Gundy Not the Answer for OSU

By Big12-Fans Writer Josh Cline

When Les Miles left Stillwater for more money and more national prominence in Baton Rouge, people in Stillwater were upset. Not necessarily mad because he was going to make more money or be at a more prestigious program, but because of the rumors surrounding his departure while the team was preparing for the Alamo Bowl against Ohio State. The Pokes lost to the Buckeyes 33-7, putting a damper on a pretty successful season, considering the Cowboys lost their star QB and RB (Josh Fields and Tatum Bell) from the year before.

Rumors starting swirling that T. Boone Pickens, a large donor to the university didn’t get along with Miles anyway and he was going to have a big impact on who the next coach would be. Within a few days of Miles’ departure following the Alamo Bowl, the Cowboys announced that Mike Gundy, a former OSU quarterback and Offensive Coordinator under Miles would become the head coach. Gundy was a program favorite who brought youth as the youngest Division I-A head coach.

Of course, Harry Birdwell, the athletic director at the time of the hiring has since resigned, stepping down earlier this year. Rumor had it that he was sick of working with Pickens and didn’t like to have to cater to him, even in selecting head coaches--Even if Pickens donated enough money to name the stadium after him.

Well, since Gundy has been head coach, a couple of events have happened. First, he became head disciplinarian, kicking several players off the team and punishing even more. Prentiss Elliot, who would have been the best player on the team was dismissed, so Gundy was certainly not playing favorites. For this, I cannot put blame solely on Gundy, but it did seem that either a) Miles was recruiting players who were out of control, or b) Gundy did seem to be axing players left and right leaving no real explanation to the public.

Second, he has benched Donovan Woods, who went 7-5 as a true freshman and went 2-0 as a starter this season. Granted, the offense didn’t exactly shine in their two victories over Montana State and Florida Atlantic, but still he benched a 9-5 career starter for a redshirt freshmen, Bobby Reid, who ran even at best with Woods in the preseason. Woods was the hot hand, a proven leader to an Alamo Bowl, and should have remained the quarterback.

Furthermore, Woods was given the option to move to wideout or safety. He took the move to safety and has seen significant playing time. Still, when your backup QB is now Al Pena, you would think that they would have somehow worked Woods as the backup, in case of injury. It’s not that out of the question as Oklahoma has Paul Thompson serving roles as starting WR and backup QB. Al Pena is not a Big 12 caliber-QB and Gundy should have noted this and had Woods be prepared to start in case of an injury, perhaps by not giving Woods an option to play defense so he could keep up with the offensive playbook.

Lastly, Gundy has just done weird things. He seems more like a coach playing a video game and trying things out. He has said he went for it on fourth and goal because he “felt like it,” and looked back and thought it probably wasn’t the right decision. He has told his coaches to prepare for four downs of plays because there was no way he was going to kick. He doesn’t have play calling duties, but once overrode his coordinator to run a trick play, then said after the game that he probably wouldn’t do that anymore after it didn’t work. He just doesn’t seem to have the head on his shoulder that a coach in the Big 12 needs.

Mike Gundy is not the man for the Oklahoma State coaching job. His tenure there has a big chance of ending up like John Blake’s at OU. An alum of the program who has never had a head coaching job before, going 3-8 in his first season. The similarities are there, and I believe the end result will be the same, fired in three years leaving the program in a hole as far as national credibility goes. Maybe next time that OSU hires a head coach, they’ll take the Joe Castiglione (OU AD) route and not get the alumni involved when they hire a coach, and they’ll get a Bob Stoops. If Pickens sticks his nose in a bit too far, they might end up with another disaster.

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