Skyler Cassity Impressed Eric Morris as GA, Now His Career Came ‘Full Circle’ in Legendary BPS Debut

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STILLWATER — Saturday was a homecoming of sorts for Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity.

​His father, Mike Cassity, spent two seasons on the Cowboys staff in 1999 (co-defensive coordinator) and 2000 (defensive coordinator). So Skyler has memories of growing up around the program and had plenty of family in town to watch the 39-31 win over then-No. 6 Oregon.

“That was as good as a first home debut as you can have, obviously,” Skyler said. “The expectation to come and execute against a high-level opponent and do it by playing great defense and really showing that the standard that this program can play. And really setting the standard of what the expectation is around here.”

Despite facing two FBS teams in the first two weeks, Cassity’s defense ranks 18th on third down, allowing a first down only 24% of the time, and 22nd in the red zone, allowing points 67% of the time.

OSU offensive coordinator Sean Brophy has had a front-row seat to watch Cassity work for over a year now, but even he found himself in awe of Saturday’s dominant defensive showing against Oregon.

“I don’t think you can give enough credit to Skyler or our entire defensive staff for their effort on Saturday,” Brophy said. “I don’t know if I could even imagine holding Oregon under 300 yards of offense.”

Despite the close score, several national college football personalities agreed with PFB’s official stance that the Ducks were lucky the game didn’t turn into a complete Oklahoma State rout.

“He provides a ton of different issues schematically,” Brophy said. “He does have some very sophisticated schematical packages that he can get to. He also provides the illusion of complexity in a way that offenses like to do as well.

“He gets his guys to play fast. He gets them to play hard. The guys believe in Skyler. They love Skyler and that entire defensive staff. I think that’s what showed to me. He did a phenomenal job as a coordinator, coordinating the attack from a schematics approach. But watching how hard our defensive line played, watching our linebackers run side-to-side and chase that ball across the field. Watching our guys win their one-on-one matchups. To me, that’s a sign of a great coach because he’s inspired them to play and get every single ounce of ability out of them and in certain instances, probably play above what they might normally be able to do.”

Malik Charles has had a few defensive coordinators by this point (last year he had two). Although he had no idea what Brophy was saying on the other side of the room during Tuesday’s interview sessions, the two might as well have mind-melded because the defensive end said Cassity had the unique ability to connect with and motivate his players.

“He makes the defense so easy to understand,” Charles said. “For me, I was hurt all spring. Coming back in the summer, I was learning the whole playbook, and him and G. Rich (defensive line coach Greg Richmond) made it so easy for me to learn how to do everything, that by the time we got to camp all I had to do was shake off the old habits I had. But I already knew the whole playbook. It made so much sense to me because the way they explained it. Having a coach that is also just so down to earth and so personable, it’s easy to want to play for him.”

Cassity’s own playing career came to an abrupt halt when he had surgery ahead of his junior year of high school for what he describes as a “chest deformity.” His high school coach allowed him to work with the wide receivers and defensive backs as an assistant coach of sorts.

“It wasn’t what I wanted to happen,” Cassity said. “Obviously, I wanted to continue to play and continue to go compete, and I’m a very competitive person in that regard. It’s one of those things where you have to take the punch and find your new avenue.”

He then went to Auburn as a student assistant under Gus Malzahn.

“I knew watching my dad grow up and all the impacts that he’s had in coaching … there was no doubt in my mind that that is what I wanted to do with my life,” Cassity said. “G. Rich is an example. My dad coached G. Rich (at Oklahoma State) so just full-circle moment in that regard of all the people he was able to impact in his life.

“And I wanted to get a jump on it, so obviously I started coaching my high school and actually went to Auburn just to try to get into the football program, knowing that that was an up-and-coming program, had just won a national championship, and I was determined to get my foot in the door in any way shape or form and off it went.”

Eric Morris first worked with Cassity at Texas Tech in 2017. Morris was the offensive coordinator when Cassity showed up as a grad assistant.

“I always love watching young coaches work, and it usually doesn’t take me long to figure out that they’re going to be good,” Morris said. “And I’ve never been afraid to hire young people if I thought they’re best for the position.

“So I remember watching him and the way he prepared, and he didn’t have the responsibilities to know he’s going to be a great coordinator, but he’s been around football his whole life, his dad was a coordinator at all these different stops. I think he understood what his role was and he maximized it, and I think people start asking when you do really good work in support staff roles in the office as a GA or quality control or whatever you call them, people on the staff start asking you to do more and more, and that was something I noticed about him at a young age.”

Morris just had that one year with him, then he was off to his first head-coaching gig at Incarnate Word while Cassity remained a GA for another two years before getting his first position gig coaching linebackers, nickels and safeties at Missouri State.

His first coordinator job came in 2022 at Abilene Christian.

“I think where I really noticed him was I’ve been in the Southland Conference and seen ACU, and I kind of knew how that conference worked,” Morris said. “So to watch the turnaround they had in the modern era with not a lot of resources, not money, … then get his opportunity at Sam Houston. Kind of similar situation, you know, Sam Houston was just making the transition up to Bowl Series and to watch them come out and just dominate on the defense side. Same situation.

“You know, Sam Houston wasn’t paying a ton of players in the transfer portal to come in there, so that, those were kind of the things that caught my eye. And then started studying tape and kind of watching what he he was doing, and that’s why I thought he’d be a great fit for us at North Texas, and just super impressed just by the way he works, and really I think the way he demands the room, and he has the respect of his staff in that room, is something that has been really, really noticeable.”

It only took Cassity two years to move from position coach to coordinator and only two seasons running defenses at the FBS level to get his shot at the power conference level.

Based on the early returns, Cassity has more than delivered on all the potential he showed along the way. Although much of his attention focused on the field during Saturday’s win, Cassity said he noticed the environment OSU fans created inside Boone Pickens.

“It’s funny, I’ve spent so much time here throughout the years,” Cassity said. “It’s funny to be on the (home) sideline. I’ve been on the opposing sideline, unfortunately, so it was nice to be on the home sideline and have the crowd cheering with you on third down as opposed to against you.

“It was awesome. Obviously, we can’t understate the value of the fans and what they were able to do. … It affected their communication, affected their ability in snap counts, and all different kind of things. The home field advantage was obviously a big dynamic.”