Oklahoma State University Athletics
Gundy Previews Big 12 Title Game
December 01, 2021 | Cowboy Football
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy met with the media on Monday during his weekly media luncheon to discuss the Cowboys' thrilling 37-33 Bedlam win and the upcoming Big 12 Championship game. Oklahoma State will play for its first Big 12 Championship since 2011 and will face Baylor in a rematch from October 2, which OSU won 24-14 in Stillwater. Here is some of what Gundy had to say:
On the contribution of assistant coaches to the success of the program:
"It's kind of a follow up of what I said after the game. Each week, my job is to evaluate our talent level, the other team's talent level and what our matchups are. Monday through Wednesday, I get a picture in my mind of what I think our schemes are based on offense and defensive staff. Then, Saturday, I evaluate if things were right, wrong or the same and give that information to the staff. They're responsible for relaying that to the team by position, getting them the information they need to correct mistakes and telling them what they did well. With the things in practice we can adjust, [we] adjust, all the while improving on our basic schemes over four months. They're responsible for their position and for those guys to get better as the season progresses. My job is just to evaluate them."
On his relationships with and expectations for assistant coaches as the season progresses:
"It varies based on how the game plans were played out Saturday versus who we played. Sometimes, and I said this as a coordinator, I looked at my work on Sunday and said, 'That wasn't a very good game plan. I didn't really give our players the best chance.' Now we might've won the game, or we might not have won the game, but in my mind I think, 'If I had to do it all again I wouldn't have done these three or four things. I was wrong in my evaluation of them and my matchups.' Each week, it just varies a little bit. In the end, the coaches have to do a good job of preparing their players and keeping them motivated individually. I can't motivate 140 guys. They need to motivate their players individually and get them to maximize themselves in practice."
On Kirk Herbstreit's praise of the Oklahoma State program:
"I had a good conversation with his group, the four of them last week. It was really the first time I had an in-depth conversation with them this season. The majority of those questions revolved around those topics. I mean I just told them the truth: this is what we do, this is who we are. We haven't really changed. We've made adjustments. I've been fortunate to have Rob Glass here for 18 years; the majority of our staff is here. They understand the culture. We make minor tweaks throughout the years, but overall this is a very structured, disciplined organization that's regimented down to the minute of every day, year round. That's the way it is. We don't change much and we stay the course. We treat the kids with respect. Their questions were the same ones we get, 'You're not playing with four- and five-star players.' We're trying to get four- and five-star players. Sometimes we don't get them; most of the time we don't get them. It's not like we're not trying to recruit them. Then, there's some four-and-five-stars that we don't want. We don't think they'll fit into our system. Nothing against them; they may go somewhere else and do just fine, but not here. This is a different environment. If you want to go to school and play football here, you have to abide by certain policies. That's the way it is. We don't budge much. That became a topic for about 15 minutes of the discussion with those guys last week."
On his coaching approach:
"I'm much more patient and am a completely different person than I was even six or seven years ago. I got into my late 40s and changed quite a bit. I'm calm, I think, and have a lot more patience. I understand young people now more than I did. I guess I've done it a long time and have gotten better at it. I've changed considerably. Even with the approach with my assistant coaches and the administration for that matter. I didn't really take no for an answer for a lot of years. Now, sometimes I take no for an answer and it's OK. I'm just much more patient now than I ever have been as a head coach in dealing with all the different areas of things I have to deal with in my position.
On working with Chad Weiberg and Dr. Kayse Shrum:
Our goal is, and I don't want to speak out of turn for Dr. Shrum or Chad (Weiberg), but our goal is to take Oklahoma State football to a new level, period. We've had that plan since they got the job. We sat down and had a discussion. I told them 'this is who I am, this is what I believe in and if you think something else, then you might need a new coach because I'm not changing who I am.' I'm not changing our philosophy. I just need to have a partner to build a relationship with so we can take this thing to another level. We all came to the agreement on what our goal is. Our goal is to turn Stillwater into a big-time college football town on Fridays and Saturdays. Very similar to what you're getting in the SEC with some of those communities that are the size of we are, 50,000 or so. We have a long way to go, but we have a plan to get there. I know we have the leadership and the system in place. We just have to make that decision as an organization and an administration and take this to another level where over an extended period of years we start to bring in young men who fit our culture. We're not going to sacrifice the culture. That's really what our plan is with the communication I've had with them over the last three months."
On how his team regroups after a big win:
"I'm comfortable with this team because of their maturity. We know that we've been in what would be a playoff system for the last five weeks. You get to a point about the time we started talking about, 'Are you going to watch the Tuesday night show?' Once you get to that point, if you win, you're alive. If you lose, you better hope that you get a couple breaks to get back in the picture. They've been good every week. They burned a lot of energy and they burned a lot of emotion last Saturday night. That's over with. It has nothing to do with this next game. Absolutely zero. We're playing a good football team that has also improved throughout the year. They're a better team now than they were when we played them. This is a good football team. They have talent and they know what they're doing. I think they're well coached in all the phases of the game. If our guys don't reprogram themselves this week, then they don't give themselves the chance to play at the highest-level Saturday morning."
On Baylor::
"Scheme-wise they're good. They know what they're doing. They block well, they have skill at the running back position and they have skill at the wide receiver position. Their quarterback was a runner and a thrower. I don't know which quarterback is playing, but the other guy came in and played pretty good, from what I've seen. Now, I haven't studied him as much as the other guys in the building, I haven't got that far. Defensively, they're aggressive. They play zone, they play man, they don't sit back. No. 8 (Jalen Pitre) makes play after play after play. Their big nose guard makes a bunch of football plays. They're active and they're running. You're also seeing a team that's winning, so when they win they play harder, that's where they're at. These are two equal teams. We're on the same level. Field position is going to be important, special teams is going to be important. We all know that effort and turnovers play a big role and you go play. We need to control what we can control, which I think they will with the maturity that's in the locker room."
On how the maturity of the defense is an advantage:
"It's a big advantage when you're competing with 23-year-olds instead of 18-year-olds. We had a number of 22-and-23-year-olds that were playing in the fourth quarter on defense and were very productive. Then, we had a true freshman jump offsides in a crucial situation. That's just maturity, experience and age. So, these players that continue to come back provide a huge impact for our team. We have eight guys coming back next year, that should be graduating, they're all coming back next year too. Most of the defense is coming back. They've already told me they want to come back. They love it here and they want to play another year, and want to come back."
On the contribution of assistant coaches to the success of the program:
"It's kind of a follow up of what I said after the game. Each week, my job is to evaluate our talent level, the other team's talent level and what our matchups are. Monday through Wednesday, I get a picture in my mind of what I think our schemes are based on offense and defensive staff. Then, Saturday, I evaluate if things were right, wrong or the same and give that information to the staff. They're responsible for relaying that to the team by position, getting them the information they need to correct mistakes and telling them what they did well. With the things in practice we can adjust, [we] adjust, all the while improving on our basic schemes over four months. They're responsible for their position and for those guys to get better as the season progresses. My job is just to evaluate them."
On his relationships with and expectations for assistant coaches as the season progresses:
"It varies based on how the game plans were played out Saturday versus who we played. Sometimes, and I said this as a coordinator, I looked at my work on Sunday and said, 'That wasn't a very good game plan. I didn't really give our players the best chance.' Now we might've won the game, or we might not have won the game, but in my mind I think, 'If I had to do it all again I wouldn't have done these three or four things. I was wrong in my evaluation of them and my matchups.' Each week, it just varies a little bit. In the end, the coaches have to do a good job of preparing their players and keeping them motivated individually. I can't motivate 140 guys. They need to motivate their players individually and get them to maximize themselves in practice."
On Kirk Herbstreit's praise of the Oklahoma State program:
"I had a good conversation with his group, the four of them last week. It was really the first time I had an in-depth conversation with them this season. The majority of those questions revolved around those topics. I mean I just told them the truth: this is what we do, this is who we are. We haven't really changed. We've made adjustments. I've been fortunate to have Rob Glass here for 18 years; the majority of our staff is here. They understand the culture. We make minor tweaks throughout the years, but overall this is a very structured, disciplined organization that's regimented down to the minute of every day, year round. That's the way it is. We don't change much and we stay the course. We treat the kids with respect. Their questions were the same ones we get, 'You're not playing with four- and five-star players.' We're trying to get four- and five-star players. Sometimes we don't get them; most of the time we don't get them. It's not like we're not trying to recruit them. Then, there's some four-and-five-stars that we don't want. We don't think they'll fit into our system. Nothing against them; they may go somewhere else and do just fine, but not here. This is a different environment. If you want to go to school and play football here, you have to abide by certain policies. That's the way it is. We don't budge much. That became a topic for about 15 minutes of the discussion with those guys last week."
On his coaching approach:
"I'm much more patient and am a completely different person than I was even six or seven years ago. I got into my late 40s and changed quite a bit. I'm calm, I think, and have a lot more patience. I understand young people now more than I did. I guess I've done it a long time and have gotten better at it. I've changed considerably. Even with the approach with my assistant coaches and the administration for that matter. I didn't really take no for an answer for a lot of years. Now, sometimes I take no for an answer and it's OK. I'm just much more patient now than I ever have been as a head coach in dealing with all the different areas of things I have to deal with in my position.
On working with Chad Weiberg and Dr. Kayse Shrum:
Our goal is, and I don't want to speak out of turn for Dr. Shrum or Chad (Weiberg), but our goal is to take Oklahoma State football to a new level, period. We've had that plan since they got the job. We sat down and had a discussion. I told them 'this is who I am, this is what I believe in and if you think something else, then you might need a new coach because I'm not changing who I am.' I'm not changing our philosophy. I just need to have a partner to build a relationship with so we can take this thing to another level. We all came to the agreement on what our goal is. Our goal is to turn Stillwater into a big-time college football town on Fridays and Saturdays. Very similar to what you're getting in the SEC with some of those communities that are the size of we are, 50,000 or so. We have a long way to go, but we have a plan to get there. I know we have the leadership and the system in place. We just have to make that decision as an organization and an administration and take this to another level where over an extended period of years we start to bring in young men who fit our culture. We're not going to sacrifice the culture. That's really what our plan is with the communication I've had with them over the last three months."
On how his team regroups after a big win:
"I'm comfortable with this team because of their maturity. We know that we've been in what would be a playoff system for the last five weeks. You get to a point about the time we started talking about, 'Are you going to watch the Tuesday night show?' Once you get to that point, if you win, you're alive. If you lose, you better hope that you get a couple breaks to get back in the picture. They've been good every week. They burned a lot of energy and they burned a lot of emotion last Saturday night. That's over with. It has nothing to do with this next game. Absolutely zero. We're playing a good football team that has also improved throughout the year. They're a better team now than they were when we played them. This is a good football team. They have talent and they know what they're doing. I think they're well coached in all the phases of the game. If our guys don't reprogram themselves this week, then they don't give themselves the chance to play at the highest-level Saturday morning."
On Baylor::
"Scheme-wise they're good. They know what they're doing. They block well, they have skill at the running back position and they have skill at the wide receiver position. Their quarterback was a runner and a thrower. I don't know which quarterback is playing, but the other guy came in and played pretty good, from what I've seen. Now, I haven't studied him as much as the other guys in the building, I haven't got that far. Defensively, they're aggressive. They play zone, they play man, they don't sit back. No. 8 (Jalen Pitre) makes play after play after play. Their big nose guard makes a bunch of football plays. They're active and they're running. You're also seeing a team that's winning, so when they win they play harder, that's where they're at. These are two equal teams. We're on the same level. Field position is going to be important, special teams is going to be important. We all know that effort and turnovers play a big role and you go play. We need to control what we can control, which I think they will with the maturity that's in the locker room."
On how the maturity of the defense is an advantage:
"It's a big advantage when you're competing with 23-year-olds instead of 18-year-olds. We had a number of 22-and-23-year-olds that were playing in the fourth quarter on defense and were very productive. Then, we had a true freshman jump offsides in a crucial situation. That's just maturity, experience and age. So, these players that continue to come back provide a huge impact for our team. We have eight guys coming back next year, that should be graduating, they're all coming back next year too. Most of the defense is coming back. They've already told me they want to come back. They love it here and they want to play another year, and want to come back."
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