The search has barely begun for the next athletic director at Oklahoma.
The two things we know at this early stage is that longtime OU AD Joe Castiglione will stay around for three more years -- albeit in different capacity after the new athletic director is hired and onboard -- and that, in truth, he isn't really replaceable.
Zac Selmon favorite to replace Joe Castiglione
Will Randall Stephenson and his search committee be looking to bring in a big name from another Power Four school? Someone with former Oklahoma athletic ties, as has been the historical trend in the position? An outsider with strong business and leadership skills like a CEO from a Fortune 500 company, or perhaps someone currently on staff?
It will not be Bob Stoops, however. While the former OU head coach would be a popular choice among fans, during his weekly radio appearance last week on KREF "The Ref," he made it abundantly clear that the athletic director's job definitely was not for him.
While it's uncertain at this point who will ultimately follow Joe C. in what has to be considered one of the best athletic director jobs in college sports (thanks in large part to what Castiglione accomplished since coming to OU in 1998 after serving in the same job for five years at the University of Missouri), one name continues to emerge above all others as the lead candidate.
That individual is Zac Selmon, who is currently the athletic director at Mississippi State and is beginning his fourth year at that institution. If the last name sounds familiar to Sooner fans, it should because Selmon is the son of former Oklahoma football star and two-time consensus All-American Dewey Selmon and nephew of first overall NFL Draft selection Lee Roy Selmon and Lucious Selmon. That certainly falls in line with Oklahoma's lengthy history of hiring ADs with OU football ties.
Seven of the 11 previous Oklahoma athletic directors (which includes Castiglione) were former Sooner head coaches and three others were former OU players. Castiglione is the lone outlier in that group. An Oklahoma tie, though, is probably not the most important reason for Oklahoma's interest in Selmon.
The most important attribute in Selmon's candidacy may be the eight years he spent working and learning under Castiglione at Oklahoma in two different stints from 2009 to 2023. In between time, Selmon spent a brief time at North Carolina before returning to OU in 2015.
When Selmon returned to the Oklahoma athletic department in 2015 as senior associate athletic director/chief of operations, Castiglione had this to say about the young budding star employee in an interview with The Oklahoman: "From the day we hired him as a graduate assistant and then hired him full time in our development office, we could see Zac would be a rising star in our profession."
Selmon does check several boxes in terms of his qualifications to become the next Oklahoma athletic director, especially if Oklahoma is looking to bring in someone in the Castiglione mold. Although he was born in Norman and obviously grew up in Oklahoma, Selmon did not go to school at OU as an undergraduate, but did earn a master's degree in education as a Sooner alum. He attended Wake Forest and played tight end for the Demon Deacons.
You would think Zac Selmon would be a slam dunk for the position if being a longtime Castiglione understudy was the prime consideration. But what if it isn't?
Perhaps the OU administration is looking to go a different direction with a fresh new look and vision. I'm not sure why that might be the case, but we just don't know at this point.
That's why the names of Texas Tech's Kirby Hocutt, Florida State's Michael Alford, who also previously worked under Castiglione at OU, and West Virginia's Wren Baker have also been widely reported as lead candidates as Castiglione's replacement.
It's not a huge coincidence that one of Selmon's first big hiring decisions at Mississippi State was to bring in former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby as head coach. And it will be interesting at SEC Media Days this week. Mississippi State precedes Oklahoma on the team interview schedule on Wednesday in Atlanta.
If Selmon is the final choice, however, and he accepts the offer, he isn't going to come cheap, or without a buyout on Oklahoma's part. Selmon signed a contract extension in March that ties him to Mississippi State trough Jan. 31, 2029. The Clarion Ledger, the daily newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi, reported that Selmon will make $1.25 million this year and will receive $25,000 increases each year the school renews the contract.
The buyout is reported to be 75% of his remaining salary if he were to leave to go to an SEC school. A termination date of Aug. 1, for example, would make Selmon's buyout $3.2 million, not a small amount by any means, but something Oklahoma would gladly pay if Selmon is the man.
Selmon appears to be the betting favorite and leader in the clubhouse at this early stage in the process, but with players still on the course, to use a golf analogy, a lot could still change before everything finally plays out.
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