Skyler Cassity Was Destined to Coach Football at Oklahoma State One Day

Oklahoma State’s new defensive coordinator is well-acquainted with Stillwater as he begins his first season under Eric Morris.

Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity. | DOUG HOKE/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Skyler Cassity’s path has gone through Stillwater so many times that it makes sense he end up as Oklahoma State’s defensive coordinator for 2026.

While he did terrific work under Eric Morris at North Texas and move to OSU with the first-year Cowboys head coach, it goes much deeper than that. His father, Mike Cassity, was a long-time defensive coordinator in Division I. He coaches at nine different schools, including Oklahoma State. He was the co-defensive coordinator in 1999 and handled the job himself in 2000. Skyler’s brother, Braden, was a defensive end, tight end and fullback at Oklahoma State.

Orange runs in the family, as he told OKState.com earlier this year.

“It's exciting,” he said. “Obviously I came up here a lot with playing on the opposing sideline and then getting to watch my brother play up here. I made a bunch of trips, as many as I could, to watch the success he had here.”

Skyler Cassity’s Critical Role

Cassity has been coaching since he was in high school in Atlanta, Ga., the result of career-ending chest surgery to correct his pectus excavatum via the Nuss Procedure. His coach at the time, Robert Ingram at Riverwood International Charter School, made him an assistant coach. That led to a student assistant role at Auburn before he graduated in 2016.

His rise has been fast, with stops at Texas State, Texas Tech, Missouri State, Abilene Christian, Sam Houston and North Texas, where he landed in 2025 to work for Morris as his defensive coordinator. The pair crossed paths at Tech in 2017 when Morris was an offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach.

Cassity’s impact at UNT was immediate. The Mean Green improved by nearly 10 points in scoring defense, by 90 yards per game in total defense and by more than 100 yards per game in passing defense. The unit was Top 25 ranked in FBS in five different categories.

It will be his job to turn around an OSU defense that was dead last in the Big 12 in scoring defense last season at 33.3 points per game. The Cowboys were next to last in total defense with 418.3 yards per game and pass defense at 265.4 yards per game. The unit was also tied for 13th in the Big 12 with just six interceptions. It’s quite possibly the most important job on the staff in 2026. A defense that is ranked in the middle of the conference could boost Oklahoma State’s opportunity to win its first conference game since 2023.

The Cowboys haven’t won a league contest since they beat BYU in overtime on Nov. 25, 2023.