Practice Report: Gundy Sees Dunn Settling in as Offensive Coordinator
STILLWATER -- When you get a new job, you get more responsibility, a big break in your career there are always those moments that it becomes real. I'm guessing there have been multiple moments like that this last seven months. The first time Kasey Dunn was called on as offensive coordinator in a staff meeting, the first time he led the offensive staff meeting, the first practice where he called plays, and many more.
Dunn and the Cowboys practiced last night after reviewing scrimmage video on Saturday. There was no practice on Monday, but I did see Dunn's newest wide receiver walking around inside the West End Zone as former Washington State Cougar Tay Martin was COVID-19 tested and was getting his physical and also dealing with the paper work associated with a transfer and getting set up for school and everything else.
Tay Martin has arrived and is settling into school at Oklahoma State.
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Head coach Mike Gundy said today to the media that the Cowboys have a lot to do here in the last 19 days before kicking off inside Boone Pickens Stadium with Tulsa.
Surely some of that is on offense and another moment where it may all have become more real for Oklahoma State's veteran assistant coach and now new offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn may have been Friday, Aug. 21. Oklahoma State was scrimmaging for the first time in this preseason and instead of being down on the field coaching up his wide receivers, Dunn was taking the elevator upstairs to the coaches booth because that is where he will be from now on game days.
"Coordinators will always be upstairs from this point moving forward," head coach Mike Gundy told the media in his Monday Zoom conference.
Dunn going upstairs was a symbolic instance. Dunn is now the Cowboys offensive coordinator as well as associate head coach, a title he picked up before the 2019 season. It is this title, offensive coordinator and play caller that Dunn really wanted.
Dunn wearing game day attire for the coaches, but sporting his practice hat which is a classic.
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"This is the position that we knew we wanted for a long time," Dunn said back in the spring and speaking for himself and his wife, Janelle, and daughters, who are both students at Oklahoma State. "There are certainly good coaches that have been here a long time and had paid their dues to be the offensive coordinator, so we didn't think it was going to come anytime early in our time here.
"As it kept going we were thinking this is our shot," Dunn continued speaking of his family as a team. "Hopefully, we've done things right and showed Coach Gundy that we were capable of taking on this responsibility for Oklahoma State and low and behold it worked out."
It is still some 19 days before Dunn will call his first play as the offensive coordiantor in the season opener with Tulsa. Remember, Dunn called the first series of the second half at Oregon State last season when Sean Gleeson was stuck in the elevator. It was a 10-play, 75-yard drive that finished with a two-yard Chuba Hubbard touchdown run.
Now, the next live play call from Dunn will come with him holding the title. He follows a strong lineage of Larry Fedora, Mike Gundy calling as his own OC, Dana Holgorsen, Todd Monken, Mike Yurcich, and Sean Gleeson. Minus Gundy, three of those coaches left to become head coaches and Yurcich left for Ohio State. Gleeson left to go home to Rutgers. Being the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State has been a launching pad.
"Up until this point his work ethic, his planning ability, his structure, his discipline withing the coaching staff and with the players has been excellent," Gundy explained giving kind of an "in progress" job evaluation. "He's on a honeymoon still and we haven't played a game yet. He hasn't made the calls on third and medium, on fourth down, hadn't made calls inside the five-yard-line. We don't have any idea from that standpoint. What we do know is his ability to coordinate with our coaching staff and relate to our players has been excellent up to this point. I'll be able to give you more information after game six, but I am very pleased up to this point."
The other curiosity and a question that I get frequently is what will Dunn contribute to the offense. The Cowboys offensive playbook is like a Food Network Iron Chefs Cookbook. Instead of Bobby Flay, Michael Symon, Geoffrey Zakarian, and Alex Guarnaschilli with the recipes you have chapters from Gundy (run game and play-action), Hologorsen (air raid), Monken (pro pass and pro run), and Yurcich (RPO).
My first guess for Dunn will be a new passing chapter for the backs out of the backfield, plus some updated route concepts.
"Our offense has been what it is since I was calling plays and we added some material when Weeden was quarterback," Gundy said. "We always gear the offense based on the strength of our players and our quarterback. Each coordinator I've allowed to add some based on what they are comfortable with. He'll have some things that he is confident in and we'll know more five or six games in."
In the meantime, Dunn seems very comfortable with running the offense in practice so far and he will get more practice as the Cowboys will be back on the practice field on Tuesday. it may be more like Wednesday for Tay Martin as he continues to take care of details as he gets settled at Oklahoma State.
