Oklahoma State
As Hargis retires and Holder transitions to a different role, the Shrum-Weiberg era begins
With Burns Hargis as the president, Mike Holder as the athletic director and Mike Gundy as the head football coach, Oklahoma State had 13½ years of consistency at key leadership positions.
As of Thursday, Gundy has two new bosses: Dr. Kayse Shrum succeeds the retiring Hargis as the university president, while deputy athletic director Chad Weiberg slides into the athletic director’s role.
After nearly 16 years as the athletic director (and after having been a driving force in the renovation of Boone Pickens Stadium and the development of the Sherman E. Smith Training Center and O’Brate Stadium), Holder transitions to a new role as an emeritus athletic director. As the most impactful fund-raiser in OSU history, Holder is expected to continue with that work in his new job.
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Before now, Shrum had been the president of the OSU Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa. A former softball athlete, she is the first woman to occupy the president’s office at Oklahoma State.
“I’m excited about her,” Gundy told the Tulsa World in April. “I think she’ll be tremendous for the university and for football.
“She’s got vision, she’s not afraid to take chances and she has great people skills. And she’s an Oklahoma State grad.”
Weiberg also attended Oklahoma State and in 1994-2004 worked in a variety of roles for the university and the OSU Foundation. After having been a dynamic fund-raiser at Kansas State and the deputy athletic director at Texas Tech, Weiberg returned to OSU in 2017. It was presumed that he was hired for an eventual succession into the athletic director’s job, and on Thursday it happens.
Tulsa Public Schools
At TPS, speculation centers on deputy AD Mick Wilson
After having accepted the responsibility of fixing a Tulsa Public Schools athletic department scarred by scandal and staggered by a funding crisis, athletic director Gil Cloud responded with 9½ years of heroically effective leadership. Cloud’s retirement takes effect on Thursday.
The identity of the district’s next athletic director is announced by Superintendent Deborah Gist on Tuesday. Speculation centers on Mick Wilson, who has been a member of Cloud’s staff for nine years. Since 2019, Wilson has been the TPS deputy athletic director.
Whether TPS selects Wilson or a different candidate, the new athletic director would be wise to use Cloud as a role model on how to manage the sports operation of an urban school district. Cloud has reached the finish line of a career that includes 44 years as an athletic director.
At TPS, Cloud has done a masterful job of hiring coaches, establishing new revenue streams, making the most of every dollar and overseeing a flurry of facilities development throughout the district.
When Cloud was a Will Rogers football athlete during the ’60s, he played home games at the University of Tulsa’s Skelly Stadium. Last year, after more than 80 years of playing home games away from home, the Rogers football program celebrated the completion of an on-campus stadium.
University of Tulsa
Can Brad Carson help drive TU athletics to a better place?
A title adjustment is about to occur at the University of Tulsa. On Thursday, Brad Carson transitions from “President-elect Carson” to “President Carson.”
As TU’s seventh president since 1990, Carson takes over at a complex and challenging time for the Golden Hurricane athletic department.
The Carson appointment was announced in April. Seven months earlier, Rick Dickson interrupted his retirement for a return to TU as the interim athletic director. In February, the “interim” label was stripped from his title. Dickson originally was Tulsa’s athletic director in 1990-94.
Of his return last fall, Dickson said, “It’s not long term. I made that very clear. . . . Obviously, this position will be determined upon the selection of a permanent president who will then do a search for a permanent AD. I expect the time frame will be in the 9-12 months category.”
As Carson shoulders the presidency this week, what happens with Dickson and the athletic director’s job? There are indicators that Dickson actually may stay for as long as another full year, but at some point, Carson will be responsible for the hiring of a long-term athletic director.
Budget and fund-raising issues have dogged the university for several years. For a long time, poor football and basketball attendance has been a problem. Dickson is said to have done wonders with energizing the athletic department while rekindling relationships with previously generous donors.
Ideally, the skill set of Dickson’s successor includes the ability to raise money while strengthening TU’s position in the Tulsa community and managing the constantly changing dynamics of college athletics.
— Bill Haisten, Tulsa World
Photos: A look back at former OSU president Burns Hargis' career
Burns Hargis announces retirement as Oklahoma State University president
Burns Hargis
The Oklahoma Academy's 3rd Annual Congressional Salute V. Burns Hargis, left, and Michael C. Turpen, offer their analysis of the approaching elections during the The Oklahoma Academy's Third Annual Congressional Salute at the Adam's Mark Hotel on Aug. 23, 1996. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
Burns Hargis and Mike Turpen at the Tulsa Press Club's monthly newsmaker luncheon. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
Burns Hargis, vice-chairman, Bank of Oklahoma, left, leans on cardboard boxes full of petitions, as he talks with Oklahoma Secretary of State M. Susan Savage, right, after the coalition of Oklahomans for Safe Bridges and Roads delivered petitions to the Secretary of State calling for a statewide vote to reform transportation funding, in Oklahoma City, Monday, Dec. 20, 2004. AP File Photo
Burns Hargis
OSU President-designate Burns Hargis in Oklahoma City, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
Newly named president of Oklahoma State University Burns Hargis in the Alumni Center on campus in Stillwater on March 7, 2008. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
A celebration May 21, 2008 in front of Oklahoma State University's Edmon Low Library to announce the gift of $100M to OSU academics from Boone Pickens. Here, Boone, Gov. Brad Henry, OSU President Burns Hargis, and others celebrate as a thank you/happy birthday banner is dropped from the library. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
OSU president Burns Hargis drives a mini baja racer up and down the reopened road of Hall of Fame. The event took place on the North side of Boone Pickens stadium to commemorate the reopening of the street after being under construction for more than three years. PRESTON BEZANT /For the TULSA WORLD
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis poses for a portrait March 6, 2009. MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
OSU president Burns Hargis and Dean Peter Sherwood look on as Professor for Military Science, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Hansley (center) presents plaques and swords to ROTC cadets Troy Duerr, Stephen Gagnon and John Andrews (accepting sword) during a special ceremony outside of Thatcher Hall on the campus of OSU in Stillwater, OK Aug. 27, 2008. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
OSU President Burns Hargis congratulates graduate Joe Blythe, a student with rheumatoid arthritis, before Oklahoma State University's graduation ceremonies at the Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, OK, Saturday, May 9, 2009. PAUL HELLSTERN/The Oklahoman
Burns Hargis
T. Boone Pickens, center, answers a question during a news conference Monday, Aug. 17, 2009, in Stillwater, Okla., after touring the new stadium renovations at Oklahoma State. At left is athletic director Mike Holder. At right is Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis. Through a series of donations, Pickens provided the bulk of the funding for a $286 million stadium overhaul. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Burns Hargis
Boone Pickens is hugged by OSU president Burns Hargis as OSU head football coach Mike Gundy looks on during a dedication ceremony for Boone Pickens Stadium, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
This year's Oklahoma Hall of Fame inductees (from left) G. "Ike" Glass, Lee Roy Selmon, Polly Nichols, C. Kendric Fergeson, Regina Tisdale accepting for Wayman Tisdale posthumously , Steven W. Taylor and V. Burns Hargis at the Renaissance Hotel in Tulsa, OK Nov. 12, 2009. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
OSU president Burns Hargis and his wife Ann ride in the New Year's Day Parade in downtown Dallas, Friday, Jan. 1, 2010. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
Burns Hargis, right, claps on stage during the announcement of a $1 billion fund raising project named Branding Success before a crowd in Oklahoma State's Student Union. ZACH GRAY/For the Tulsa World
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis, right, speaks during a news conference as University of Oklahoma President David Boren. left, looks on, in Oklahoma City, Friday, Oct. 29, 2010. The presidents of the state's two largest universities joined with Gov. Brad Henry to bemoan likely cuts to higher education they say would result from passage of a ballot measure. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Burns Hargis
Burns Hargis, OSU president, speaks during the 12:30 p.m. undergraduate commencement ceremony inside of Gallagher-Iba Arena at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, May 7, 2011. This was the second of three undergraduate commencement ceremonies at OSU that day. NATE BILLINGS/The Oklahoman
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis speaks to an audience during a memorial service at Gallager-Iba Arena on the Oklahoma State University campus in Stillwater on Monday, November 21, 2010. The service honored Kurt Budke, Miranda Serna Olin Branstetter and Paula Branstetter who were killed in a plane crash last week. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State President and Chairman of the Big 12 board of directors Burns Hargis, , left, and Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, talk at the end of the Big 12 meetings at the Four Seasons Resort and Hotel in Irving, Texas, on Friday, May 30, 2014. (AP Photo/Stephen Hawkins)
Burns Hargis
(left) Howard Barnett, Gary Trennepohl, Jim Halligan, Penny Williams, Charles Ford, Frank Keating and Burns Hargis gather before a photo is taken of them for the 15th OSU Tulsa Anniversary in Tulsa, OK, Jan. 29, 2014. STEPHEN PINGRY/Tulsa World
Burns Hargis
President Burns Hargis addresses the graduates during Oklahoma State's commencement ceremony held in Gallagher Iba Arena on May 10, 2014. JACKIE DOBSON/ For The Oklahoman
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State President and Chairman of the Big 12 board of directors Burns Hargis, , left, and Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, talk at the end of the Big 12 meetings at the Four Seasons Resort and Hotel in Irving, Texas, on Friday, May 30, 2014. (AP Photo/Stephen Hawkins)
Burns Hargis
Burns Hargis (left) and Mike Gundy react to the ice cold water after participating in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge on Wednesday morning in fron of Edmon Low Library on the Oklahoma State University campus in Stillwater. Burns Hargis challenged the student body of OSU to participate in the challenge within the next 24 hours. JACKIE DOBSON/For the Tulsa World
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University medical student Matthew Else, left, places a blood pressure cuff on OSU President Burns Hargis, right, in a mobile medical unit parked at the state Capitol, following a news conference to announce that Oklahoma's Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust will provide a $3.8 million grant to the Oklahoma State University Medical Authority to help reduce the shortage of physicians in rural areas, in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis, right, hugs Stillwater Mayor Gina Noble during a community-wide memorial service in Gallagher-Iba Arena, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015 in Stillwater, Okla. The memorial honored those that lost their lives and those injured in a crash at the OSU homecoming parade in October. Adacia Chambers, 25, is being held on $1 million bail in connection with the deadly crash. BRYAN TERRY/The Oklahoman
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis faces protest as he arrives in the morning in front of Whitehurst in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Monday, January 23, 2017. The protest was organized after a second OSU blackface incident in a week. Hargis met with several students shortly after he arrived. Photo by KURT STEISS/The O'Colly
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis speaks at the grand opening ceremony of the A.R. and Marylouise Tandy Medical Academic Building at the OSU Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa on Friday September 29, 2017. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis shakes hands with former Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer after Hargis spoke during Step Up for Teachers advocacy day at the Oklahoma State Capitol Feb. 12, 2018. Looking on at right is former state representative Jeannie McDaniel. MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
Together for T. Boone Pickens' 90th birthday party were four Oklahoma State leadership figures: from left, football coach Mike Gundy, athletic director Mike Holder, Gundy and university President Burns Hargis. BILL HAISTEN/Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
OSU president Burns Hargis joins the crowd that gathered for the unveiling of the new Stillwater Strong Memorial on Oct. 26, 2018, in Stillwater, Oklahoma at the corner of Main Street and Hall of Fame Avenue. DEVIN LAWRENCE WILBER/For the Tulsa World
Burns Hargis
Cowboy great Barry Sanders (left) talks with university president Burns Hargis at at the Oklahoma State homecoming parade in Stillwater, Okla., on Saturday, October 27, 2018. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
Bill John Baker, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, welcomes OSU President Burns Hargis to the Cherokee National Peace Pavilion in downtown Tahlequah where they announced the establishment of the nation's first college of medicine to be located at a tribal health facility in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The joint venture between the Cherokee Nation and Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences is set to open in 2020. MIKE BROWN/For the Tulsa World
Burns Hargis
President Burns Hargis at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla., on Thursday, February 14, 2019. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
OSU President Burns Hargis and his wife, Ann pose with former Governor George Nigh at the Governor's Arts Awards at the Capitol, Tuesday, April 16, 2019. DOUG HOKE/The Oklahoman
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President V. Burns Hargis takes a photo of an OSU tie draped over a white floral bouquet after the funeral service for T. Boone Pickens at Highland Park United Methodist Church, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019. Longtime friend Alan White removed his tie following his remarks and draped it over the cross. TOM FOX/The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State President Burns Hargis during The Celebration of Life of Businessman and Oklahoma State Alumni T. Boone Pickens at Gallagher-Iba Arena on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019. IAN MAULE/Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
(Left to Right) Mark Blakeman, Ross McKnight and Burns Hargis open the night with a couple words prior to the performances. The McKnight Center for the Performing Arts opened in Stillwater, Oklahoma on Oct. 11, 2019 with a performances by the New York Philharmonic and Broadway's Kelli O'Hara. DEVIN LAWRENCE WILBER/For the Tulsa World
Bill Haisten
Sports Columnist
I joined the Tulsa World in 1990. Prior to becoming a sports columnist in 2016, I was the only sports writer in Tulsa World history to have covered OU, OSU, the University of Tulsa and Oral Roberts sports on an everyday basis. Phone: 918-581-8397
