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Mike Gundy

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Mike Gundy

Michael Ray Gundy (born August 12, 1967) is the head football coach at Oklahoma State University and a former quarterback of the Cowboys. Gundy became Oklahoma State's coach on January 3, 2005. In 2007 he received national media attention for his heated criticism of a newspaper article on one of his players, which coined the call "Come After Me!... I'm A Man... I'm 40!".[2][3]

Biography

Playing career

At Midwest City High School, Gundy played quarterback, and was voted Oklahoma Player of the Year in 1986.[4] Gundy was heavily recruited by the Oklahoma Sooners but in the end signed with the Oklahoma State University Cowboys. He became the starting quarterback midway through his freshman year and held the job from 1986–1989. Gundy would become the all-time leading passer in Oklahoma State and Big 8 Conference history.[4] Over the course of four years, Gundy threw 49 touchdowns and 7,997 yards, including 2,106 yards in 1987 and 2,163 in 1988.[4] He led the Cowboys to bowl wins in the 1987 Sun Bowl and 1988 Holiday Bowl aided by two Hall of Fame running backs, Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders.[5][6] He also led OSU to the only three 10-win seasons in school history to date.

Mike Gundy held the record for most consecutive passes attempted without an interception at the start of a career by a freshman in Division 1 history with 138, until Baylor freshman Robert Griffin broke it in 2008. Coincidentally, Baylor was playing against Gundy's Oklahoma State team when Griffin surpassed the mark.

Coaching career

Early positions

When Gundy graduated, he became an assistant coach for the Cowboys. He was wide receiver coach in 1990, quarterback coach from 1991–1993 and offensive coordinator from 1994–1995.

Gundy was quarterbacks coach/passing game coordinator for Baylor during the 1996 season. He was on staff with Larry Fedora at Baylor and would rekindle that relationship when he became head coach at Oklahoma State bringing Fedora on as his offensive coordinator. After the season, he moved again, this time to Maryland where he was wide receiver coach and passing game coordinator from 1997–2000 for the Terps.

Oklahoma State

In 2001, the Oklahoma State University head football coach job became vacant when Bob Simmons resigned and a search produced Les Miles and Mike Gundy as the finalists. Miles was hired as head coach and Gundy was brought aboard as offensive coordinator. The team would go on to three straight bowl games in Miles's last three years as head coach and when Miles left in 2004 to take the LSU job, Gundy was named immediately as Miles successor and the 22nd head coach at Oklahoma State.

His first season saw the expulsion of eleven players from the team and the Cowboys struggled to a 4–7 record winning only one Big 12 conference game.

In his second season, the Cowboy offense began to click and the Cowboys would finish 7–6 including a victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Independence Bowl.

In 2007, the Cowboys again posted a 6–6 regular season record and a bowl win over the Indiana Hoosiers in the Insight Bowl. After their second straight bowl appearance, Gundy was rewarded with a contract extension through the 2013 season.[7]

2007 media controversy

On September 22, 2007, Gundy made comments that became the subject of a nationwide media controversy. Following his team's victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Gundy refused to discuss the game or to answer any questions about the game. Instead, he commented at length on a local newspaper article that had run that day. The article was critical of one of Gundy's players, and Gundy launched into what ESPN called a "tirade" against the journalist who wrote the story.[2][3] Video clips of the coach, at times screaming, were quickly downloaded more than 1,500,000 times from video streaming sites such as YouTube,[8][9][10] where it became one of the ten most-downloaded clips of the day.[11] Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman wrote the original article discussing Bobby Reid, the former starting quarterback, and reasons why he might have been demoted to second-string. The OSU coaching staff publicly supported Reid earlier in the year, but later demoted him with no public explanation to the media.[12] The article was titled "Reid is still the most talented signal-caller, but attitude is reason for change."[13] Carlson said that Reid was still the most talented quarterback on the team but that he got "nicked in some games and sat it out instead of gutting it out."[8]

In this post-game press conference, Gundy called three-fourths of Carlson's column "fiction." During his weekly news conference the following Monday, Carlson asked the coach to point out what he thought were the factual errors in the article and Gundy replied, "I don't have to."[8] Carlson replied that she can't report errors to the paper unless she knows what they are.[14] Gundy said, "I don't have to. I'd rather just let it go."[8][14] Gundy was asked two more times by reporters from other papers, and again declined to elaborate.[11][15] He said that his only regrets concerning his post-game statements were that he wished he had written down what he wanted to say, because he had more to say. At the post-game presser, Gundy had gone so far as to say that he hoped that Carlson becomes a parent, in order to understand how difficult it is to console a young person whose feelings have been badly hurt by pointed criticism of some perceived shortcoming, even when then youngster had tried their best.[11] Gundy called the 21-year old Reid a "good kid" who does everything right and is undeserving of such criticism.[11] He also made the now famous quote, "...Come after me!! I'm a man!! I'm forty!!" during the rant, for which he has often been imitated, ever since. Reid's mother says that the story was malicious and untrue.[16] She pointed to one thing in the article that she said was untrue; she said she did not feed her son chicken from a box meal after the team's loss to Troy University.[17]

In a column the following Tuesday, Carlson wrote that she also would like to let it go, had Gundy not questioned her credibility. She wrote, "I will not stand on the sidelines and allow someone to attack my credibility."[8] She challenged Gundy to point out even one statement from the article that was not factually correct.[8] The Oklahoman sports editor, Mike Sherman, also stood by the story.[18] Mike Griffith, president of the Football Writers Association of America, called Gundy's behavior "completely inappropriate."[8] CBS Sportsline's Dennis Dodd went further saying, "Mike Gundy needs to be reprimanded, definitely suspended, probably fined and maybe fired."[19] OSU athletic director Mike Holder stood behind Gundy, saying that "nothing is more important to us than our student-athletes."[11] College football coaches were divided in their opinions. Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said, "I feel like the coach at Oklahoma State summed it up very well. I’m in agreement with him."[20] However, Oregon State coach Mike Riley said that dealing with both criticism and praise is just part of a player’s learning experience. Riley said, "They’re young men, but I think college is all about growth and development. The scrutiny part of it is part of our life, and they have to be educated about that."[20]

The article generated discussion about what constitutes fair criticism for players that welcome the adulation of the press when things are going well for them.[10][12][15][18][19][21] In Gundy's criticism of Carlson, he said that she would have never written the piece if she were a parent like himself. There are some concerns that the remarks constituted a form of sexism and about whether Gundy would have launched a similar attack on a male sportswriter.[11][12][21][22] The Association for Women in Sports Media said that Gundy handled the situation in an "unprofessional manner."[8] Football fans were divided on the issue. Most thought that Carlson's story was unfair and that Gundy did the right thing in sticking up for his player. Others thought that Carlson had a right to run the story and that Gundy overreacted. Polls and message boards have shown an overwhelming majority of fans support Coach Gundy, while reporters have been solidly behind Carlson.[23][24]

2008 season

In 2008, Gundy led the Cowboys to their best season in 20 years. They were ranked in the top 15 for most of the season. However, a 61–41 loss to Oklahoma cost them the school's fourth-ever 10-win season.

Gundy was rewarded with a new seven-year contract worth $15.7 million. The contract, which extends through the 2015 season, went into effect on January 1, 2009.[25]

Personal

Gundy and his wife, Kristen, have three children, Gavin, Gunnar and Gage.[4] His brother, Cale Gundy, is the running backs coach for the University of Oklahoma.[26] He is also a certified reverend by the Church of Universal Life[citation needed].

Head coaching record

Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs Coaches# AP°
Oklahoma State Cowboys (Big 12 South) (2005–present)
2005 Oklahoma State 4–7 1–7 5th
2006 Oklahoma State 7–6 3–5 T–5th W (vs. Alabama) Independence
2007 Oklahoma State 7–6 4–4 T–3rd W (vs. Indiana) Insight
2008 Oklahoma State 9–4 5–3 4th L (vs. Oregon) Holiday 14 12
2009 Oklahoma State 9–2 6–1 2nd
Oklahoma State: 36–25 19-20
Total: 36–25
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

References

  1. ^ "Oklahoma State Payroll Database". TulsaWorld.com. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  2. ^ a b "Mike Gundy Fired up over Article". ESPN.com. September 222007. Retrieved 2007-09-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |company= ignored (help)
  3. ^ a b "September sizzles with shockers, coaching controversies". ESPN.com. September 222007. Retrieved 2007-09-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |company= ignored (help)
  4. ^ a b c d "OSU Biography - Mike Gundy". OKState.com. Oklahoma State University. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |http://www.okstate.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID= ignored (help)
  5. ^ ""1988 Holiday Bowl article"". holidaybowl.com. Pacific Life Holiday Bowl. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Text "http://www.holidaybowl.com/game-history/1988.html" ignored (help)
  6. ^ ""Sun Bowl recaps"". elpasotimes.com. El Paso Times. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Text "http://www.elpasotimes.com/sunbowl/ci_4688717" ignored (help)
  7. ^ "OSU To Recommend Contract Extension For Gundy" (Press release). Okstate.com. 2007-11-30. Retrieved 2007-11-30.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h "Columnist responds to Gundy's tirade". September 252007. Retrieved 2007-09-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "Oklahoma State Football Coach Mike Gundy Upset". YouTube.com. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  10. ^ a b Hale, Cody (September 252007). "Immune to criticism? - Brown empathizes with Gundy". The Daily Texan. Texas Student Publications. Retrieved 2007-09-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ a b c d e f Cohen, Andrea and John Helsley (September 24 2007). "THE COACH: Gundy only wishes he'd said more and that he'd been better prepared". NewsOK.com. The Oklahoman. Retrieved 2007-09-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ a b c Horning, Clay (September 242007). "Now we know what stirs Pokes coach". The Norman Transcript. Retrieved 2007-09-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ "Reid is still the most talented signal-caller, but attitude is reason for change". The Oklahoman. September 22 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ a b Cohen, Andrea (September 24 2007). "Gundy: I don't have to explain inaccuracies". NewsOK.com. The Oklahoman. Retrieved 2007-09-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ a b Lebreton, Gil (September 262007). "Gundy's mom forgot to tell him: Stupid is as stupid does". StarTelegram.com. Fort Worth Star Telegram. Retrieved 2007-09-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ "OSU player's mom speaks out about article on her son". ABCLocal.com. KTRK Houston. September 26 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Doyle, Matt (September 272007). "Bobby Reid's mom discusses incident". TulsaWorld.com. Retrieved 2007-09-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ a b Trammel, Berry (September 242007). "Other Voices: Gundy was out of bounds with rant". SeattlePi.com. Retrieved 2007-09-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ a b Dodd, Dennis (September 232007). "After Gundy goes off, maybe next move should be out". CBSSportsline.com. Columbia Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 2007-09-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ a b Ruiz, Don (September 262007). "Pac-10 coaches divided over criticism of players". TheNewsTribune.com. Retrieved 2007-09-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ a b "Was Gundy mad at a columnist or a woman? You make the call - Coach's tirade makes an issue of gender". SunTimes.com. Chicago Sun-Times. September 25 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ "Let's just take a little breather". MyrtleBeachOnline.com. The Sun Times. September 252007. Retrieved 2007-09-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ "Vote: Was Gundy's rant justified?". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2008-09-06.
  24. ^ "Football fans react to OSU coach outburst". KSWO.com. September 24 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ "Gundy given new deal".
  26. ^ Shinn, John (2007-09-25). "Gundy on Gundy". The Norman Transcript. Retrieved 2007-09-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
Sporting positions
Preceded by Oklahoma State University Head Football Coach
2005–current 		Succeeded by
Current

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