Carlson: Oklahoma State is unique in Power Five football & should be celebrated for it
Jenni Carlson
Oklahoman
Tony Dungy hopes there’ll come a day when it’s normal for a Power Five football program to have offensive and defensive coordinators who are Black.
He wants that to be common all across college football.
But this season, it is the case in just two programs ― Oklahoma State and Louisville.
Surprised by the low number?
Dungy isn’t.
“I would say there’s a lot of African-American coaches that wouldn’t be surprised,” said the man who was the first Black head coach to win a Super Bowl and the first Black defensive coordinator in the NFL. “You think … it’s just not that big of a deal anymore.
“But it is.”
As the Cowboys prepare to kick off their season Thursday night, they will do so with an offense led by Kasey Dunn and a defense led by Derek Mason. Lots of Cowboy fans care about what Dunn and Mason will do – the loyal and true want to win, after all – but what these two Black men do now and in the future may have an impact that goes far beyond Stillwater or even Oklahoma.
“If Oklahoma State has some success, it will help college football,” Dungy said. “People will have to take a look at it and see, and that’s the exciting thing to me.”
When people look and see coordinators who are Black having success, the impact can be significant. Less than 20% of coordinator positions at Power Five programs are currently held by Black coaches even though a Sportico study indicated more than 70% of Power Five starters last bowl season were Black.
But for the Cowboys, the color of the coordinators’ skin has not been a big deal.
“First off, we hired leaders, men and coaches,” Cowboy head coach Mike Gundy said. “They just happened to be minorities. I didn’t go looking for that.
“I was looking for the fit.”
But Gundy also wanted his new defensive coordinator to learn the existing system instead of installing his own. Because Mason has done so much and has little to prove, Gundy felt he wouldn’t be inclined to come to Stillwater and change everything to try to leave a mark.
In the case of Dunn, Gundy promoted him in 2020 after Dunn had been the receivers coach for nine years. He knew the offense as well as anyone, and while he had never been a playcaller, Gundy believed Dunn could grow into that role.
“I was just telling Dunn the other day, which I try not to compliment him too much,” Gundy said tongue in cheek, “but he’s really good at what he does now. We’ve been very fortunate … because we’ve had good playcallers here on offense.”
And the best among them have gotten head coaching jobs. Dana Holgorsen left OSU to spend a year as the head-coach-in-waiting at West Virginia, a timeline that ultimately got accelerated. Todd Monken departed Stillwater to be head coach at Southern Miss.
Gundy believes Dunn is on a similar track.
“He’s ready to be a coordinator in the NFL,” Gundy said. “And he’s ready to be a head coach.”
Becoming a coordinator is an important step for any assistant coach who aspires to be a head coach. The coordinator doesn’t have all the responsibilities the head coach does, but he has way more than a position coach.
A coordinator is a bit like a head coach light.
It’s like taking the head coaching job for a test drive.
“People want to know, have you been in charge of a group? Can you lead a group?” Dungy said. “So when you become the coordinator, you’re basically in charge of that offense or defense or special teams, so you have that on your resume now – ‘Yeah, I’ve led a group’ – and then you can kind of look at the track record and see how that group did, any individual standouts, stats and everything.
“That kind of quantifies your work.”
And that can be especially important for Black coaches. Because there are so few Black head coaches at the highest levels of football – the NFL currently has three while the Power Five conferences have just nine, including Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame – the examples of successful Black head coaches are limited.
No doubt, they exist. Mike Tomlin is as good as they come in the NFL, and the likes of James Franklin at Penn State and David Shaw at Stanford have won a lot of games during their careers.
But the pipeline to head coaching jobs isn’t as big for Black coaches.
So getting a coordinator’s job, then having success can be crucial. A coach might have a great resume, but success as a coordinator validates it.
“It shouldn’t have to, but a lot of times it does,” Dungy said. “That’s the first step to people saying, ‘Well, this guy has a chance.’ So it is significant from that standpoint.”
But the significance goes beyond that.
Jenni Carlson
Oklahoman
Tony Dungy hopes there’ll come a day when it’s normal for a Power Five football program to have offensive and defensive coordinators who are Black.
He wants that to be common all across college football.
But this season, it is the case in just two programs ― Oklahoma State and Louisville.
Surprised by the low number?
Dungy isn’t.
“I would say there’s a lot of African-American coaches that wouldn’t be surprised,” said the man who was the first Black head coach to win a Super Bowl and the first Black defensive coordinator in the NFL. “You think … it’s just not that big of a deal anymore.
“But it is.”
As the Cowboys prepare to kick off their season Thursday night, they will do so with an offense led by Kasey Dunn and a defense led by Derek Mason. Lots of Cowboy fans care about what Dunn and Mason will do – the loyal and true want to win, after all – but what these two Black men do now and in the future may have an impact that goes far beyond Stillwater or even Oklahoma.
“If Oklahoma State has some success, it will help college football,” Dungy said. “People will have to take a look at it and see, and that’s the exciting thing to me.”
When people look and see coordinators who are Black having success, the impact can be significant. Less than 20% of coordinator positions at Power Five programs are currently held by Black coaches even though a Sportico study indicated more than 70% of Power Five starters last bowl season were Black.
But for the Cowboys, the color of the coordinators’ skin has not been a big deal.
“First off, we hired leaders, men and coaches,” Cowboy head coach Mike Gundy said. “They just happened to be minorities. I didn’t go looking for that.
“I was looking for the fit.”
Why Kasey Dunn and Derek Mason were fits at OSU
In the case of Mason, Gundy found an experienced coach who has been not only a Power Five defensive coordinator but also a Power Five head coach. Such a track record was important in taking over for Jim Knowles, who left for Ohio State after last season.But Gundy also wanted his new defensive coordinator to learn the existing system instead of installing his own. Because Mason has done so much and has little to prove, Gundy felt he wouldn’t be inclined to come to Stillwater and change everything to try to leave a mark.
In the case of Dunn, Gundy promoted him in 2020 after Dunn had been the receivers coach for nine years. He knew the offense as well as anyone, and while he had never been a playcaller, Gundy believed Dunn could grow into that role.
“I was just telling Dunn the other day, which I try not to compliment him too much,” Gundy said tongue in cheek, “but he’s really good at what he does now. We’ve been very fortunate … because we’ve had good playcallers here on offense.”
And the best among them have gotten head coaching jobs. Dana Holgorsen left OSU to spend a year as the head-coach-in-waiting at West Virginia, a timeline that ultimately got accelerated. Todd Monken departed Stillwater to be head coach at Southern Miss.
Gundy believes Dunn is on a similar track.
“He’s ready to be a coordinator in the NFL,” Gundy said. “And he’s ready to be a head coach.”
Becoming a coordinator is an important step for any assistant coach who aspires to be a head coach. The coordinator doesn’t have all the responsibilities the head coach does, but he has way more than a position coach.
A coordinator is a bit like a head coach light.
It’s like taking the head coaching job for a test drive.
“People want to know, have you been in charge of a group? Can you lead a group?” Dungy said. “So when you become the coordinator, you’re basically in charge of that offense or defense or special teams, so you have that on your resume now – ‘Yeah, I’ve led a group’ – and then you can kind of look at the track record and see how that group did, any individual standouts, stats and everything.
“That kind of quantifies your work.”
And that can be especially important for Black coaches. Because there are so few Black head coaches at the highest levels of football – the NFL currently has three while the Power Five conferences have just nine, including Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame – the examples of successful Black head coaches are limited.
No doubt, they exist. Mike Tomlin is as good as they come in the NFL, and the likes of James Franklin at Penn State and David Shaw at Stanford have won a lot of games during their careers.
But the pipeline to head coaching jobs isn’t as big for Black coaches.
So getting a coordinator’s job, then having success can be crucial. A coach might have a great resume, but success as a coordinator validates it.
“It shouldn’t have to, but a lot of times it does,” Dungy said. “That’s the first step to people saying, ‘Well, this guy has a chance.’ So it is significant from that standpoint.”
But the significance goes beyond that.
