Report: OSU President Jim Hess Says Chad Wilberg ‘Will Be’ OSU’s Athletic Director

Chad Weiberg’s future as Oklahoma State’s athletic director had been in question, given he’s been working without a contract since the end of June, but university president Jim Hess this week went a long way in clearing some of that up.

Hess spoke at OSU-Tulsa on Thursday, where the Tulsa World‘s Eric Bailey was on hand. Hess gave a strong backing of OSU’s AD.

“Mr. Weiberg will be our athletic director,” Hess told the World. “I think there’s been a lot of questions about that over the summer. Mr. Weiberg will be our athletic director. And I’ve said it all during the summer that I would deal with it in due time. We had lots of other challenges, as I know and you know. I wanted to address those directly, but Mr. Weiberg will be our athletic director.”

That’s a much stronger stance on the matter than what was given at OSU’s most recent Board of Regents meeting, where Kyle Wray, OSU’s senior vice president for system affairs, said Weiberg’s contract would be “addressed in due time” without much more explanation.

Weiberg himself was asked about his contract situation at the news conference that was called after football coach Mike Gundy was fired.

“No, that is not something that’s completed and that’s something that I’m not worried about at this time,” Weiberg said. “I feel very good about where I’m at, I feel great about my relationship with President (Jim) Hess and his leadership of this university. Feel great about our board and the support from the board. So I’m not worried about that.”

It’s important the university gets its ducks in a row ahead of OSU’s first football coaching hire in two decades. This could be the next step in some university-wide alignment in Stillwater.