The Similarities and Differences of OSU and K-State for Charlie Dickey

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State and Kansas State aren’t all that different.

Both are state schools and both are in towns with about 50,000 people in them. OSU’s new offensive line coach Charlie Dickey didn’t experience a culture shock moving four hours south, but one thing that will be loads different is the offense he is coaching in.

The Bill Snyder-era Wildcat offenses weren’t nearly as spread out and fast-paced as what Mike Gundy does in Stillwater. It’s an adjustment Dickey will have to make with his 31 years of coaching experience, but Dickey said it’s a welcome one at the media golf outing Monday.

“That was probably the biggest transition for me, and one of the most exciting things for me, was being able to be a part of this offense because Coach Gundy’s offenses have been some of the best in the country — period,” Dickey said. “They’ve been awesome. I wanted to be a part of that.

“At Kansas State, we were ground-and-pound. We were a lot of quarterback run game. And also just taking as much time off the clock as we could, so we could keep the ball away from other offenses. Just slowing down and that type of stuff. Here, it’s playing fast and teaching my guys to get up and make the calls and get the points. That was different.”

Dickey said having veterans linemen like Marcus Keyes and Johnny Wilson have helped him transition to the up-tempo style, being that he can resource the pair for how they did things in the past. Dickey said Cowboy backs coach Jason McEndoo has also helped with that adjustment.

Although Snyder’s and Gundy’s offenses might be on different ends of the spectrum, their coaching styles seem to be growing more similar.

Gundy has talked about being more disciplined and hard-nosed to anyone with ears this offseason. Dickey said Snyder was demanding on his players and assistant coaches to get better every day and not be satisfied.

“There’s a lot of similarities between these two programs and maybe the personalities are different, but the first day I got here, the first day, our first staff meeting, Coach Gundy talked about us being a more tougher, more physical, more disciplined football team,” Dickey said. “That’s all Coach Snyder ever talked about. Those are the things he would talk about — being the toughest, most disciplined team out there. It was like hearing the same thing. That’s what we’re stressing, and that’s what we want to be. That’s what we’re trying to be this year at Oklahoma State.”