Oklahoma State Hires Derek Mason; What Does the New DC Bring to the Table?

STILLWATER – It’s done, finally. Oklahoma State has a new defensive coordinator and it should make Oklahoma State defensive players, fans, and yes, the staff happy. Derek Mason, after over a week of discussion since his name was first brought up by reporter Bruce Feldman of The Athletic has accepted the job. Terms are still being worked out, but Mason is heading back to Stillwater again. He was here last week.

The hire was first reported by ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg.

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy, as he always does, went through his usual process of doing deep dives into candidates, a lot of his own study, and then spoke to those candidates for the defensive coordinator position. Some he interviewed away from Stillwater, but the one he hired came to the Cowboys’ West End Zone headquarters and even met with the staff. Derek Mason is the new Oklahoma State defensive coordinator, and when he gets to Stillwater, he won’t be having his first meeting with the staff. That took place during the interview process when Gundy had Mason go before the staff and they had him on the white board for several hours. The meeting left the staff impressed.

One Oklahoma State assistant said Mason was impressive with his defensive acumen and that he showed a lot of knowledge of defensive football but even knowledge of the current Oklahoma State defensive system showing the 52-year-old coach had done his homework.

In fact, Mason will use the same playbook, base defense, and terminology that is in place from the hybrid defense that previous coordinator Jim Knowles, now at Ohio State, worked out with assistants Joe Bob Clements, Dan Hammerschmidt, Tim Duffie, and Greg Richmond. Mason will use that defense as the blueprint and then add his own twists and nuances.

Mason first became a person of interest in the search publicly when Feldman tweeted that the Auburn defensive coordinator had become a strong candidate for the Oklahoma State opening on Jan. 19. That escalated some on Friday when it became public that Mason was definitely leaving Auburn as he resigned from the staff there.

The veteran coach apparently knew he wanted something different and that was why he was eager to talk to Gundy about the opportunity at Oklahoma State. The only times these two had previously crossed paths was when they were on opposite sides of the field on Jan. 2, 2012 as Oklahoma State won a 41-38 overtime decision over Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl. Mason was the co-defensive coordinator for Stanford.

ESPN

Promo for the ESPN Coaches Fim Room 2020.

They were together for over four hours in an ESPN studio in Charlotte, N.C. for the Coaches Film Room analyzing live the LSU win over Clemson for the CFP Championship on Jan. 13, 2020. Gundy really took the lead in that four-coach cast that also included then TCU head coach Gary Patterson and recently hired Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley. Mason, a defensive coach through most of his career including time as a defensive backs coach with the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL and Gundy, considered an offensive genius, had several direct exchanges during the broadcast. You have to wonder if Gundy’s predominant thoughts on Mason came from that night?  

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODA

Mason was well respected by fellow SEC head coaches like Kirby Smart for the way his teams at Vandy played.

Our information is that Gundy was high on Mason and much of that came from his interview with Gundy and time spent with the defensive and offensive staff. His interview must have come earlier in the week before the coaches went on the road recruiting. Mason spent time on the board with the staff showing the defensive strategies he believes in.

As for why Mason went ahead and resigned at Auburn before taking the position at Oklahoma State, maybe even before it was formally offered? We’ve discovered that Mason had multiple options for his coaching future including the possibility of being back in the NFL or taking off a year from coaching and possibly doing some television analyst work.

When you focus on Mason coming on at Oklahoma State, the positives are multiple in my opinion.

• Mason, who played cornerback in his collegiate career has coached on both sides of the ball serving as a wide receivers coach at Mesa C.C., Weber State, Utah, New Mexico State, and for long-time Nebraska assistant and head coach Frank Solich at Ohio. He was a running backs coach at Idaho State.
• His NFL experience with the Vikings came after he was at Ohio. From that point on he was on the defensive side at Stanford and worked his way up to defensive coordinator for head coach David Shaw.
• After Stanford came his head coaching experience at Vanderbilt. A tough place to win in a tough conference in the SEC and Mason went 27-55 in seven years with two bowl seasons. He became the first Vanderbilt head coach to beat rival Tennessee three straight times. He was respected by the coaches in the league for how his teams competed.
• Mason gets strong marks on recruiting as both an assistant and a head coach.

USA TODAY Sports

Mason was considered a player’s coach at Vanderbilt.

As you would expect, Mason is a strong communicator and we heard that he connected well with the staff during his time spent in the West End Zone. All reports are he was a favorite with the majority of his players as head coach at Vanderbilt. Again, hard to do because of the disparity between the Commodores program and the competition they face in the SEC.

He should be an asset in recruiting. He has been at his other stops in his career, but his major focus will be on continuing the Cowboys defensive prowess using the defensive system Oklahoma State has developed with the current staff. Mason will embrace that and add some of his tweaks and twists to keep opposing offenses guessing and hopefully struggling against the Cowboys.