New Oklahoma State President Talks Athletics, Something She Is a Proud Product Of

STILLWATER – It’s kind of interesting that research on new Oklahoma State President designate Kayse Shrum showed no exact age known. We do our research and we do know that the inductee into the Connors State College Athletic Hall of Fame graduated from the school in Warner with honors and as an NJCAA Academic All-American in 1992. By our account that would make the Coweta, Okla. native somewhere close to 49-years-old. We’ll stop there and leave that investigation to another source. Seeing her in person for the first time at the meet and greet for media inside the McKnight Performing Arts Center Recital Hall, I came away with this observation. If you traded her orange heels for softball cleats and her white pant suit for a softball uniform, she looks like she could still throw a drop ball and a riser and get most of us out.

Oklahoma State Athletics

Her first day after being chosen as the President designate by the Board of Regents included a visit to see Cowgirl softball.

That was my mission earlier today to get a first impression in person of the new leader at Oklahoma State. I agree with outgoing Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis, who stated he has filled many of the roles he needed to in his time at OSU with a woman. He added that while he is all for the advancement of all people, he has never been disappointed with any of those women he has elevated.

 I was looking at Dr. Shrum from purely an athletic point of view. It started with something I’ve know for over a year, and that is that she started her academic career in college as an athlete.

“I ended up by way of athletics going to college. I went to Connors (State). I was a softball pitcher and that is really what I looked forward to doing in the future, playing softball,” Shrum told Hargis with her on stage and the small but attentive members of the media in the room. “I really was a good student anyway, but I looked forward to playing softball. I was (a tom boy) and the closest thing my dad had to a boy and I loved sports.”

That softball led to a teacher in one of Shrum’s science classes to pull her aside and suggest she think about medical school. Then a soft spoken-student that seed was planted and some eight-years later she was a practicing physician, even specializing in pediatrics, a specialty she started out saying she would never opt for. That’s good. Kayse Shrum is proven that she can analyze and change her mind. I think that is always a good trait in leadership, a little flexibility.

Her husband of 29-years Darren, sure looks like he enjoys athletics and several of her children have been involved in sports. She has six and they are all serious about academics as a couple are just about alumni of the campus their mom is about to become the leader of. The children in order of age are Colton, Kyndall, Joseph, Kilientn, Karsyn, and Kason.

I asked Dr. Shrum about her athletic and academic career. She gets it. How athletics can truly change a student’s life. She lived it.

https://ostate.tv/media/REBROADCASTA++Virtual+Meet+and+Greet+with+OSU+President+Designee+Dr.+Kayse+Shrum/1_0ms50wtl

“It’s the way that I got an education. I believe that opportunity wouldn’t have presented itself if not for my athletic skills,” she said. “I believe that I would not be where I am today. I also learned so much about hard work, about persistence, about winning graciously, and losing graciously through all the years of athletics as well.”

I wasn’t there to ambush the new President. There are no athletic teams in Tulsa where she has served as the President of the Oklahoma State University Health Sciences Center. There will be much for her to learn and take in with major college athletics. This is a smart woman. Her grip on athletics on a major college campus are spot on.

“For the student-athletes there are a lot of opportunities to put them on the path to success. It is also for a university athletics is what brings people together,” Dr. Shrum started in answering my question about how she sees athletics and academics co-existing. “For some folks all they are going to know about Oklahoma State University is our athletics, and so having coaches and student-athletes that embody the culture of Oklahoma State University is important. It is for many people and it was for me the reason I first set foot on a campus. It will be for a lot of people including kids. That is going to be their first experience and it opens the door to possibilities that they may have never thought of before.”

Dr. Shrum admitted her first visit to Oklahoma State, when she was 13-years-old came as part of a softball trip.

“For the university it is a great way to bring people together of different interests but what’s important about people from Oklahoma State is that they root for the Cowboys and Cowgirls,” Dr. Shrum stated. “It is a great opportunity for those that enjoy athletics, but it is a great opportunity for the people that get to participate in college athletics.”

I asked Dr. Shrum about the process of acclimating to the roles the Oklahoma State University President has in college athletics and learning from a previous President in Hagis that has served as chairman of the Big 12 Board of Directors, a member of the NCAA Division I Board of Directors and the NCAA Board of Governors. He has also served on the Management Committee of the College Football Playoff.

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

Along with the meet and greet with softball, the Shrums joined the Hargis’ for Cowboy baseball.

“Obviously, that is going to be a new role for me from an administrative perspective with athletics. President Hargis told me he is going out to pasture, but I said, ‘no, I’m not sure that you totally are,’ as he is going to serve as a mentor and a go to person for me,” she explained. “Yes, I would look forward to being involved in the NCAA in any way I possibly can, to help the university and to help student-athletes in whatever way that looks like.

“My timing wasn’t great Robert, as you know,” President Hargis said in addressing my inquiry about how he felt about his involvement in athletics in his presidency. “During my time as chairman of the Big 12 we had the rearranging of the conference as Nebraska and Colorado left. Then Texas A&M, and Missouri all left and we brought in TCU and West Virginia and that was pretty chaotic in those years figuring out our TV contracts.

“With the NCAA we have a number of volatile issues come up. I just talked to Mark Emmert (President of the NCAA) about a couple of problems yesterday,” Hargis continued. “As you know, I have such a high regard for athletics and it can be very helpful, but it can be very harmful if you don’t play by the rules you can get yourself in a deep, deep hole to get out of. As Kayse said, it is the front door of the university and there are a lot of people that will judge the school only by the quality of their athletics and not how good the math department is. I’ve really enjoyed it, but it has taken a lot more time than I thought it would. I love seeing student-athletes grow and become successful in life.”

We all do. It just so happened that when he said that, Hargis was looking right at one, new Oklahoma State University President Kayse Shrum.