Oklahoma State Hoping for Consistency at Defensive Coordinator

The Cowboys have their new guy, ideally for the long haul.

Oklahoma State runs on to the field before the college football game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Baylor Bears at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Oklahoma State has its next defensive coordinator, and it’s hoping to find some true continuity at the position.

On Saturday, OSU made its latest move of the offseason, hiring Skyler Cassity as the team’s next defensive coordinator. After spending the 2025 season under Eric Morris in the same position at North Texas, Cassity will be looking to become a long-term answer for the Pokes’ defense, something the program has been lacking for far too long. 

While Morris is known for being an offensive coach, OSU will be hoping that Cassity can bring some of the fire that the Cowboys have been missing defensively since Jim Knowles departed for Ohio State in 2022. Knowles’ 2021 defense will be the standard to meet when it comes to elite defense in Stillwater, but simply getting anywhere close to that type of defensive success would be more than enough for OSU.

In that 2021 campaign, OSU was fifth in total defense and rushing defense. However, things have only gotten worse for OSU in the years since. That 2021 campaign was Knowles’ fourth as OSU’s defensive coordinator after he had replaced Glenn Spencer in 2018, who held the same position for five years.

Despite a level of continuity at defensive coordinator for that decade stretch, the Cowboys haven’t found anything close in the years since. From 2022-25, OSU has had four defensive coordinators.

Derek Mason’s 2022 defense was among the worst in the country before he left the position on his own terms. Then, Mike Gundy and company brought in Bryan Nardo for two years, with his defenses finishing in the bottom 10 of the FBS in both years before getting fired.

Finally, the Cowboys’ 2025 season saw Todd Grantham last only four games before he was canned, thrusting Clint Bowen into the interim defensive coordinator role, with that defense ranking 116th in the FBS. 

While it was clear that Knowles’ departure would have a negative impact on the OSU defense, it’s been worse than any could have imagined at the time. That top 5 defense in 2021 was the last time OSU cracked the top 100 in total defense or even got close to that mark.

As Cassity comes in, he will be given a tall task, and OSU’s defense is clearly something that can’t be fixed in one offseason. Yet, if he can simply bring OSU back to average on that side of the ball over the next few years, it could put the Cowboys in a great position to compete in the Big 12 under Morris.

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