The Oklahoma State job is on the open market for the first time since the winter of 2000, after four successful seasons of Les Miles led to 21 of Mike Gundy, but in many ways this is the first Oklahoma State coaching search. The job AD Chad Weiberg is selling in 2025 is not the same job his counterpart had to sell in 2000. Millions upon millions of T. Boone Picken's dollars turned into 21 winning seasons, eight 10-plus win seasons, 10 AP Top 25 finishes, six New Year's Six trips, and one Big 12 title. "The great thing is, I'm not having to talk to candidates about something that's never been done here before," Weiberg said in an interview on Oklahoma State's in-house podcast, another difference that would've melted minds back in 2000.
For starters, Oklahoma State has hired TurnkeyZRG, who helped place Steve Sarkisian at Texas, Jim Phillips in the ACC commissioner's chair and, more relevantly, Steve Lutz as the OSU men's basketball coach. "I think they do a really good job of compiling a lot of data and a lot of conversations to set the stage with the candidates," Weiberg said.
"Partly because of the runway we have on this search, we're able to cast a fairly wide net, however we want to look at that. We have a lot of interest in the job. I felt like we would going into it, and that certainly has been confirmed. It's a good job and it's being perceived as a good job," Weiberg said. Oklahoma State's facilities are at the top of the industry, and the fan base hasn't abandoned the program after two down years following 20-plus of near constant success. The great irony of Mike Gundy's success at Oklahoma State is that his downfall occurred not in darkness, but before the light of a full stadium -- coming off that 69-3 loss to Oregon, Oklahoma State filled Boone Pickens Stadium on a Friday night for the Tulsa loss.
FootballScoop can confirm Oklahoma State is talking to head coaches and assistants, with a sitting SEC assistant with ties to the program scheduled to speak with Turnkey earlier this week. However, the timing of the search seemingly downplays the candidacy of another current assistant with Cowboy ties: current Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, whose season ends more than a month after Weiberg's preferred hire date, and after the transfer portal opens on Jan. 2.
"Our goal is to be in a position to move once the regular season ends." Weiberg pinpointed Nov. 30, the Sunday after the conclusion of Oklahoma State's season, as the ideal date to announce a hire. So, if November ends and December begins without a new Head Cowboy, either Oklahoma State is waiting on someone still coaching, or the search -- which will be more than two months old by that point -- has fallen behind schedule.
A hot topic in coaching circles in the age of revenue sharing is the concept of offering coaches a lower guarantee with greater incentives. Would Oklahoma State consider such a model? Well, the candidate's agent will undoubtedly negotiate the highest possible guarantee for his client, so Weiberg indicated such a structure would likely depend on the leverage the prospective new hire would have. "That's something we have to look at exploring, but at the end of the day, you're in the market and you're competing in the market. It'll come down to who it is we're hiring and what it takes to hire them," he said. In short: if OSU hires a sitting assistant, maybe. If they hire an active head coach, probably not.
"This is an investment, and I feel confident that we're going to be able to make the investment we need to make to get this right. This is too important of a decision to not get it right with the best candidate we can bring in here," he said. For reference, Gundy's $6.875 million salary ranked fifth among Big 12 public-school coaches.
The new hire is going to be expensive for Oklahoma State, and it's also going to be expensive for Oklahoma State's robust fan base. The proverbial hat will be passed among donors and Regular Joe fans alike at the new coach''s introductory press conference, hopefully slated for early afternoon the Sunday after Thanksgiving. "It doesn't matter who we hire, if they don't have the resources to be competitive," Weiberg said, "they're not going to be."