Feb. 14, 2005
By Dennis Dodd
SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Dennis your opinion!
STILLWATER, Okla. -- This is what a couple of victories over Oklahoma will get you ...
Interest from a millionaire donor.
Interest in your coach.
Interest in getting better?
Oklahoma State is in the business of answering that question -- again. It's a common one in Stillwater, where rookie Mike Gundy is the fourth coach since crippling NCAA sanctions tore OSU football apart in 1988.
QB Donovan Woods will have the spotlight next year. (Getty Images)
Its perpetual starting point is being the other program in the state, seldom dealing from a position of strength. On its own campus, Eddie Sutton consistently fields a top 10 basketball program. OSU football constantly fights for recruits, attention and victories against that national power 90 minutes down the road.
Ah, that's where the Cowboys can claim some progress. Quick, name the only school to beat Oklahoma more than once since the beginning of the 2000 season.
Yep, Oklahoma State, which has won two of the past four meetings and five of the past 10.
"Our staff, in my honest opinion, does a great job of game-planning them," said Gundy, who ascended from offensive coordinator to replace Les Miles on Jan. 3. "We challenge them. We go after them. Some teams go out there and say, 'Let's get this over with.' Our players go right after them."
Sooners everywhere have about eight months to let those words soak in. Until then, I-A's youngest coach (Gundy is 37) is brash enough to keep crowing. Miles wasn't shy about the subject while leading the program out of a decade-long malaise before departing for LSU. While his record wasn't spectacular (28-21), his organizational skills and game-planning were outstanding.
Ask Oklahoma. A going-nowhere Cowboys team beat the No. 4 Sooners in Norman 16-13 in 2001, Miles' first season. They did it again the next year, winning 38-28 against a team ranked No. 3.
Based largely on those two results, LSU swept in and hired Miles, the only coach to guide Oklahoma State to three consecutive bowls. Also based on those victories, Oklahoma State quickly replaced him with Gundy. Millionaire T. Boone Pickens was already on board, having given a combined $200 million to the school and athletic department.
Mike Gundy file
A brief history of Oklahoma State's new coach:
Birthdate: Aug. 12, 1967 (youngest I-A coach)
Wife: Kristen
Children: Gavin, Gunnar, Gage
School: Oklahoma State
Playing experience: Four-year starter at quarterback, 1986-89; still holds school career passing record (7,997 yards)
Coaching experience: assistant Oklahoma State, 1990-1995; Baylor, 1996; Maryland,...
-02-18-2005, 08:48 AM
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