Mike Gundy has been at Oklahoma State for a long time.
He’s also accomplished a lot as head coach of the Cowboys. He’s led the program since 2005, and from 2006-23, OSU made a bowl game during every one of those seasons. From 2008-23, the Cowboys were ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 at some point during each of those years.
But Oklahoma State went 3-9 last year, and after a loss against Tulsa, the Cowboys are 1-2 overall. After those results, some fans have asked for a change of leadership.
If the Cowboys go in a different direction, here are some candidates they might consider, all of which happen to have Group of Five ties.
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Oklahoma Offensive Coordinator Ben Arbuckle
Arbuckle is in his first season at Oklahoma. But his name is likely to come up in this theoretical coaching search.
As a quarterbacks coach at Oklahoma and Washington State, Arbuckle has worked with signal callers like Cam Ward and John Mateer. Ward was the No. 1 pick in this year’s NFL Draft, and Mateer is currently one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy.
Arbuckle was Washington State’s OC and quarterbacks coach for two seasons before this. Last year, WSU was 12th in the country with 36.8 points per game. A season before that, the Cougars were in the top 40 in the country in terms of scoring offense with 31.7 points per game and total offense with 421.7 yards per game. Ward, WSU’s QB in 2023, was in the top 10 in the FBS with 3,735 passing yards and top 20 with 25 touchdowns.
Before WSU, Arbuckle was a co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Western Kentucky. In 2022, the Hilltoppers were in the top 15 in the nation in yards per game (497.3) and points per game (36.4) as quarterback Austin Reed led the country with 4,746 yards and was third with 40 touchdowns.
USF Head Coach Alex Golesh
Not only has Golesh led the Bulls to two bowl wins in his first two full seasons at USF, he’s helped the program earn two ranked wins this season. USF was up to No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 before losing to Miami.
Golesh’s first couple seasons as a collegiate head coach were an overall triumph. But he was successful as an assistant before that as well.
He was previously an offensive coordinator and tight ends coach at Tennessee from 2021-22. His last season there, the Volunteers were first in the country in scoring with 43.3 points per game.
He was a co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach at UCF in 2020. Before that, he was a tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator at Iowa State from 2016-19.
That was after he spent four years at Illinois in a variety of roles, including running backs coach, tight ends coach, and recruiting coordinator. He’s also coached tight ends and was a recruiting coordinator at Toledo from 2009-11.
He began his coaching career at his alma mater, Ohio State, as a student assistant from 2004-05. He was also a graduate assistant at Northern Illinois (2006-07) and Oklahoma State (2008), so he has familiarity with OSU.
Golesh is 16-13 in the FBS as a head coach and 2-0 in bowl games.
Tulane Head Coach Jon Sumrall
Jon Sumrall was the head coach at Troy for only two years, but he certainly made a difference. He led the Trojans to Sun Belt Championships in both of those seasons.
Then he kept winning with another Group of Five powerhouse in 2024. After he replaced Willie Fritz as Tulane’s head coach, Sumrall led the Green Wave to a 9-5 overall record and an AAC Championship appearance. And now Tulane is 3-0 after two Power Four wins over Northwestern and Duke this year going into the Green Wave’s clash with Ole Miss.
Sumrall certainly has the resume to be worthy of a Power Four head coaching job.
Sumrall, who played football at Kentucky and is from Huntsville, Alabama, led Troy to a 23-4 overall record in two seasons.
Defense is Sumrall’s specialty, and during those two years, Troy ranked among the Sun Belt’s top three teams in total defense and scoring defense. In 2023, the Trojans allowed the 10th-fewest points per game in the FBS (17.15) and the 15th-fewest yards per game (306.5).
He had prior experience at Tulane. He was the team’s co-defensive coordinator from 2012-14.
Sumrall was Kentucky’s co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach before becoming the head coach at Troy. He was also a linebackers coach at Ole Miss (2018), an assistant head coach and linebackers coach at Troy (2015-17), and an assistant at San Diego (2007-11).
Memphis Head Coach Ryan Silverfield
After the success Memphis enjoyed with Mike Norvell as the team’s head coach before he went to Florida State, Ryan Silverfield has kept the Tigers playing at a high level.
Since Silverfield became the head coach going into 2020, the Tigers haven’t suffered a losing season. They went 11-2 overall and 6-2 in AAC play in 2024, concluding the season with a win over West Virginia in the Frisco Bowl.
Silverfield is 45-20 in the FBS as a head coach, as Memphis is also 4-0 in bowl games since 2020.
Silverfield has coached at five Division I schools and with three NFL teams.
He began his coaching career at the high school level with his alma mater, The Bolles School, in 1999 as an assistant. He then went to another alma mater of his, Hampden-Sydney College, and worked with players on both sides of the ball.
He returned to the high school level to be Memorial Day’s head coach in Savannah, Georgia, before going to Jacksonville University to be a quarterbacks coach in 2005. He was a graduate assistant on offense and defense at UCF after that.
In 2008, he went to the pro level, becoming an offensive quality control staff member and defensive line staff assistant for the Minnesota Vikings. In 2011, he was a Vikings assistant offensive line coach.
In 2014, he went back to the collegiate ranks to become an offensive consultant at Toledo. He was a senior offensive analyst for Arizona State and assistant offensive line coach for the Detroit Lions in 2015.
He’s been at Memphis since 2016, where he’s been an offensive line coach, a run game coordinator, an assistant head coach, and a deputy head coach.
Southern Miss Head Coach Charles Huff
Maybe Huff isn’t the first coach that comes to people’s minds for this job, but his name will likely be brought up with P4 coaching opportunities several times the next couple of years.
Huff is 34-21 in the FBS as a head coach. That’s mostly from his four years at Marshall.
The Thundering Herd went 9-3 during the 2024 regular season before defeating Louisiana in the Sun Belt title game. Huff also led Marshall to four consecutive bowl appearances.
Huff was a well-respected assistant coach and recruiter before taking over at Marshall.
During his career, he has mostly coached running backs. And within the past decade, he’s mentored some great ones like Saquon Barkley of Penn State and Najee Harris and Brian Robinson Jr. of Alabama.
Huff was an assistant head coach and running backs coach at Alabama from 2019-20. The year before, he was an assistant head coach, running backs coach, and run game coordinator at Mississippi State.
He was a running backs coach and special teams coordinator at Penn State from 2014-17. He also worked with RBs at Western Michigan in 2013, and he was an assistant running backs coach at the pro level for the Buffalo Bills in 2012.
He was an offensive quality control coach for Vanderbilt in 2011 after coaching offensive linemen for a year at Hampton, which is where he played and started 12 games at center as a senior.
He was an assistant O-line coach at Maryland in 2009. He began his coaching career at Tennessee State, first working with offensive linemen in 2006 and then becoming a tight ends coach and special teams coordinator from 2007-08.
