Oklahoma State Football: The Offseason to-Do List for the Cowboys

Now that the college football season and recruiting cycle are over, now is the time for teams to shore up their teams and fix any problems heading into spring practice. Oklahoma State has a few things to do.

Whether it is hiring a new coach to take the place of Joe DeForest, focusing on improving the defense or tweaking the offensive game plan, this coaching staff has a lot to consider right now.

Here are five things on their to-do list.

Replace Joe Deforest

Joe Deforest has left Oklahoma State after a decade to become the defensive coordinator at West Virginia under former Cowboy offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen.

Deforest oversaw one of the best special teams programs in the nation over the last decade and coached defensive backs (the strength of the Cowboy defense). He also is a fantastic recruiter in the Houston area, which has been very good to the program.

It is imperative that the Cowboys find the right replacement in this area, not only for coaching special teams and defensive backs, but especially for recruiting.

Improve the Defense

While the Cowboy defense was very underrated this past season, it still did give up too many yards and points at key times.

The Kansas State and Iowa State games come to mind in particular.

This team cannot be so soft against the run next season. It did well against the pass, especially efficiency-wise. The new D-line recruits coming in will hopefully help in this area.

Either way, this defense needs to be better in 2012.

Keep the Rest of the Coaches

It is a bit late now for coaches to be picked off. However, it can still happen. The Cowboys already lost Deforest, and they don't need to lose anyone else.

Consistency is the foundation of any elite program. The Cowboys can establish that by keeping their coaching staff as intact as possible.

Recruits don't want to go somewhere that is known as a coaching carousel, and that status hurts the players already on campus, too.

Keep the PR Train Rolling

The Cowboys got a ton of media attention this year.

They started the season 10-0, putting themselves into National Championship consideration.

They lost to a huge underdog on television after a school tragedy.

Then they followed that up with a conference title win clinched in a thrashing of their in-state rival, which just happens to be one of the best programs in the country.

After that, they became the nation's darling as the team "unfairly" left out of the National Championship Game.

The Fiesta Bowl win over the Stanford Cardinal was just the cherry atop the sundae.

My point? The Cowboys need to keep the media attention going.

Big programs get big attention.

Big attention attracts better recruits and more donors.

PR is a good thing.

Finalize the Offense

Brandon Weeden is gone, so there will be a brand-new quarterback starting.

That's the first order on the offensive list: Choose a starting quarterback.

Whom they choose will determine how much they need to tweak the offense. But, no matter what, it will still need to be tweaked a bit.

The biggest reason this offense must be tweaked before next season is the returning personnel on the team.

The receiving corps is very good, and the Cowboys have the best three-tiered punch at running back in the country in Joseph Randle, Jeremy Smith and Herschel Sims.

They need to run the ball more and depend more on their receivers to make plays. The new quarterback will not be as good as Weeden—at least not yet. He'll need time to grow into that role.

Luckily for him, he'll have fantastic skill position players all around him.