OSU’s recent hire changing defense
STILLWATER — Mike Gundy took his spot in front of the collection of media, offered a brief synopsis of Oklahoma State’s first three spring practices, then paused for questions. Silence.
“OK, that’s a wrap,” Gundy said with a smile that suggested he knew he wasn’t getting off that easy.
Gundy spoke to the media Friday evening for the first time since the Camping World Bowl on Dec. 28 in Orlando — and the world has turned a time or two since then.
Gundy fired one defensive coordinator, hired one who brought a different scheme to Stillwater, and began the search for a new quarterback to run the Cowboys’ cutting-edge offense.
Gundy didn’t spend much time talking about the firing of former defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer — “We just needed a change,” he said. “Just kind of needed some new blood, needed a change.” — but he got a little more chatty in discussing Spencer’s replacement, Jim Knowles, who came in from Duke in January.
“He’s doing really well,” Gundy said. “We don’t know each other real well. I didn’t have
a relationship with (Knowles) prior to him coming here. I’m standing back and watching him work. He’s enjoying the process of putting in his system, and what he and the other guys on the defense believe can be the most successful in this league.”
Gundy had a committee of individuals to help him through the interview process, and the 52-year-old Knowles won them over with his intelligence.
“I scanned the internet and looked for coaches who’d had success at schools that maybe hadn’t had the same talent as other schools, and he had been considerably successful for a number of years,” Gundy said.
“There were seven of us that interviewed, I think, seven different coaches.
“He’s a Cornell grad, he’s been a head coach in the Ivy League, been a Wall Street guy. Very intelligent. I have found that smart people generally become very good coaches. After his interview, I was somewhat satisfied that he’d be a quality defensive coordinator here.”
Knowles, who isn’t expected to speak to the media during spring practices, spent February and most of March getting to know his assistants and his personnel, but now he’s three practices into installing his 4-2-5 defense, trying to figure out which roles suit which players best.
“From a distance, I’ve watched more defense the last three practices than I have over my first 14 years, or 13 years — however many years I’ve been here,” said Gundy, who will enter his 14th season as OSU’s head coach in the fall. “I like the way our guys are operating. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. We’ve got to find what positions certain guys fit in, and how they can benefit our team the most on that side of the ball.”
Gundy compared Knowles’ defense to the system Gary Patterson has been successful with at TCU.
The scheme change brings some obvious differences for OSU’s personnel, like the move from three linebackers to two.
That has resulted in Kenneth Edison-McGruder moving from linebacker to one of the three safety positions. Justin Phillips, who started every game at outside linebacker last season, has moved to the middle spot, where he feels more comfortable.
And other changes will be sorted out over the next four weeks, leading up to the April 28 spring game.
“You’d like to think after spring ball,” Gundy said, “we’d have a pretty good idea of what direction to go as a team.”