How Gundy took a risk hiring Gleeson
Mike Gundy took a risk when he hired Sean Gleeson. It's not about Gleeson's lack of major-college coaching experience.
Or his limited time as an offensive coordinator.
Or his mere 34 years of age. His vitals upon arrival at Oklahoma State are nearly identical to Mike Yurcich's — he also had no major-college coaching experience and was only 37 years old, though he had been a coordinator for seven seasons compared to Gleeson's two — and we know what a smashing success Yurcich was.
So where's the risk with Gleeson?
It's lies in who Gundy didn't hire and the precedent it continues in his program.
The Cowboy head coach bypassed a guy who knows the offense as well as anyone, longtime wide receivers coach Kasey Dunn, and an OSU alum who has experience as a major-college offensive coordinator, offensive line coach Josh Henson. I'm on record as saying Dunn was the best option, but had Henson got the gig, I would've totally been on board.
“We've got guys on our staff who can do the same job,” Gundy said during a Signing Day interview on 247Sports.com. “I just felt in this case, we needed a guy to come in from the outside with a few new ideas.” Fair enough.
But why not hire Gleeson as the quarterback coach and let his new ideas flow from there?
We've long heard OSU has collaborative coaches. Assistants work together on recruiting, scheming, evaluating, game planning. No reason Gleeson couldn't have brought juice to Stillwater
without being the offensive coordinator.
Granted, Gundy likely went this way because he believed Gleeson the best for the job. Gundy felt it in his gut and went for it.
Still, Gundy has perpetuated a precedent with consequences.
Since 2010, when Gundy brought in Dana Holgorsen and the Air Raid, there have been three other offensive coordinators. Todd Monken. Yurcich. Gleeson. All have been outside hires.
No one has been promoted from within.
Now, when Monken was hired after the 2010 season, there wasn't an obvious candidate on staff. Doug Meacham, Gunter Brewer and Joe Wickline were all longtime OSU assistants, but none had extensive experience coaching the Air Raid.
Gundy went with Monken, who had been at OSU, then got NFL experience. Understandable. A couple years later when Monken left, Meacham and Wickline were still on staff and had three years' experience coaching the passing attack.
Gundy went with Yurcich, an unknown who Gundy felt could be retained. Understandable, too. But when Yurcich left last month for Ohio State, OSU had something it hadn't had since instituting the Air Raid — two qualified replacements. Gundy going outside the walls of Boone Pickens Stadium yet again indicates it will be hard for someone already on staff to ever get that coordinator job.
(And Gleeson being only 34 means he could stay even longer than OSU's previous Air Raid maestros.)
I suspect all of that a big reason why Henson left his alma mater. Sure, Texas A&M threw a ton more money at him, but the move is a lateral one.
Dunn has been linked to other jobs, too. Oregon was the biggest one but not to be coordinator. It was the receivers' job. It would've been another lateral move.
These guys perceive advancement opportunities aren't coming from within at OSU.
I understand Mike Gundy has to do what he believes is best for his program, then live with the consequences. After Henson left, for example, Gundy quickly hired Charlie Dickey, the longtime offensive line coach for Bill Snyder at Kansas State. Gundy rolled with that punch.
But this sets up a hard sell.
In the future, it may be difficult for Gundy to keep offensive assistants who aspire to be coordinators or head coaches. That path just doesn't appear possible at OSU.
You have to think that's why Dunn might be looking. He might not want to leave OSU, but he has long dreamed of being a head coach. To climb that ladder, he probably needs to be a coordinator. If he doesn't believe he can do that in Stillwater, he'll eventually have to go elsewhere.
Now, word is Dunn will soon get a big pay bump and a new title. Something like associate head coach. Gundy is probably taking money saved when Yurcich left and Gleeson was hired and giving it to Dunn.
Speaks to how vital he is to the Cowboys, but it also adds more questions as to why Gundy wouldn't just promote him to offensive coordinator.
Listen, every college football coach is risk averse. They have charts and graphs telling them what to do in certain situations. They want the highest chance at success with the lowest level of risk.
Mike Gundy is more risk taker than most. He hunts rattlers. He sports a mullet. He removes his shirt in front of large crowds.
But for this risk to pay off, he needs Sean Gleeson to be great. The new guy needs to leave no doubt bringing in an outsider is still worth it.
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok or view her personality page at newsok.com/jennicarlson.