Athletics with Two Representatives, including Boynton, on the Search Committee for Next OSU President
STILLWATER -- You've heard the old saying about too many cooks in the kitchen, let's hope it is not true when it comes to finding, recruiting, and securing a new Oklahoma State University President. A very large committee made up of 38 members will be charged with working through a national search to find the successor to one of the most, if not the most successful leader in OSU campus history in retiring Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis. Hargis announced his plans late last month to finish his time leading his alma mater at the end of the academic year in July 2021. Hargis has been the President at Oklahoma State for 13-years and his wife, OSU First Lady Ann Hargis has been equally as popular as her husband. Hargis has raised record funding for the school and served through a meteoric expansion of campus and the OSU system.
At Pokes Report we will be watching the process with athletics first in mind. Hargis has been an excellent leader with regards to athletics. He has not supported every agenda from Gallagher-Iba Arena and the West End Zone, but he has supported most. New facilities for football, baseball, tennis, soccer, and track and field have come online during the Hargis tenure.
The committee is made up of four members of the Oklahoma State/A&M Board of Regents including Joe Hall, who will chair the committee. Hall, Rick Davis, and Stillwater regent Calvin Anthony are looked at as very positive regents towards athletics and athletic concerns. Athletics gets an assigned member to the committee and it is deputy athletic director Chad Weiberg. There are four faculty members from the Stillwater campus and one each from the other Oklahoma State University campuses. There are administrators and staff involved including Oklahoma State University Vice-President for Enrollment and Brand Management Kyle Wray and Vice-President for Institutional Diversity Dr. Jason Kirksey. There are four Oklahoma State University students included as well as some staff, the President of the OSU Foundation, and a representative of the Alumni Association.
The Mayor of Stillwater is on the committee and then there are 14 at-large members of the committee and included in there is Oklahoma State men's basketball head coach Mike Boynton as well as two recognized boosters and contributors to Oklahoma State University athletics in Ross McKnight, major benefactor of McKnight Performing Arts Center and Malone Mitchell, who has helped fund many buildings and causes on campus including Boone Pickens Stadium.
The committee will be assisted by Buffkin/Baker, a national search firm steeped in university presidential search experience, will be assisting the regents and search committee.
“We have brought together OSU campus and community stakeholders from inside and outside our university to identify a diverse and impressive pool of candidates to recommend for the presidency of our great land-grant institution,” said Rick Davis, Chair of the OSU/A&M Board of Regents.
Cutting through the politics in the process and there will be politics. Three of the top candidates would be current Baylor University President Dr. Linda Livingstone, the current President of Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences Dr. Kayse M Shrum, and Todd Lamb.
The former Cowgirls basketball standout has developed into an excellent university leader at Baylor.
Baylor University
Dr. Livingstone is an excellent choice. A native of Perkins, Oklahoma and the daughter of former Oklahoma A&M basketball player and later long-time coach Doyle Parrack, Livingstone played basketball at OSU as did her future husband Brad Livingstone. She has undergraduate, master's, and doctorate degrees all from Oklahoma State. She has already served as the President at a Big 12 school. The major question is can Oklahoma State lure her away from Baylor, a school where she has served on the faculty and left, then came back as their President.
There are some that say Shrum is the favorite to become the next Oklahoma State University President.
Oklahoma State University
Dr. Shrum is steeped in the OSU system as well with starting at Connors State as a talented softball athlete. She was later inducted into the Connors State Athletic Hall of Fame. She has her D.O. from the very school and facility she now leads. Shrum has been around for much of what has happened in recent years in the Oklahoma State University System. She has also served as the chief officer of the COVID-19 efforts for Oklahoma State including in the athletic department.
Many comparisons ring true with outgoing Oklahoma State President Burns Hargis and former Oklahoma State student and football player Todd Lamb.
Twitter (@ToddGLamb)
Like Hargis, Lamb is a politician that served as Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma and later ran for Governor. He is also in tune to athletics having played football at Louisiana Tech before transferring to Oklahoma State where he continued as a walk-on for the Cowboys. He received his juris doctor (law degree) at Oklahoma City University. Lamb has something else in common with Hargis besides the political career and law degree. He has also served as a regular the KFOR-TV political affairs show Flash Point. Hargis also was a regular for several years on that program.
We're not saying it will definitely be one of these individuals, but it certainly could be. All three would be good candidates for the athletic department.
One of the first issues or situations that the new Oklahoma State University President could face in athletics would be a new athletic director. Current athletic director Mike Holder recently turned 72. His contract is up in June of 2021, so the possibility of a new President helping to pick their new athletic director is in play.
The OSU Presidential Search Committee
OSU/A&M Regents
Mr. Joe Hall, Chair
Mr. Calvin Anthony
Mr. Rick Davis
Dr. Trudy Milner
OSU – Stillwater faculty
Dr. Pamela Lovern
Dr. Heather Fahlenkamp
Dr. Beatrix Haggard
Dr. Jose Sagarnaga
OSU students
Ms. Jaden Kasitz
Mr. Luke Muller
Ms. Maegan Berg
Ms. Jada Lusk
OSU – Stillwater staff
Ms. Tashia Cheves
OSU/A&M Board of Regents staff
Mr. Jason Ramsey
OSU – Stillwater administrator
Mr. Kyle Wray
Vice President of Institutional Diversity
Dr. Jason Kirksey
OSU Athletics Department representative
Mr. Chad Weiberg
OSUIT representative
Dr. Scott Newman
OSU – Oklahoma City representative
Dr. Steve Collins
OSU – Center for Health Sciences representative
Ms. Sherrita Sweet
OSU – Tulsa representative
Mr. Brett Lessley
OSU Foundation President
Ms. Blaire Atkinson
OSU Alumni Association representative
Mr. Tony LoPresto
City of Stillwater representative
Mayor Will Joyce
At-Large representatives
Mr. Bill John Baker, Mr. Mike Boynton, Mr. Joe Eastin, Ms. Kay Ferguson, Ms. Terry Stuart Forst, Mr. Jay Helm, Ms. Helen Hodges, Dr. Brett Jameson, Mr. Ross McKnight, Mr. Malone Mitchell, Mr. Rodd Moesel, Mr. Carl Thoma, Ms. Lou Watkins, Mr. Sean Kouplen
