Defensive coordinator Tim Beckman will leave OSU to return to Ohio after accepting the head coaching position at Toledo.
For the second time in two years, the Cowboys will enter a bowl game down a coordinator.
Defensive coordinator Tim Beckman took the head coaching job at Toledo, replacing Tom Amstutz after a 3-9 season with the Rockets.
Last season, offensive coordinator Larry Fedora left OSU to become head coach at Southern Mississippi. He did not coach the Cowboys in their victory over Indiana in the Insight Bowl.
Beckman will not coach in this year’s bowl game either, coach Mike Gundy said.
“He offered [to coach],” Gundy said. “I just think that once a guy takes a head coaching job at another institution that his focus will be on that institution and not necessarily here.”
“I think it’s best if he focuses on Toledo.”
Beckman came to the Cowboys two seasons ago after serving as an assistant coach at Ohio State. In his first season, the Cowboys struggled on defense.
This season, the defense improved to finish fifth in the Big 12. Junior linebacker Andre Sexton attributed a lot of the team’s success to the mentality Beckman brought to the defense.
“He just brought that competition attitude and just the willingness to win at any cost,” Sexton said. “I think that’s something we haven’t had here before, so now we know what it takes to get there.”
Gundy said he was pleased to see Beckman have a successful year with the defense after a tough first season at OSU.
“After his first year here, everybody wanted to run him out of town,” Gundy said. “He came back and rallied and got his system in place and did a nice job coaching the players. They bought into it and played much better this year.
“Obviously it paid off for him, and paid off for us here.”
For senior safety Ricky Price, Beckman’s style was all he knew on defense. Price moved from receiver to safety in Beckman’s first year as defensive coordinator.
“That was my first coach on the defensive side of the ball,” Price said. “He taught me basically the whole defense, and he made me enthusiastic and made me fired up at practice. That’s just the kind of coach he is.”
Price also said Beckman’s leadership was another reason why he was able to lead the Cowboys into a defensive turnaround.
“He was a great figure to the defense,” Price said. “He was a great guy to look up to. He was a great coach and I’m happy he got the head coaching job.”
Although there will be about three weeks before the Cowboys play a bowl game, Gundy said he will not begin his search for a new defensive coordinator until after the bowl so that he and the team can remain focused on the task at hand.
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