J.W. Walsh Back at Home at Oklahoma State

STILLWATER – The phone call was inspired by listenership at Triple Play Sports Radio, now a partner of ours at Pokes Report. Fans were interested that with Tom Herman having been fired at Texas, his offensive coordinator and former Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich leaving to become the new OC and quarterback coach at Penn State, what would happen with former Cowboys quarterback J.W. Walsh. The popular Walsh was a starter or key back-up in Stillwater from 2011-2015, went into coaching after his playing career. He was at Texas as an offensive analyst this past fall and was still listed on the staff with new UT head coach Steve Sarkisian coming from Alabama. However, my phone call to J.W. learned something new. After several minutes Walsh admitted that he was not going to stay at Texas. In fact, he admitted that he was in Stillwater and had just signed his paperwork with HR at Oklahoma State. Walsh is coming home to be a Cowboy again on Mike Gundy’s staff.

His position back at Oklahoma State will be offensive quality control coach working directly with the quarterbacks under quarterback coach Tim Rattay.  

Walsh told Pokes Report that he was really looking forward to being back at Oklahoma State. Head coach Mike Gundy said he had been here most of this week and was making a seamless transition to working with the current staff. 

Walsh is the son of highly successful Texas high school coach John Walsh, who coached J.W. at Denton Guyer and Walsh coached the Wildcats to State Championships in 2012 and 2013. John Walsh is currently the head coach at San Marcos, Texas.

J.W. got his coaching start on the TCU Horned Frogs staff of head coach Gary Patterson as he was a graduate assistant working with play caller and co-offensive coordinator Doug Meacham. He then went to Abilene Christian as a full-time position coach handling the running backs. Last fall he joined Yurcich as an offensive analyst for Texas.

Pokes Report

Walsh’s picture in the media guide at Abilene Christian.

At Oklahoma State, Walsh’s dual threat talents came in handy. He completed 66.9 percent of his passes in 2012 and Walsh was voted the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year by conference coaches in 2012. All that even though he battled through an injury-plagued redshirt freshman season that year to finish the season with 1,564 passing yards and 13 touchdowns against just three interceptions. He completed 66.9 percent of his passes in 2011.

In 2013, Walsh completed 113 of 190 passes for 1,333 yards and nine touchdowns. Overall, in four seasons, Walsh completed 299 of 474 passes for 3,977 yards and 36 touchdowns against just 10 interceptions. He also ran for 1,036 yards and 25 touchdowns on 200 carries. In 2015, Walsh led the Cowboys in rushing touchdowns (13) and was second in rushing yards (359). Walsh was a captain and popular with his teammates during his time as a Cowboy player.

Pat Kinnison - Chief Photographer

J.W. Walsh in a game for the Cowboys in 2012 against Iowa State.

He was part of four bowl teams at Oklahoma State: Heart of Dallas Bowl in 2012, Cotton Bowl Classic in 2013, Cactus Bowl in 2014, and Sugar Bowl in 2015. The program was 35-17 during the four years that Walsh played (2012-15).

In high school at Guyer, Walsh was a four-star recruit and ranked as high as fourth as a dual threat quarterback. He threw for 3,200 yards with 35 touchdowns and rushed for more than 1,400 yards as a senior at Guyer in the 2010 season.