Why Mike Gundy's press conferences are unlike anything else in major-college football
Unvarnished answers abound from the Oklahoma State coach.
STILLWATER — Mike Gundy had an odd look as he listened to my question.
Now, I occasionally ask questions that get a side-eye and a few that even get a skunk-eye. But the Oklahoma State coach wasn't giving me either of those as I asked about defensive end Obi Ezeigbo and why Oklahoma State thought the transfer from Gannon might be a good fit playing Power Four football.
As soon as I finished, though, Gundy's odd look was explained — as he was listening, he was thinking hard about how to respond.
"Do you want me to go back into coach talk," he said, "or do you want me to tell you the truth?"
"Truth," I practically yelled.
And tell the truth, Gundy did.
Not just in answering my question — more on what he said in a minute — but throughout his Monday press conference. The weekly gatherings are almost always worth the price of admission. All I have to do is get myself to Stillwater, and I'm almost sure to get the most unvarnished answers from any college football coach in America.
Now, I'll be the first to tell you: Gundy doesn't always tell the truth.
Just a month or so ago, he told me that he didn't set the 1 p.m. kickoff time for the South Dakota State game, but I'm here to tell you that whatever time the OSU coach wanted that game to begin, that's when it was going to kick off.
Still, unlike most everything-is-a-state-secret head coaches at Power Four programs, Gundy is mostly truthful and almost always operates without a filter. That can get him into trouble (see: Big 12 remarks on driving after drinking), but most of the time, it just makes for wildly entertaining press conferences.
Such as Monday.
After hearing that I wanted the truth about Ezeigbo, not coachspeak, Gundy complied.
"He was very inexpensive," he said, referring to the name/image/likeness price tag every player has nowadays. "The number of players that we go after that are ready to play at this level, we can't afford. So he was a good buy and a really quality young man that'd had success and has physical characteristics that we can work with — (strength and conditioning coach) Rob Glass — and develop him.
"So that's why he ended up here."
Name another coach who would've been so blunt. About a player. About the money. About what is really going on behind the scenes in college football.
Lane Kiffin often shoots from the hip. Ditto for Eli Drinwitz and Deion Sanders.
But still, Gundy doesn't say just one candid thing each time he has a press conference. He says six or eight eyebrow-raising, jaw-dropping things each time he steps behind a microphone.
Sometimes it's insightful.
"Here’s the thing about pass rushing that’s interesting," Gundy said at one point Monday. "Defensive line coaches will tell those guys, 'I want you to fight, scream, spit, claw, bite, whatever you’ve got to do, I need you to get to that quarterback. But when you get back there, don’t get out of control' or 'make sure you have some rush-lane presence. But whatever it takes to get back there, you’ve got to get back there.' So, there’s a lot going on for those guys. That’s why the ones that go to the NFL make so much money, because it’s extremely difficult to do that."
Sometimes what Gundy says is unexpected.
“I watched the second half of Northern Illinois and Notre Dame, and I didn’t see an upset,” he said of the Huskies’ 16-14 win in South Bend. "I saw a team that played really well and stopped them and ran the ball.
"You know, (the officials) made a mistake and they didn’t stop the clock or they didn’t burn Notre Dame’s timeout. Did you guys see that? ... Notre Dame had one timeout left, so (Northern Illinois) ran the ball and tried to get a first down, and they measured it. Stopped the clock and measured it and said it was short. It was an awful spot. When that was complete, they should’ve restarted the clock. They didn’t, and Notre Dame had one timeout.
"I thought, 'Well, Notre Dame must’ve told them during the measurement, "Go ahead and burn our timeout. We don’t want to start the clock."' You know how they do that. Well, they didn’t. (Northern Illinois) came back, they made the field goal. They didn’t start the clock, which would’ve burned off 40 seconds. Then they kicked off, and Notre Dame still got the timeout. Nobody ever knew it.
"I’m just sitting there watching the game, and I said, ‘Why’s the clock not running? And why’d they not call a timeout? And why is nobody saying anything about this?’ That was huge. Big deal."
Then there are times Gundy says something funny.
He was talking about the inconsistency of officiating between Big 12 officials brought in during fall scrimmages and the SEC officials to call Saturday's game.
"Now, don't get me wrong. Bowman shoulda got flagged," Gundy said of the OSU quarterback taunting the Arkansas sideline with finger guns. "He shoulda got two flags."
And then sometimes, Gundy says something that'll make you laugh every time you think about it for the rest of the day.
Asked by OSU sideline reporter Robert Allen if Arkansas receivers were running wide open Saturday more because they were good, not because the Cowboys made mistakes, Gundy remained a truth-teller.
"Well, you’re a homer. That’s the first part."
Laughs erupted.
"They were running wide open. You’re wanting to make it look better, and honestly, they were running wide open. We’re honest here. There’s no reason anybody should come to these press conferences if we’re going to bullshit each other."
Hear, hear!
"So the point being is that they were running wide open. And the good news is this: it’s fixable. And I know everybody’s going, 'Didn’t look like it’s fixable.' To me, it’s fixable, OK?"
No doubt the Cowboys need to fix some things after Saturday's come-from-behind overtime win against the Razorbacks — OSU gave up 648 yards of offense, for cryin’ out loud! — but there's at least one thing Gundy shouldn't change.
His press conferences.
Even if I have to endure the occasional odd look.
I love it. The honesty, your appreciation of it, the humor, not taking everything seriously, all of it. That said, I wish our NIL game would get going. Some players have had links in the past on their okstate.com player bio for NIL requests (autographs, video messages, etc), so I may have to put one in for Ezigbo. I sure wish Boone were still around. Assuming he wasn't turned off by it, I would imagine he would put a lot of money into NIL.