program. Weiberg said the fallout on recruiting was a concern, but stressed that those same kids can recommit to the Cowboys in the future.

Considering the early signing period for football falls on Dec. 3 this year, OSU might be hard-pressed to have a new staff in place by then.

“I’m aware of the timeline and all the implications of that,” Weiberg said. “So, yes, that will all be in consideration, but not at the expense of getting who we think is the right coach for the long term.”

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