“This wasn’t about pride. It was about survival,” stated a source close to the Oklahoma State athletic department. And when you have a $15 million buyout on the table, Mike Gundy’s firing makes it clear that the team was in crisis. Had Oklahoma State fired him after January 1st, 2028, his buyout would have dropped to $10 million. See the urgency? But one person who’s paying for the cardinal sin is Doug Meacham. 

Oklahoma State’s patience ran thin with Gundy. But how they wish they could whitewash all his wrongdoings, along with getting rid of Gundy. The biggest is his recruiting mishaps, the cost that interim head coach Doug Meacham will now pay off. 

On October 10, On3’s Oklahoma insider Parker Thune tweeted, “This is genuinely as low as I have seen a P4 program (at least one not named Kansas) in a longgggg time. They’re on Level 5 of try-anything mode.” But what’s the hoopla that upset the analyst with the Cowboys’ current state?

The original tweet read a report from analyst Shayne Trail. He shared, “Oklahoma State (1-4) just announced they will expecting to start senior Sam Jackson at quarterback… only issue is Sam Jackson is a wide receiver.” It has not even been a month since Gundy had to leave Oklahoma State. His mistakes have come to haunt the Cowboys. They have placed the QB baton in Sam Jackson’s hands going into this weekend’s game against Houston.

Earlier, Hauss Hejny was the starter in the opener. But he fell prey to a broken foot that immediately took him off the field. While Oklahoma State is yet to know about his return after surgery, they now count on Jackson. In the meantime, Zane Flores has been the starting quarterback for Oklahoma State. His stats? 77-140 (55%) for 696 yards, no passing touchdowns, and three interceptions while rushing for 114 yards and a score.

But the injury gods also cursed him, with an upper-body injury in the second half of Oklahoma State’s playoff against Arizona. Now what’s the issue with Jackson? Though he had stopped as a quarterback at TCU and Cal, Jackson has been a full-time receiver for the last two years. The last time he suited up as quarterback was on September 30, 2023, when Cal defeated Arizona State.

So, Gundy’s laid-back attitude on the recruiting trail could probably upset the fans. However, now that the former head coach is out of sight, out of mind, how is the new Oklahoma State quarterback dealing with the pressure?

Oklahoma State Cowboys’ reboot begins with a quarterback question mark

“There’s definitely some pressure on me but I handle pressure fairly well,” Jackson said. “I think the guys will go out there and play pretty good for me. I will go out there and play good for them. We’ve been fighting this whole year since January when I got here.” While the fans might still doubt Jackson donning the quarterback role, Oklahoma State’s interim head coach seemed to have complete confidence in Jackson. 

Meacham trusted the player and recruited him from the Chicago area to TCU. But what made the now-Cowboys coach take that risk? He saw Jackson as a clone of former Horned Frog quarterback Trevone Boykin. “But he reminded me on tape of Trevone Boykin. That’s what really stuck to me. He had an unbelievable release, huge hands. He had a light ball, and he can run, and he’s pretty twitched up,” said Meacham. 

While we have yet to determine whether the quarterback bet pays off, what about Oklahoma State’s decision on the next head coach? Right after Gundy left the Cowboys squad, a name immediately started to do the rounds. That was Zac Robinson, the 29-year-old Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator. After all, he has been one of the most celebrated quarterbacks in Oklahoma State’s history. 

But it looks like, at the moment, he is not taking up the head coaching role in college football yet. “I’ll kind of leave that and just focus on today and progressing this week,” said the former Oklahoma State Cowboys quarterback. It was not just him; UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor also turned down the head coaching offers. Let’s see how long Oklahoma State takes to find someone brave enough to fill Mike Gundy’s seat.