Three Takeaways from OKC Dave’s Coaching Search Fan Survey

Unprecedented times called for an unprecedented OKC Dave fan survey, and now we have the results.

Dave Hudson conducted an Oklahoma State coaching search fan survey following the news that the program had parted ways with longtime coach Mike Gundy. There were 1,003 fans who submitted responses. You can see Dave’s full results (complete with graphs and breakdowns) here. Here are three things I took from the results.

1. Fans Were Ready for a Change, but Agreed Less on Timing

One of the prompts Dave provided was how much you agree or disagree with Gundy’s firing, and there was another prompt asking whether you agreed with the timing of the move.

Of the polled, 51.3% strongly agreed with the decision to move on from Gundy with another 29.7% selecting the “agree” category. That means 81% of those polled agreed to some extent that it was time to move on, while only 7.7% were in the “strongly disagree” or “disagree” camps.

But as far as the timing, there was no clear consensus — take a look at the graph:

So, 42.6% agree to some extent with the timing, while 22.3% are in the middle and 35.2% disagree with the timing.

I think that’s about what I expected in observing the discourse in the immediate aftermath. Most would’ve liked to see the program’s all-time winningest coach more gracefully ride off into the sunset, but the way things were going on the field made it feel like that would be somewhat difficult to do.

2. Attainability vs. Desirability for OSU’s Next Coach

You could want Nick Saban to be the Cowboys’ next coach, but that doesn’t mean it’s all that realistic.

I loved the way Dave set up this portion of the survey, asking fans which candidates they wanted and which candidates they though were actually attainable. Here are the two tables next to each other (1 = unattainable/undesirable and 5 = highly attainable/highly desirable):

That’s a lot to take in, so let’s break it down a hair.

Dave divided both lists at the 3.0 mark because anyone above a 3 would be more attainable/desirable in the eyes of voters. There were four coaches who fell into the categories of both desirable and attainable: Zac Robinson (Atlanta Falcons OC), GJ Kinne (Texas State HC), Collin Klein (Texas A&M OC) and Alex Golesh (USF HC).

It makes sense the fanbase would feel that way given those four names have been on just about every hot board since the job opened, so OSU fans have had a little time to daydream about what it would be like if one of those four was in charge.

I found it interesting that Robinson’s numbers and Kinne’s numbers were flipped, with the fanbase thinking Kinne is more attainable (4.0) than the NFL coordinator (3.6), but Robinson, a former Cowboy quarterback, is slightly more desirable (4.0) than the former Tulsa quarterback (3.6).

Former OSU offensive coordinator Todd Monken is highly desired, but fans are less certain the university could pry him away from being Lamar Jackson’s coordinator in Baltimore.

3. The Fanbase’s Top Qualities

Dave laid out a list of eight qualities for fans to rate in terms of importance. All of them ended up being important to the fanbase, but three pushed to the 4 threshold.

Strong recruiter — 4.4
Ability to fundraise — 4.4
Offensive innovator — 4.0
Proven winner/successful track record — 3.8
Program builder/long-term stability — 3.8
Player development — 3.6
Defensive identity — 3.4
Cultural fit/ties to OSU — 3.3

You could argue that a strong recruiter in 2025 also has to have the ability to fundraise. Player acquisition has always been important in college sports, but it feels especially important in an era where movement is so free-flowing.

And after years of watching elite offenses, Cowboy fans want to get back to that after some of the recent low-scoring seasons.

Perhaps the most interesting result of this portion is that “cultural fit/ties to OSU” was at the bottom of the list, though still desirable. When an OSU job comes open, there’s usually at least a decent chunk of fans wanting a former Poke to fill it (see Doug Gottlieb).

There is still some of that with Robinson being the most desired of the listed candidates, but Robinson also has the resume of a rising NFL coach that sets him apart from those sorts of questions that surrounded Gottlieb’s campaigns.

Fit is important in any job, but I found it interesting (and perhaps promising?) fans were more interested in other qualities.