Three Takeaways from OKC Dave’s 2022 Fan Survey

OKC Dave’s OSU Fan Survey will be old enough to drive next year.

This year, 1,476 people took part in the annual tradition that, in a lot of ways, kicks off the Oklahoma State school year. You can view the full results of Dave’s 2022 survey here. Here are some of my takeaways from it.

Desiring the Expanded Big 12

One of the more surprising stats to me was that 54.5% of OSU fans desire for OSU to stay in an expanded Big 12 once the dust of conference realignment settles. That’s up from just 10.2% last year.

That says a lot of how the Big 12 was able to stabilize over the past 12 months that more people now want to stay in the Big 12 as opposed to the going to the SEC or Big Ten, which combined come out to 45% of voters. Some of this probably has to do with the fact that it seems the most likely option at this point. People have come to grips with this being the future. But regardless, a year ago, the building was burning down.

When Dave gave the same prompt last year, 61.6% of people desired the Big Ten (the SEC wasn’t an option), and 21.6% of fans wanted OSU in the Pac-12 (LOL). The demise of the Pac-12 and the Big 12 adding quality schools in UCF, Houston, BYU and Cincinnati really has things looking up in Big 12 land.

Presley Goes Back-to-Back

For the second year running, Brennan Presley is OSU fans’ favorite offensive player. He joins Mason Rudolph as the only player to win that honor multiple times on the survey since 2009.

Rudolph did it three years in a row (2015, 2016 and 2017), but I feel like the quarterback is kind of supposed to be everyone’s favorite — not an undersized slot receiver. And Presley won by a lot, too. The 45% of the vote he got is highest since Justice Hill’s record-setting 67% in 2018.

For any local business owners wondering which Cowboy to have endorse their business NIL-style, Dave has already done the work for you.

For those wondering, Collin Oliver, Trace Ford and Brock Martin went one, two, three as favorite defensive players. That is wild because all three of those guys play the same position.

Basketball Approval Rating Finally Takes a Hit

Oklahoma State basketball has had a tough time gaining momentum since the latter years of the Travis Ford-era (shoot, it probably goes back to Eddie).

It just seems like at every turn, something is there to stop any momentum in its tracks.

The Brad Underwood year was fun. Then Brad Underwood jetted out as soon as he possibly could.

Mike Boynton was awesome in his opening news conferences. Then the FBI news dropped before he could even coach a game.

Cade Cunningham, a generational talent, came to Stillwater. But, a freaking pandemic made seeing him in Gallagher-Iba Arena limited.

Last year was weird. Did OSU do enough to get into the NCAA Tournament? Probably not. Would things have gone differently if there wasn’t an NCAA Tournament ban? It’s impossible to say.

With all that said, Mike Boynton and OSU basketball’s ratings have gone down this year. For the past three years, fans were most excited for the future of the men’s basketball program. This year, men’s basketball ranks fourth behind football, softball and baseball. Boynton was the highest-ranked coach/administrator last year. This year he is seventh. Boynton still has a 70% approval rating entering the 2022-23 school year, but that is down from 96% a year ago.

Winning cures all, and with the tourney ban behind them, maybe the Cowboys can get to doing that more often this season.